MHS Wrestlers Punch Their Tickets to State

Six Bulldogs, one alternate, and one Lady Bulldog grappled their way into South Dakota’s 2024 State Wrestling Individual Championships. The athletes qualified at the regional meet in Pierre on Saturday, February 17. Regional winners from their respective classes will compete against each other February 22-24 at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls. Tickets are reserved seats only and available for an individual session ($10 students and $15 adults) or all sessions (students $30 and adults $50.) Get your tickets online or at the door.

State A Qualifiers from Milbank
Owen Fischer – 120 Pounds
Jacob Johnson – 126 Pounds
Joe French – 150 Pounds
Tate Schlueter – 175 Pounds
Jesse Schneck – 190 Pounds
Landon Novy – 285 Pounds
Hunter Reede – 215 Pounds – Alternate 
Kyra Tostenson – Girls – 185 Pounds

Josh Schmeichel, head coach for MHS had much to say about the recent regional tourney and the upcoming state meet for individual wrestlers. “Regions is one of the two tournaments filled with a lot of emotion. There’s a lot of excitement in making it to the state meet, but also a lot of heartbreak for those that don’t. For many wrestlers at Regions, this is the last match of their season and for some seniors it is the last match of their career.” 

“To qualify for State, a wrestler needs to place in the top four at Regions,” Schmeichel explained. ”From there, the state takes the top four of the four regions, ranks them, and builds a 16-man bracket for the state tournament.”

According to Schmeichel, a few years ago, officials decided to create an alternate wrestler position in each weight class. That wrestler is given a punch to the tournament and competes in cases when a wrestler is unable to make weight or get to the tournament the first day. “The alternate is determined by taking the fifth-place wrestlers at Regions, ranking them, and picking the top wrestler at each weight.”

Schmeichel also pointed out there is currently no regional tournament for the girls. “There’s talk about adding it next year, but there are some things they need to figure out. Right now, there is only one class for girls, unlike the boys who have two classes. Also, many teams don’t have a separate coach for their girls, yet. So, finding a date and  a venue and figuring out the alignment of Regions are all things that still need to be figured out.”

Coach Schmeichel Recaps the Region Tourney:

113 Pounds – Evan Folk had been in a lot of close matches with ranked wrestlers all year at 106. He struggled in this tough weight class. His goal was to place at state and he decided to go up to 113. Evan knew going into Regions that it would be harder to make it to State at 113, but he would have a better chance of placing if he made it. At Regions, he lost his first match in a 13-6 decision against a Pierre wrestler. His next match was against an Aberdeen wrestler and Evan lost 2-1 by a takedown towards the end of the third period.

120 Pounds – Owen Fischer had two good first matches. He won by fall and a 7-2 decision. During the finals, he made a mistake that cost him four points. He then tried forcing a take-down and ended up giving up a takedown to lose. He earned second place.

126 Pounds – Jacob Johnson went 2-2 on the day to end with a fourth-place finish and qualify for the state tournament. In the two matches he won; he pinned both wrestlers.

138 Pounds – Jayce Jonason has made a lot of progress this year. He got a tough draw at the tournament and was put into the bracket in the worst place. He went 1-3 on the day, but wrestled very well.

144 Pounds – Keaton Johnson is an eighth grader and he went out and wrestled his heart out. His first match was against the No. 1 seed and the second match he lost to a junior by a 12-4 decision. He ended the day at  2-0.

150 Pounds – Joe French had a good tournament. He won his first match against the No. 2 seed to make it into the finals. From there, Joe went on to wrestle one of the top wrestlers in the state overall, not just in his weight class. He eventually got pinned in the third period.

157 Pounds – Nollen Sheeley needed to win a first round match to set himself up for making it to state. He ended up getting caught and losing, which gave him a more difficult path. He got pinned in his next match, and that knocked him out of making it to State.

165 Pounds – Reese Rabe started off with a good spot and did what he needed to do in the first round – he pinned his first opponent.. He then ran into the No. 1 seed and Reese got pinned. The next match determined if he would make it to State. The score was 0-0 at the end of the first period. He chose down in the second and got a reversal, but he gave up a reversal late in the second period. During the third period, he rode him out to send the match into overtime with the score at 2-2. No one scored during the first period of overtime and the match went into the second overtime. Reese gave up a reversal during the first 30-second go, but couldn’t replicate it during the second go. He ended up losing 4-2 and just missed going to State this year.

175 – Tate Schlueter had a tough tournament. He couldn’t get into his groove and ended up losing two matches he should have been able to win. He still made it to State with a fourth- place finish. He will definitely be one to watch at State when he gets his mojo back and wrestles the way he can.

190 Pounds – Jesse Schneck started off with a tech fall, then lost to the No. 2 seed, then punched his ticket to state with a 10-1 decision. In the placing round, he fell a bit short and lost 3-1 to finish with a fourth- place finish.

215 Pounds – Hunter Reede had a tough road to qualify for State. He had four ranked wrestlers in his weight class. He wrestled tough and he wrestled to win. He ended up getting knocked out of the top four, but finished at fifth place to become the alternate wrestler for the state meet at 215 as he was the top fifth-place finisher of all the regions.

285 Pounds – Landon Novy started off the tournament with a quick pin. In his next match, he lost in a 2-1 decision. He went into the round that would determine if he went to State a little overconfident, but he still ended up winning. It was a very high-scoring match at 16-8. During his third-place match, he turned it on and wrestled a very good match to win 14-2.

Girls
185 Pounds – Kyra Tostenson –Kyra, a seventh grader, is the first Milbank girl to make it to the state tournament. She has been a trailblazer as she was the only middle school-high school girl wrestler last year, and is one of the few girls who has been a part of our youth program up until this year. We expect to see her a lot in the future.