SIOUX FALLS – The Aberdeen Central boys’ wrestling team turned in superb performances on day one of the Class A State Wrestling Tournament at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls.

The Golden Eagles won 10 of their opening round matches, which pleased coach Donnie Bowden.

“I think we came out and we wrestled a pretty darn good first round,” Bowden said. “We won 10 of 14 matches, so that was a really good start.”

Bowden said the tournament only gets more difficult as the tournament progresses, and as a result, he noted that a few matches came down to a single point or situation that determined the outcome.

“In the quarterfinals, the deeper you get into the tournament, you just run into better competition,” Bowden said. “There was a couple of matches that we lost by a point or a situation here or there, but we only came out the better in two of those 10 matches.”

The two Golden Eagle wrestlers that moved into the semifinals were Rayden Zens at 126 pounds and Mason Schrempp at 157. Zens pinned his first-round opponent before narrowly winning his quarterfinal match by a 1-0 score, while Schrempp pinned both of his opponents. Bowden said the two wrestlers know how to get through the tournament because of the experience they have from past tournaments.

“They’re veterans; they’ve done it for four years now. This is their fourth state tournament,” Bowden said. “They’ve placed at every one of them. They’ve gone deep in tournaments and they just know how to navigate them. They understand that you just got to win to advance.”

Central is tied for fifth in team points following the opening day.

While winning to advance during the second day of the tournament will be key for Central today, Bowden emphasized another aspect he wants to see from his team – fight.

“Just looking for some fight,” Bowden said. “We’re into the part of the tournament now where it doesn’t matter. Records don’t really matter anymore, it doesn’t matter what you’re seeded, what you’re ranked, whatever. It’s just the guy that’s going to come to fight, he’s going to be the one that gets his hand raised at the end of the day, and that’s what we’re looking to do. We’re looking to put together a couple more good rounds to get these guys as deep into the tournament as we can get them or as high up the podium as we can get them.”

A pair of Sisseton wrestlers also advanced to the final four as Kayden Tchida at 113, and Holden Hawkins at 144 both made the semifinals.

Meanwhile, a group of area Class B wrestlers also advanced to today’s semifinals. That group includes Brody Randall of Hamlin-Castlewood at 113, Kaydin Carter of Wessington Springs-Woonsocket-Wolsey-Wessington at 120, Wyatt Wientjes of Mobridge-Pollock at 126, Kellan Hurd of Miller-Highmore-Harrold and Haeden Jorgenson of Webster at 138, Christian Ehresmann of Groton at 144, Lincoln Dikoff of Faulkton and Holden Havlik of Wessington Springs-Woonsocket-Wolsey-Wessington at 215, and Grady Fey of Redfield at 285.

Aberdeen Central results

106: Esten Foss
Champ. Round 1 – Esten Foss (Aberdeen Central) over Griffin Felder (Harrisburg) (Dec 7-0)
Quarterfinals – Pierce Hurd (Rapid City Central) over Esten Foss (Aberdeen Central) (MD 13-2)

113: Paxton Ewing
Champ. Round 1 – Max  Schoenhard (Rapid City Stevens) over Paxton Ewing (Aberdeen Central) (Dec 9-4)

120: Porter Lozenski
Champ. Round 1 – Porter Lozenski (Aberdeen Central) over Dexton Miller (Beresford/Alcester-Hudson) (Fall 3:56)
Quarterfinals – Gage Lohr (Watertown) over Porter Lozenski (Aberdeen Central) (Fall 5:01)

126: Rayden Zens
Champ. Round 1 – Rayden Zens (Aberdeen Central) over Riley Williams (Sioux Falls Washington) (Fall 2:37)
Quarterfinals – Rayden Zens (Aberdeen Central) over Karson Vessells (West Central) (Dec 1-0)

132: Tate Huff
Champ. Round 1 – Tate Huff (Aberdeen Central) over Graham Wilde (Sioux Falls Jefferson) (Dec 4-0)
Quarterfinals – Bentley  Williams  (Sioux Falls Lincoln) over Tate Huff (Aberdeen Central) (Dec 6-5)

138: Ridley Waldo
Champ. Round 1 – Ridley Waldo (Aberdeen Central) over Lah Doh Soe (Huron) (Fall 1:35)
Quarterfinals – Caleb Hodges (Madison) over Ridley Waldo (Aberdeen Central) (Dec 7-6)

144: Owen Ward
Champ. Round 1 – Holden Hight (O`Gorman) over Owen Ward (Aberdeen Central) (MD 10-0)

150: Grayden Timm
Champ. Round 1 – Joseph Nadig (Sturgis Brown) over Grayden Timm (Aberdeen Central) (TF 16-0 2:31)

157: Mason Schrempp
Champ. Round 1 – Mason Schrempp (Aberdeen Central) over Ethan Tucker (Brandon Valley) (Fall 1:43)
Quarterfinals – Mason Schrempp (Aberdeen Central) over Carson Lohr (Tea Area) (Fall 5:58)

165: Elias Biegler
Champ. Round 1 – Elias Biegler (Aberdeen Central) over Teagen  Smith (Rapid City Stevens) (Fall 2:25)
Quarterfinals – Dawson Eimers (Tea Area) over Elias Biegler (Aberdeen Central) (Dec 7-2)

175: Ryker Meister
Champ. Round 1 – Tate Schlueter (Milbank) over Ryker Meister (Aberdeen Central) (MD 12-2)

190: Cole Dunlavy
Champ. Round 1 – Cole Dunlavy (Aberdeen Central) over Gabe Gebhard (West Central) (Fall 2:34)
Quarterfinals – Chance Carda (Pierre T.F. Riggs) over Cole Dunlavy (Aberdeen Central) (Dec 9-4)

215: Ayden Gisi
Champ. Round 1 – Ayden Gisi (Aberdeen Central) over Peyton Eustace (Yankton) (Fall 0:21)
Quarterfinals – Chase DeBoer (Tea Area) over Ayden Gisi (Aberdeen Central) (SV-1 6-4)

285: Bryce Beitelspacher
Champ. Round 1 – Bryce Beitelspacher (Aberdeen Central) over Daniel  Vazquez  (O`Gorman) (Fall 1:13)
Quarterfinals – Gavin Pischke (West Central) over Bryce Beitelspacher (Aberdeen Central) (Dec 3-2)

To see complete tournament results, click on the following link:

https://www.trackwrestling.com/tw/predefinedtournaments/VerifyPassword.jsp?tournamentId=771079132