FLANDREAU – Five Flandreau Flier wrestlers opened the 2023-24 season taking second at the Flandreau Booster Club Wrestling Invitational.
Flier Head Coach Cody Chamblin was pleased overall with his wrestlers’ performances.
Trackwrestling, the scoring program used, was offline nationwide for long periods of time making the 49th wrestling invitational one of the longest in recent history. Twelve schools were represented at the meet.
Boys
Madison won the boys invite with a team score of 215 points. Luverne was second with 118, Deuel third at 97 and Elk Point-Jefferson fourth with 94.
The Fliers’ finished in fifth place with a team total of 82 points just ahead of Howard with 81 points and had seven place-winners at the invite.
“All Flandreau wrestlers looked great for the first time out on the mat,” said Chamblin. “Out of 10 wrestlers, seven of them placed.”
“We were matched against some top kids in those championships and didn’t fair that great,” he said. “All the kids have little things they need to work on (to) just get over some minor mistakes (made) this first weekend.”
Five Fliers were in championship matches, but finished in second:  Julie Pitsenberger (126/132), Brayden Wiese (132), Justin Klein (165), Karter Headrick (190) and wrestling unattached, Zach Pederson (120).
Finishing third was Teague Bergjord (120) and fourth went to Gabriel Frias (175).
Chamblin has several Flier athletes in the same weight class therefore had three wrestlers, all new to the program – Pedersen and Cam Blubaugh in the 120 pound class, and Emisael Bonilla in 132, wrestle unattached.
Pederson, from the Colman-Egan district which co-ops wrestling with Flandreau, won two of his three matches at 120 pounds. He pinned Elk Point-Jefferson’s Bode Fennel and won a decision over Luverne’s Bernie Rock in the semifinals but was pinned by Madison’s Wyatt Pickard in the championship match. His points were not eligible in the Fliers team score.

Another C-E wrestler, Wiese, also won two of his three matches at 132 pounds. Wiese won by decision over Elk Point-Jefferson’s Luke Swatek in the quarterfinals and pinned Jade Wilkens during a semifinal match. Wiese lost to Sioux Valley’s Tate Steffensen by major decision in the championship.
Sophomore Klein, at 165 pounds, pinned Luverne’s Tucker Remme in his quarterfinal match and pinned Deuel’s CJ Fitzsimmons in the semifinals. Klein was pinned by Elk Point-Jefferson’s Hayes Johnson in the title match.
At 190 pounds, Headrick pinned Luverne’s Adam Ask in a quarterfinal match and Viborg-Hurley’s Trevor Ryan in the semifinal match before he was pinned by Howard’s Weston Remmers in the second period of the championship match.
Teague Bergjord finished third at 120 pounds after winning three of his four matches. Bergjord pinned Garretson’s Talon Miller in the quarterfinals but lost by major decision to Madison’s Wyatt Pickard in the semifinal. Bergjord responded with a pair of pins, defeating Madison’s Cole Downs in the consolation semifinals and Chester’s Carter Leibeg of the third-place match.
Gabriel Frias went 1-2 to finish in fourth place at 126 pounds. Frias’s lone win came in the quarterfinals after winning by forfeit against a Garretson wrestler in the semifinals.
Girls
Luverne and Viborg-Hurley tied for first place in the girls invite with a total of 65 points.
The Fliers lone girl competitor took second place putting the Fliers in sixth place with 18 points.
Senior Julie Pitsenberger went 2-1 at the invite by pinning Garretson’s Danika Juhl in the first round and Luverne’s Elle Rock in the second round before falling to Sioux Valley’s Summer Guthmiller in the championship match.
“I really enjoyed some of the fire and passion these kids had Saturday,” added Chamblin.
“Our newcomers to the mat showed strides for never being around wrestling and only having a few weeks of practice. We’re looking for improvements each day from them.
Flandreau’s only other home match of the season was to be held Tuesday. Saturday, they travel to Howard and then are on the mat again Dec. 12 at Volga.
Team results:
126 Julie Pitsenberger: WBF Danika Juhl, Garr; WBF 3:35 Elle Rock, LUV; LBF 3:26 Summer Guthmiller, SV. 2nd place
120 Teague Bergjord: Bye; WBF :57, Talon Miller, Garr; lost 15-5 MD, Wyatt Pickard, Mad; WBF 1:50, Cole Downs, UA; WBF 1:58, Carter Leiberg, Ches. 3rd place
126 Gabriel Frias: Won forfeit; LBF 4:40 Ryker Gauger, Deu; Bye; lost 10-3 dec. to Brody VanRoekel, EPJ. 4th place
132 Brayden Wiese: Bye; won 10-6 Luke Swatek, EPJ; WBF 3:56 Jade Wilkens, UA; lost 10-0 MD Tate Steffensen, SV. 2nd place
165 Justin Klein: Bye; WBF 1:05 Tucker Remme, LUV; WBF :50 CJ Fitzsimmons, DEU; LBF 1:49 Hayes Johnson, EPJ. 2nd place
175 Alex Lopez: LBF :57 Gunner Ewing, EPJ; Bye; LBF 1:46 Logan Willi UA.
190 Karter Headrick: WBF :32 Adam Ask, Luv; WBF 1:27 Trevor Ryan VH; LBF 3:26 Weston Remmers, How. 2nd place
Wrestling unattached:
120 Zach Pederson: Bye; WBF 2:28 Bode Fennel, EPJ; won 4-2 dec. Bernie Rock, LUV; LBF 3:14 Wyatt Pickard, Mad. 2nd place
120 Cam Blubaugh: LBF 3:14 Cole Downs, UA; Bye; LBF 1:43, Carter Leiberg, Chest
132 Emisael Bonilla: LBF 1:57 Tate Steffenson, SV; Bye; LBF 2:45 Luke Swatek, EPF