TEA — Eleven area wrestlers qualified for this year’s SDHSAA Class A State Wrestling Meet as the Brookings Bobcats had eight wrestlers qualify and the Flandreau Fliers had three wrestlers qualify at the Region 1A Wrestling Tournament at Tea Area High School on Saturday afternoon.
Regional champions Tate Helmbolt, Nolan Miles and Gabe Stern will represent the Bobcats along with fellow qualifiers Jacob Milliron, Levi Quam, Mason Mathis, Logan Straub and Joey Fitzpatrick.
Flandreau will be represented by Teague Bergjord, Brayden Wiese and Karter Headrick.
The state meet will kick off on Thursday with first-round matchups beginning at 10 a.m. at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls.
Helmbolt took home the regional title for the Bobcats at 106 pounds by winning all three of his matches. Helmbolt pinned Gabriel Herzog of Sioux Falls Roosevelt in 1:27 during the quarterfinals and pinned Madison’s Alex Zwak at 1:39 of the semifinals. Helmbolt won the championship with a 14-5 major decision over Kad Haaskinson of West Central and enters the state tournament with a record of 32-3.
Miles won the regional title at 132 pounds and pinned Tea Area’s Dalton Cooper in 1:25 during the quarterfinals. Miles defeated Watertown’s Derek Hanson by a 12-1 major decision in the semifinals and won the regional title with a 3-1 sudden victory over Sioux Falls Jefferson’s Graham Wilde to improve to 29-2 on the season.
Stern won the regional title at 165 pounds and picked up pins in his first two matches. After defeating Madison’s Tyan Braskamp in 52 seconds during the quarterfinals and West Central’s Rayce Whiting in 3:33 during the semifinals, Stern defeated Tea Area’s Dawson Eimers with an 8-3 decision to improve to 27-5 on the year.
Fitzpatrick finished in second place at 190 pounds, winning two of his three matches. Fitzpatrick pinned Madison’s Seth Arntzen in 59 seconds during the quarterfinals and pinned Gabe Gebhard of West Central in 1:41 during the semifinals before dropping an 8-4 decision to Watertown’s Brock Eitreim in the championship. Fitzpatrick enters the state tournament with a record of 27-7.
Milliron finished in third place at 113 pounds and went 3-1 at the tournament, pinning Madison’s Carter Downs at 2:10 of the quarterfinals. Bentley Klinkhammer of West Central defeated Milliron by a 13-6 decision in the semifinals but Milliron bounced back with an 8-0 decision over Camden Tebay of Dell Rapids in the consolation semifinals and a 20-15 decision over Tea Area’s Slater Wilson in the third-place match. Milliron is now 18-16 on the season.
Straub finished in third place at 157 pounds and opened by pinning Watertown’s Landen Lewis at 5:28 of the quarterfinals. Straub lost to West Central’s Chandler Carda by fall at 3:04 of the semifinals but pinned Madison’s Tristen Dorhout at 2:59 of the consolation semis and won by injury default over Sioux Falls Jefferson’s Austin Osborn at 4:57 of the third place match. Straub is now 22-17 on the season.
Quam finished fourth at 120 pounds and opened by pinning Flandreau’s Zach Pederson at 3:43 of the quarterfinals. Quam was pinned in 50 seconds during a semifinal loss to Tea Area’s Tyler Woodring but defeated West Central’s Alex Siemonsma 11-5 to earn his spot in the state tournament. Quam lost to Madison’s Wyatt Pickard by a 6-0 decision in the third-place match to fall to 19-22 on the season.
Mathis finished fourth at 144 pounds and opened with a 5-3 decision over West Central’s Jess Jost in the quarterfinals. Mathis lost to Tea Area’s Austin Eimers by pin at 5:02 of the semifinals but earned a spot at state with a 4-2 sudden victory over Benjamin Neilan of Sioux Falls Jefferson in the consolation semifinals. Mathis dropped a 15-6 major decision to John Mortrude of Dell Rapids in the third-place match to enter the state tournament with a 26-13 record.
Bergjord finished in second place at 113 pounds pinning Max Stroup of Watertown at 3:49 of the quarterfinals and winning by a 6-4 decision over O’Gorman’s Keanu Lee in the semifinals. Bergjord lost by a 10-6 decision to West Central’s Bentley Klinkhammer in the championship and has a 29-17 record this season.
Headrick finished third for the Fliers after winning three of his four matches at 190 pounds. Headrick pinned O’Gorman’s Aidan Kanable at 5:16 of the quarterfinals before he was pinned by Watertown’s Brock Eitreim at 1:46 of the semifinals. Headrick rebounded to pin Tea Area’s Keegan DeYoung at 4:03 of the consolation semifinals and won by a 10-4 decision over West Central’s Gabe Gebhard in the third-place match to improve to 40-11 this year.
Wiese finished fourth at 132 pounds by splitting his four matches. Wiese won by a 15-6 major decision over O’Gorman’s Slaton Jones in the quarterfinals before he was pinned at 1:20 of his semifinal match with Sioux Falls Jefferson’s Graham Wilde. Wiese punched his ticket to state with a 4-2 decision over Madison’s Henry Meyer but lost by a 16-1 technical fall to O’Gorman’s Slaton Jones in the third-place match. Wiese is 31-21 on the season.
