SIOUX FALLS — Four area wrestlers will compete for a state title on Saturday afternoon as Nolan Miles, Maizy Mathis and Johanna Steinlicht of Brookings and Summer Guthmiller of Sioux Valley punched their tickets to title matches during the second day of the SDHSAA State Wrestling Tournament on Friday.
The state tournament will resume with the place matches taking place at 10 a.m. and the championship matches starting at 1 p.m. at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center on Saturday.
After winning his first two matches in the 132-pound bracket on Thursday morning, Miles earned a spot in the championship by defeating Pierre’s Alex Oedekoven 6-4 in sudden victory in the semifinals. The win helped Miles improve to 32-2 on the season ahead of Saturday’s title match against Sioux Falls Lincoln’s Bentley Williams.
Several other Bobcats will look for a spot on the podium Saturday afternoon including Tate Helmbolt. Helmbolt split two matches on Thursday in the 106-pound bracket and rattled off three wins on Friday, defeating Harrisburg’s Griffin Felder by a 6-0 decision, Brandon Valley’s Beckett Rehorst by an 8-2 decision and Shea Richter of Rapid City Stevens by a 3-0 decision.
Helmbolt improved to 36-4 with the wins and will face Tyler Baldwin of Sturgis for third place on Saturday morning.
Gabriel Stern will wrestle for fifth place at 165 pounds after dropping both of his matches on Friday. Stern lost to Pierre’s Lucas Chamberlin in by a 6-4 decision in the semifinals before losing to West Central’s Rayce Whiting by fall at 2:27 of the consolation semifinals. Stern is 29-7 on the season and will face Preston Ray of Sturgis on Saturday morning.
Joey Fitzpatrick will wrestle for fifth place at 190 pounds after pinning West Central’s Gabe Gebhard at 1:50 of his second-round consolation match and Sioux Falls Lincoln’s Kishmar Eberline at 1:46 of his third-round consolation match. Fitzpatrick, who is now 30-8 on the season will face Rapid City Central’s Ian Hook on Saturday morning.
Jacob Milliron split his two matches at 113 pounds on Friday, defeating Coy Eddy of Douglas/Rapid City Christian/New Underwood by a 10-5 decision but losing by fall to Lincoln’s Josiah Kauffman at 4:16 in the second round of the consolation bracket. Milliron finished the season with a 19-18 record.
Logan Staub split his two matches at 157 pounds, defeating Huron’s TJ Lien at 1:58 of the first round of the consolation bracket but dropping an 8-2 decision to Pierre’s Jaxon Ducheneaux in the second round. Straub finished the year with a record of 23-19.
Quam dropped his only match of the day at 120 pounds, losing by a 17-7 decision to Pierre’s Jacob Mason. Quam finished the season with a record of 19-24.
Mason Mathis also was eliminated in the first round of the 144-pound consolation bracket, losing by a 6-0 decision to Aberdeen Central’s Owen Ward. Mathis finished the year with a record of 26-15.
Teague Bergjord split his two matches on Friday defeating Aden Candelaria of Rapid City Central by fall at 4:02 of the first round of the consolation bracket but falling by a 16-5 decision in the second round to Max Schoenhard of Rapid City Stevens. Bergjord finished the year with a record of 30-19.
Karter Headrick split his two matches at 190 pounds, pinning Tate Crosswalt of Rapid City Stevens in the first round of the consolation bracket at 1:37 but falling to Hook at 4:20 in the second round. Headrick finished the year with a record of 41-13.
Brayden Wiese competed for Flandreau at 132 pounds and lost by a 6-5 decision to O’Gorman’s Slaton Jones in the first round of the consolation bracket. Wiese finished the year with a record of 31-23.
Tate Steffensen will wrestle for fifth place at 132 pounds after winning two of his three matches on Friday. Steffensen won by a 10-1 major decision over Stanley County’s Witt Myers in the second round of the consolation bracket and won 8-6 in the first tiebreaker period over Kimball/White Lake/Platte-Geddes in the third round but lost by a 4-0 decision to Custer’s Riley Scott in the consolation semifinals.
Steffensen is 47-7 on the season and will face Lemmon/McIntosh’s Gage Anderson for fifth place on Saturday morning.
Owen Vandeweerd split his two matches in the 285-pound consolation bracket, defeating Garretson’s Tanner Baatz by fall at 4:48 of the first round but losing by a 13-4 major decision to Lemmon/McIntosh’s Emmitt Maher in the second round. Vandeweerd finished the year with a record of 42-8.
Dubhlainn Vermeulen competed at 126 pounds and wrapped up his tournament by losing by fall to Wessington Springs/Woonsocket/Wolsey-Wessington’s Aston Hill at 4:10 in the first round of the consolation bracket. Vermeulen finished the season with a record of 13-27.
Steinlicht remained undefeated after picking up a win over Harrisburg’s Sammie Reil at 5:21 of her semifinal match. After improving to 32-0, Steinlicht will face Pierre’s Ireland Templeton for the 145-pound title on Saturday.
Mathis also advanced to Saturday’s championship match at 165 pounds after defeating Harrisburg’s Rhiannen Heimdal by fall at 3:03 of the semifinals. Now 24-2 on the season, Mathis will face Viborg-Hurley/Irene-Wakonda’s Gia Miller for the state title.
Bailey Tekrony went 1-1 on Friday at 114 pounds. Tekrony won by a 12-4 major decision over Marion/Freeman’s Sarah Cremer in the first round of the consolation bracket but was pinned by Jocelyn Thoms of Lennox at 3:56 in the second round. Tekrony finished the year with a record of 17-9.
Lily Toft competed at 107 pounds and lost in the first round of the consolation by fall at 3:49 against Huron’s Chalie Sah. Toft finished the year with a record of 14-8.
Cierra Strand lost her lone match by fall at 2:05 to Brooklyn Brant of Sturgis in the 132-pound consolation bracket. Strand finished the year with a record of 23-12.
Julie Pitsenberger lost in the first round of the consolation bracket by fall at 1:47 to Doland’s Kyla Logan at 132 pounds. Pitsenberger finished the year with an 11-12 record.
Guthmiller earned her way into the championship match at 132 pounds after winning by fall at 3:13 over Beresford/Alcester-Hudson’s Reese Olson in the semifinals. Guthmiller is now 39-3 on the year and will face Giada Scherich of Lakota Techin for the title on Saturday.
Citabria Manzaneres competed at 100 pounds and lost to Louis Pond of Pine Ridge by fall at 1:26 in the first round of the consolation bracket. Manzaneres finished the year with a record of 0-2.
