Huron lands five in semifinals

SIOUX FALLS — Five of the eight Huron wrestlers who qualified for the Class A State Wrestling Tournament, which is being held at the Denny Sanford Premier Center, went 2-0 on Friday to reach the semifinals.
“The kids went out and got after it,” Huron coach Dan McCarty said. “We were hoping to maybe get six into the semifinals, but we knew there was a good chance that we would get five.”
Junior Chipper Shillingstad opened the tournament with a pin at the 2:49 mark of his match against Isiah DuBray of Rapid City Douglas and then decisioned Kobi Terpstra of Brandon Valley 7-4 to reach the semifinals.
Shillingstad, who is now 20-5, will face Tyson Stoebner of Lennox, who is 46-6, in the semifinals today.
Sophomore TahJae Jenkins Harris, who was the No. 1 seed at 152 for Huron, recorded a pin at 2:46 against Wyatt Knudson of Beresford/Alcester-Hudson in his opening match and then decisioned Barry Browning of Pierre 9-2 to reach the semifinals. He improved to 34-5 and will face Nolan Johnson of Madison, who is 34-5, in the semifinals.
Senior Wyatt Larsen improved to 38-3 with a pair of wins for the Tigers at 182. He pinned PJ Parmelee of Tea Area in his opening match and then won 6-4 in sudden victory 1 against Brock Baker of Aberdeen Central to secure a spot in the semfinals.
Junior Gabe Reiger opened the tournament with a pin in 3:00 against Tice McVay of Sturgis and then won 8-4 against Nolan Smith of Rapid City Central to earn a berth in the semifinals at 195. He will put his 25-12 record up against top-seeded Carson Max of Mitchell, who is 32-3, in the semifinals.

Senior Zach Siemonsma entered the tournament as the sixth seed and will finish no lower than fourth. He pinned Tanner Kettwig of Milbank in 3:23 in his opening match and then recorded a 12-2 major decision against third-seeded Mathais Thompson of Rapid City Central in the quarter finals.
Siemonsma, who is now 17-5, will face second-seeded Loagn Warzecha of Harrisburg, who is 41-3, in the semifinals.
“If those five all go out and wrestle the way they have shown they can wrestle, they all have a chance to make it to the finals,” McCarty said.
The only other wrestler reaching the second day of the tournament for Huron is Travis Kleinsasser at 170. He won his opening match with a pin at 3:17 against Max Scnoenfelder of Mitchell before suffering a 3-1 setback against Zach Witte of Sioux Falls O’Gorman in the quarterfinals.
Kleinsasser rebounded with a 5-2 win against Caleb Brink of Rapid City Stevens. He will face Tupak Kpeayeh of Sioux Falls Washington to reach the consolation semifinals in his first match today.
“Travis is wrestling a good tournament and has a shot at making it all the way back for a third-place finish,” McCarty said.
After suffering an 8-3 loss in the opening round, Huron junior Daynon Huber rebounded with an 11-2 major decision against Max Lamer of Dell Rapids, at 132. A setback against Jack Smith of Brandon Valley in the next round of wrestlebacks ended his season.
Huron freshman Sebastian Cardona, who missed most of the season due to injury, suffered back-to-back losses at 285 to end his tournament.
Rapid City Stevens led the team standings with 88.5 points, while Pierre was second at 85. Sturgis was third at 62, followed by Rapid City Central at 59.5 and Aberdeen Central at 58.5.
The Tigers were seventh in the team standings after the opening day of the two-day event with 54 points.
The semifinals will begin at 10 a.m. today, with the championship round slated for 6 p.m.

COURTESY OF Parry Sterner and Bill Nelson
Landon Sivertsen of Miller/Highmore-Harrold wrestles Finn Hanson of Burke/Gregory in the opening round at 145 pounds during the Class B State Wrestling Tournament on Friday at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls. Wolsey-Wessington’s Tate Haider, left, wrestles Hunter Kloos of Deuel during the opening round at 132 pounds at the Class B State Wrestling Tournament on Friday at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls.