SALEM – Four Fliers qualified for state at the Region 2B Wrestling Tournament on Saturday.
Canton won the team title with 210 points, while McCook Central Montrose (148) was second and Howard (141.5) third. Flandreau (47) ended up seventh.
Michael Witte placed second at 145 pounds, Caleb Dietrich ended up third in the 106-pound weight class, and Hunter Witte (113 pounds) and Preston Keith (160) each took fourth to advance for the Fliers.
Michael Witte, who makes his second trip to state attending in 2016, received a quarterfinal bye and defeated Canton’s Kaden Laubach 11-7 in the semifinals. He dropped a 4-0 decision to MCM’s Paul Lauck in the final.
Witte spent much of 2017 on the injury list.
Eighth grader Dietrich pinned Parker’s Tanner Preheim in 43 seconds in the quarters but injury defaulted to Howard’s Lane Miller in the semis. He picked up a 6-1 decision over Garretson’s Jayse Miller in a consolation bout to qualify for state and then capped his day with a pin in 3:47 versus Elk Point-Jefferson’s Lucas Hueser in the third-place bout.
Hunter Witte won by fall in 5:20 against Garretson’s Braxten Rozeboom in a quarterfinal match. He lost a 16-1 (5:48) technical fall to Howard’s Kieffer Klinkhammer in the semifinals but earned a bye in wrestlebacks to earn a state tourney bid. He fell in 1:53 against EPJ’s Ben Swatek in the third-place matchup.
Keith opened with a 6-2 decision over Howard’s Logan Schlim by was pinned in 55 seconds by Canton’s Shaeden Scheidt. He earned a win by fall in 4:47 over Garretson’s Jimmy Widrig to advance. Keith dropped an 11-0 major decision to Parker’s Tanner Even in the match for third.
Preston has only been wrestling since his sophomore year, which makes it really special when a guy takes a chance to come out for wrestling late, works his butt off, take some lumps over the couple of years, but then caps it off with a state tournament experience,” said his coach, Travis Ahrens.
Brenden Ten Eyck (152 pounds) went 1-2 and Kolby Peters (170) and Chase Reed (220) both finished 0-2 as all three wrestlers were a win away from qualifying for state. They each lost by fall in the consolation semifinals.
Tanner Christenson (120 pounds), Owen Peters (126) and Austin Kulm (138) all went 0-2.
“We are really proud of the rest of the guys that competed, too,” added Ahrens.
“They are young and a little green, but they have a ton of potential.”
The Class B State Tournament is Friday and Saturday at the PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls.
