Aberdeen Central (Region 3A) and Kingsbury County (Region 1B) each captured region titles and Watertown's bid for a fifth-straight Region 1A title came up short in high school wrestling .
The top four place winners in each weight class (per region) qualified for the state Class A or B individual tournament that runs Thursday through Saturday in the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls. The state girls one-class tourney will also be held at the same site.
Here's a breakdown of area wrestlers by region (for more results, visit trackwrestling.com ):
Region 1A
TEA — West Central ended Watertown's reign in the 10-team region by scoring 223.5 points. Tea Area was second at 217 and Watertown third at 174.
The Arrows qualified eight wrestlers for state including region champion Gage Lohr at 120 pounds, Sloan Johannsen at 126, Brock Eitreim at 190 and Micah Hach at 285.
Chase Mathews finished third at 106 and Leo Stroup (138), Tucker Urdahl (165) and Ethan Wientjes (215) each were fourth.
Region 3A
PIERRE — Aberdeen Central crowned five champions, qualified all 14 of its wrestlers for state and won the nine-team tourney with 277.5 points. Pierre was second at 261.5.
Milbank qualified six wrestlers for state and placed fifth with 120.5 points. Sisseton had four state qualifiers and took seventh with 96.5 points.
Esten Foss (106), Porter Lozenski (120), Rayden Zens (126), Mason Schrempp (157) and Ayden Gisi (215) each won their divisions for Aberdeen Central. Tate Huff (132), Ridley Waldo (138), Owen Ward (144), Elias Biegler (165), Ryker Meister (175), Cole Dunlavy (190) and Bryce Beitelspacher (285) each were second. Grayden Timm took third at 150 and Paxton Ewing fourth at 113.
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Milbank's state qualifiers included runners-up Owen Fischer at 120 and Joe French at 150. Landon Novy took third at 285 and Jacob Johnson (126), Tate Schlueter (175) and Jesse Schneck (190) each were fourth.
Kayden Tchida (113) and Holden Hawkins (144) each won individual titles for Sisseton. Ian Metz was second at 126 and Blake Steiner fourth at 120.
Region 1B
GETTYSBURG — Kingsbury County claimed the region championship by the slimmest of margins, edging Faulkton Area 177-166.5 to win the 16-team tourney.
The Knights have seven state B qualifiers including individual champions Cody Zell at 120 and Gannon Gilligan at 126. Faulkton Area had eight qualifiers, including champions Landon Coyle at 144 and Lincoln Dikoff at 215.
Other individual champions were Maddon Odland of Redfield at 106, Brody Randall of Hamlin-Castlewood at 113, Tate Steffensen of Sioux Valley at 132, Haeden Jorgenson of Webster Area at 138, Jaxon Quail of Deuel-Deubrook Area at 150, Korbin Kucker of Groton Area at 157, Korbin Whiteley of Deuel-Deubrook Area at 165, Josh Kannegieter of Clark-Willow Lake at 175, Alex Pudwill of Warner-Northwestern at 190 and Grady Fey of Redfield at 285.
Clark-Willow Lake and Redfield each had six state qualifiers and Warner-Northwestern five. Groton Area, Webster Area and Deuel-Deubrook Area each had four; Hamlin-Castlewood and Sioux Valley three apiece; and Britton-Hecla and Potter County two each. One wrestler apiece from Ipswich-Bowdle and Sully Buttes also advanced.
Region 4B
FORT PIERRE — Three wrestlers from Mobridge-Pollock and two from McLaughlin punched their tickets to the State B tournament top-4 finishes on Saturday.
Wyatt Wientjes of Mobridge-Pollock won the 126-pound title. Wyatt Ziegler (215) and Riley Kerner (285) each were fourth.
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Quentin White Mountain took third at 215 and Evan Hertel fourth at 120 for McLaughlin.
The Badlands Brawlers (Philip-Kadoka Area-Wall) won the 16-team tourney with 265 points, followed by Custer at 239.5. Mobridge-Pollock was seventh with 82.5 and McLaughlin 12th with 34.
Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: rmerriam@thepublicopinion.com
This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Twenty-six area grapplers capture region titles, 93 boys punch their tickets to state
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