RAPID CITY – Aberdeen Central sent 10 wrestlers through to the second day of action at the Rapid City Invitational, which got underway Friday. 

Of those 10, two Golden Eagle grapplers will compete for a spot in the championship bouts of their respective weight brackets. Mason Schrempp (157) and Ryker Meister (215) each claimed quarterfinal victories to move on to the semifinal rounds.

Central had a handful of other near-misses, including Ridley Waldo at 144 pounds. Waldo, who earned technical falls in his first two matches, battled one-loss Hudson Egeberg to the end of regulation before falling in the sudden victory period.

Others, like Jackson Dargatz (106), Elias Biegler (165) and Grayden Timm (175) suffered early-bracket losses, but battled back through the consolation rounds to earn spots in today’s rounds.

“It’s like most tournaments,” said Central coach Donnie Bowden. “You have some ups and downs, especially when this one is as deep as it is and the competition is as tough as it is. We’ve been fighting, and fighting pretty good.”

Bowden said his guys aren’t getting nudged out of tough results in this tournament where in previous outings this season, they have.

“I don’t want to say I’m satisfied,” he said, “but I’m glad to see the effort that we’re putting out. We had some tough matches. Last weekend, we didn’t get any of those really tough, gritty matches, and we had them from the get-go here. I think the guys have stepped up.”

Central’s efforts have bolstered the Golden Eagles into second place in the team standings after the opening day of action. Central stands with 105 points, just one point ahead of Bismarck and three points in front of fellow Eastern South Dakota Conference foe Watertown.

Sturgis leads the way by a healthy margin with 142.5 points.

“It’s very deep, and there’s a lot of quality kids (in the tournament),” Bowden noted.

The Golden Eagles and the rest of the tournament field will resume action this morning.

To see Aberdeen Central results, click on the following link:

http://www.trackwrestling.com/predefinedtournaments/VerifyPassword.jsp?tournamentId=878265132&userType=viewer&pageName=TeamResults.jsp;teamBox=1887740147:fontSizeBox=10:patternBox=1000