Warriors claim title at Huron Invitational

HURON — The Winner Warriors wrestling team braved snowy roads to travel to the Huron Invitational on Saturday and rewarded themselves with the  title at the 11-team event, held at Huron Arena.
The Warriors claimed three individual champions en route to a total of 206.5 points in the tournament to easily outpace runner up Aberdeen Central, who was second with 173. Mitchell was third with 142.5, Clark-Willow Lake took fourth with 121 and Huron finished fifth with 114 points. Wolsey-Wessington was the only other Heartland-area team participating and finished 11th in the tournament.
Winner got individual titles at 113 pounds as Jack Krueger pinned Barrett Schneck of Milbank in 1:45, while teammate Atlas Willuweit took the top spot at 120 pounds with a 10-7 decision over Giovanni Ruffo of Yankton. Sam Krueger rounded out the Warrior champions, with a 40-second pin of Austin Cihak of Aberdeen Central at 145 pounds.
Clark-Willow Lake’s Cyclones got only one individual champion on the day, as junior Caleb Orris pushed his season mark to 41-0 with a 10-2 major decision of eighth-grader Owen Warren of Yankton. Cyclone 195-pounder Wyatt Clark earned a place in the finals, but dropped a 3-2 decision to Mitchell’s Carson Max.
Huron crowned a pair of champions. TahJae Jenkins Harris took the top spot at 152 pounds, defeating Aberdeen Central’s Will Jarrott with a 5-3 decision. It was the second time in 24 hours that Jenkins Harris had taken out Jarrott, by nearly identical scores.

The Tigers’ Wyatt Larsen took the title at 182 pounds, as he pinned Isaac Fischer of Milbank in 4:44 to push his season mark to 34-2. Larsen earned wins by fall in both his quarterfinal and semifinal matches as well after receiving a first-round bye.
Zack Siemonsma earned a second-place medal at 220 pounds as he moved to the finals, where he suffered a 2:37 fall to Nick Casperson of Beresford/Alcester Hudson.
Wolsey-Wessington’s Tate Haider took the championship at 132 pounds with a 6-5 decision over Daynon Huber of Huron. Gage Burke of C-WL lost in the semifinals to Haider, but came through the wrestle-backs to finish third at 132.
Other Clark-Willow Lake placers include Lucas Kannegieter, 6th at 113; Josh Weisbrod, 3rd at 138; Zack Mulder, 6th at 145; Landon Werdel, 4th at 160 and Riley Schmidt, 4th at 285.
Huron got a fifth-place finish from Chipper Shillingstad at 138 pounds; saw Matt Katz earn fifth at 160, and got a 6th-place finish from Gabe Rieger at 195.
Wolsey-Wessington’s only other placewinner was Henry Eichstadt, who finished fifth at 220 pounds.
The Huron Invitational closes the book on the regular season for most of the teams, as they prepare for regional tournament competition next weekend. with the top four placers in regional action moving on to  the state wrestling tournament Feb. 23-24 in Sioux Falls.

MIKE CARROLL/PLAINSMAN
Zack Siemonsma of Huron works a power half against Aberdeen Central’s Calob Jones during the semifinals at 220 pounds on Saturday in the Huron Invitational at Huron Arena. Riley Schmidt of Clark-Willow Lake wrestlers Zaine Wagner of Beresford during the consolation semifinals at 285 pounds in the Huron Invitational on Saturday at Huron Arena. Caleb Orris of Clark-Willow Lake wrestles Owen Warren of Yankton in the 170-pound championship match during the Huron Invitational on Saturday at Huron Arena. Clark-Willow Lake’s Josh Weisbrod wrestles Trevor Peters of Winner in the consolation title match at 138 pounds on Saturday in the Huron Invitational at Huron Arena. Huron’s Matt Katz hooks up the cradle against Preston Norrid of Winner during the fifth-place match at 160 pounds on Saturday in the Huron Invitational at Huron Arena. Wolsey-Wessington’s Colton Borah tries to get the pin against Mitchell’s Cole Gehrke during their 138-pound consolation match in the Huron Invitational on Saturday at Huron Arena.