Four Britton-Hecla wrestlers advanced to the state tournament in Rapid City set for this weekend by placing among the top four at regional tourneys held last week.
Junior Bryce Hawkinson won the 144-pound championship at the boys’ Region 1B event in Hamlin on Saturday, sophomore Ben Suther placed third at 175, and junior Tucker Hardy was fourth at 215 pounds. Senior Dashel Davidson was sixth in the 157-pound bracket. Hawkinson and Hardy both qualified for state a year ago and this is Hawkinson’s fourth trip to the state meet, only missing his freshman season due to an injury.
In the girls regional on Thursday at Clark senior Ceci Anderson finished fourth in the 165-pound division to qualify for state. She was also a state qualifier two years ago. There are no separate classes for girls with all schools in the state competing in one bracket.
Action gets underway on Thursday at 10 a.m. in Summit Arena at The Monument in Rapid City. Girls’ matches will be held first in each round followed by the boys. Friday matches begin at 9:30 a.m., and on Saturday placing matches start at 10 a.m. with championship matches starting at 1p.m.
First round pairings for the local matmen have Hawkinson, 31-3, taking on freshman Jaden Bult, 33-18, of Bon Homme-Avon; Suther, 36-14, will tangle with top-seeded Kale Crowser, 45-1, of Philip-Kadoka Area-Wall; Hardy, 33-13, will meet Karter Headrick, 43-9, of Flandreau; and Anderson, 7-17, will wrestle Lilly Nelson, 32-12, of Aberdeen Central.
Hawkinson earned his regional title by stopping defending champion Christian Ehresmann of Groton Area in the championship match. It was the junior’s first career win over the Tigers’ senior and came in exciting fashion. Hawkinson trailed 9-4 early in the final period and came up with a pair of takedowns and a near fall to post the comeback victory 14-10.
Suther also came through in crunch time with a 4-3 win in the third place match, and Hardy posted a pair of pins on the way to his fourth place finish.
“When you get to the state tournament it comes down to whoever makes the least amount of mistakes,” said B-H coach Josh Hawkinson. “You just have to take one match at a time, and every year there are upsets.”
Region 1B Boys Results
TEAM POINTS: Kingsbury County 191.5, Clark-Willow Lake 172, Sisseton 166.5, Faulkton Area 160, Groton Area 158.5, Redfield 131.5, Deuel-
Deubrook Area 97.5, Webster Area 83.5, Britton-Hecla 67, Sioux Valley 59, Potter County 57.5, Sully Buttes 35.5, Warner-Northwestern 27.5, Hamlin-Castlewood 25, Ipswich-Bowdle 13, Doland 0, Tiospa Zina 0
106 POUNDS: Lincoln Kilker (BH, 15-23) lost dec. to Wyatt Hagen (Groton Area) 15-2; lost dec. to Aykre Piotter (Sisseton) 7-1
120 POUNDS: Carter Grobe (BH, 14-22) lost by tech fall to Cooper Pommer (Clark-Willow Lake) 1:02 (18-1); pinned by Kyson Kucker (Groton Area) 3:51
144 POUNDS: Bryce Hawkinson (BH, 31-3) dec. Reed Gray (Sisseton) 9-2; pinned Trace Shoemaker (Webster Area) 1:08; dec. Greyson Nielson (Kingsbury County) 7-2; First plce match: dec. Christian Ehresmann (Groton Area) 14-10
157 POUNDS: Dashel Davidson (BH, 15-21) pinned by Gavin Kloos (Deuel-Deubrook Area) 2:34; pinned Ely Heuertz (Sully Buttes) :22; pinned by Donovan Sandven (Kingsbury County) 3:48; Fifth place match: pinned by Trace Genzler (Potter County) :27
165 POUNDS: Colton Chapin (BH, 13-11) pinned Ben Hoeft (Groton Area) 5:30; pinned by Elliot Bratland (Clark-Willow Lake) 1:15; pinned by Gage Baumgarn (Webster Area) :44
175 POUNDS: Ben Suther (BH, 36-14) dec. Justin Rohrbach (Ipswich-Bowdle) 7-0; lost dec. to Korbin Kucker (Groton Area) 7-2; pinned Wyatt Hardt (Sioux Valley) 2:11; Third place match: dec. Taylor Snaza (Sisseton) 4-3
215 POUNDS: Tucker Hardy (BH, 33-13) pinned Andrew Gunderson (Sioux Valley) :55; lost by tech fall to Breyten Johnson (Kingsbury County) 3:34, 15-0; pinned Riley Popp (Clark-Willow Lake) 2:51; Third place match: lost dec. to Foster Bode (Faulkton Area) 9-3
Girls Region Results
TEAM POINTS: Watertown 133, Brookings 92, Clark-Willow Lake 73, SF Jefferson 70, Sully Buttes 66.5, Sioux Valley 59.5, Sisseton 59, Webster Area 55, Kingsbury County 42.5, Doland 42, SF Roosevelt 42, Tea Area 38, West Central 31, Milbank 27, Dell Rapids 27, Groton Area 25.5, Faulkton Area 9, Britton-Hecla 7, Deuel;-Deubrook Area 0, Hamlin-Castlewood 0, Ipswich-Bowdle 0, SF O’Gorman 0, Potter County 0, Redfield 0, Tiospa Zina 0, Warner-Northwestern 0.
107 POUNDS: Olivia Borgen (BH) pinned by Trinity Kurtenbach (Sioux Valley) :32; lost by tech fall to Clara Iverson (Sisseton) 18-0, 2:33
165 POUNDS: Cecilia Anderson (BH) pinned by Macie Letsche (Sioux Falls Jefferson) 1:09; Third place match: pinned by Maryann Rice (Sisseton) 2:56
