Barrett Schneck and Owen Fischer Place at State Wrestling Tournament

The Bulldog wrestlers made Milbank proud at the 2023 South Dakota State Wrestling Championships last weekend. The meet, which included three divisions and 38 weight classes, was held at The Monument in Rapid City from February 23-25. Six MHS wrestlers competed. Owen Fischer, a sophomore, took eighth place and Barrett Schneck, a senior, ended his high school career with a third-place medal. 

Individuals were crowned on Friday night. The duals took place on Saturday. The Bulldogs did not enter the team competition. As a team, Brandon Valley captured first place. Watertown took second, and Pierre earned third.

Josh  Schmeichel, head coach for Milbank, commented on the Bulldog wrestlers’ performances:

Owen Fischer – 106 – Owen had a heck of a state tournament! He came in as the ninth seed, and started off with a match against the eighth seed. He pinned his opponent in the first period. In his quarterfinals match, he had the No. 1 seed  and was hanging with him all the way through the second period. He was down 4-5 to begin the third period, but got stuck in the third.  

His next match was to place and it was against an opponent from Pierre he had wrestled multiple times throughout the year. He came back with a 7-3 decision. He followed that up with a match against an opponent from Sturgis who had pinned him earlier this year. Owen wrestled a tough match and lost 8-6.. His final match was for seventh place.This was another tough match, and he ended up losing 10-2. Owen brought home eighth place.

Jacob Johnson – 132 – Jacob had a tough draw but went out and competed. His first opponent was a tough match, and he ended up getting pinned in the second period. Next, he wrestled hard in a close match, but ended up losing 13-8.

Brayden Christensen – 145 – Brayden was another one that had a tough draw. He started with the eventual champ from his weight class and ended up getting stuck in the third period. Next, he got the No. 9 seed in the wrestlebacks, but ended up losing 6-2.

Reese Rabe – 160 – Reese was another one that got a tough draw against the No. 1 seed. Despite that, he went out and wrestled hard in both of his matches. In his first match, he ended up getting stuck at the end of the first period. In his second match, he wrestled a hard match and kept it close until he got pinned in the third period.

Barrett Schneck – 170 – Barrett had a good first two matches –  a tech fall and a pin. We had high hopes with Barrett going into the tournament as the No. 1 seed and undefeated, but we had a setback in the semifinals. He wrestled a very defensive wrestler that didn’t give Barrett a chance to wrestle his normal way – how he really shines. He ended up losing by a takedown. 

From there, we had to get him into the right mindset so he could come back and get third place. In his first wrestleback match, he was able to beat his opponent pretty easily. For the third and fourth-place match, he was able to get a reversal in 23 seconds and was able to hold him down for a 2-1 win to secure third place.

Jesse Schneck – 195 – Jesse started off with the No. 2 seed. He lost by fall in the first period in that match. In the next match, he came back and pinned his opponent in the beginning of the second period. In the blood round to place, Jesse ended up losing by getting pinned in the second period.

Owen Fischer 106 lbs. – Guaranteed Places

• 1st Place – Gage Lohr of Watertown
• 2nd Place – Brendon Oehme of Brandon Valley
• 3rd Place – Aidan Wells of Sioux Falls Jefferson
• 4th Place – Tate Helmbolt of Brookings
• 5th Place – Shea Richter of Rapid City Stevens
• 6th Place – Korbin Bunch of Sturgis Brown
• 7th Place – Pierce Hurd of Rapid City Central
• 8th Place – Owen Fischer of Milbank

7th Place Match

• Pierce Hurd (Rapid City Central) 42-7, 8th. over Owen Fischer (Milbank) 31-12, So. (MD 10-2)

Barrett Schneck 170 lbs. – Guaranteed Places

• 1st Place – Sam Werdel of Tea Area
• 2nd Place – Trey Lewis of Pierre T.F. Riggs
• 3rd Place – Barrett Schneck of Milbank
• 4th Place – Lucas Slack of Brandon Valley
• 5th Place – Israel Caldron of Brookings
• 6th Place – Soren Aadland of Harrisburg
• 7th Place – Lane Knutson of Sioux Falls Washington
• 8th Place – Jax Kettwig of Watertown

3rd Place Match

• Barrett Schneck (Milbank) 33-1, Sr. over Lucas Slack (Brandon Valley) 42-4, Sr. (Dec 2-1)

Team Scores from the Duals:  1. Brandon Valley 208.5, 2. Watertown 184.5, 3. Pierre 182, 4. Sturgis 139, 5. Harrisburg 107, 6. Tea Area 101, 7. West Central 94, 8. Rapid City Stevens 93, 9. Aberdeen Central 88, 10. Brookings 71, 11. Sioux Falls Jefferson 54, T12. Beresford/Alcester-Hudson 35, T12. O’Gorman 35, 14. Chamberlain 34, T15. Mitchell 31, T15. Rapid City Central 31, T17. Huron 28, T17. Sisseton 28, 19. Sioux Falls Lincoln 26, 20. Milbank 25.5, T21. Sioux Falls Washington 25, T21. Spearfish 25, 23. Douglas/Rapid City Christian/New Underwood 23, 24. Madison 22, 25. Vermillion 14, 26. Dakota Valley 11.5, T27. Belle Fourche 11, T27. Todd County 11, 29. Lakota Tech 3, T30. Dell Rapids 1, T30. Lennox 1, T30. Yankton 1

Podium photos courtesy of SD Public Broadcasting