By Rich Winter

605 Sports

BELLE FOURCHE — With about a month left in her high school wrestling career Belle Fourche’s Alexa Swaney is soaking up every second of her senior season. 

Swaney has been part of the Belle Fourche program since its inception four years ago and remembers the gentle push that first got her on the mat. 

“There was a teacher that worked there, coach Slice (Josh Schluesner) that knew my family liked wrestling and he asked me to go out for wrestling,” Swaney said. “I thought he was kidding at first but he kept pushing me a little each day until I finally decided to try it.”

At the very beginning of her wrestling career the journey was a lonely one. 

Swaney said there were just two girls on the team that first year, and her only female teammate was injured most of the year. As Swaney wraps up a ground-breaking career at Belle Fourche that includes an eighth-place finish at the state tournament (126) in 2023, the current roster is dotted with 11 girls on the wrestling team. 

“Alexa has been one of those girls that have helped pioneer the way for the girls,” Cory Neuharth, Belle Fourche coach said. “Alexis played soccer and a lot of the girls that played soccer are now part of our wrestling program.” 

Late in Swaney’s freshman season, a middle-school athlete named Kyra Vandenberg joined the girls team and found immediate success. Weighing well under the 106 class, Vandenberg scrapped her way to a sixth-place finish at the state tournament during her seventh-grade season. 

New to the sport, Vandenberg relied on Swaney during the infancy of wrestling at the high school level. 

“It’s definitely a big deal for someone else to help grow the Belle Fourche program,” Kyra Vandenberg said. “It is a big deal to have so many girls out and be part of growing our program and getting better.”

Getting better is something on the minds of everyone in the Belle Fourche wrestling room. At last weekend’s Black Hills Conference tournament the boys won their first team title since the 2007-08 season. The girls finished fifth scoring 72 points, just behind fourth-place team Douglas/Rapid City Christian/New Underwood (73). The energy is different in the Belle Fourche wrestling room this season and Vandenberg is happy to be part of a team on the rise. 

“I think our team has been very closely knit and it's an honor to be part of the team as we feel our way up,” she said. 

Swaney and Vandenberg both wrestling with a chip on their shoulder this season

As a sophomore, Swaney finished eighth (126) at the state tournament, a feat she called “big for me,” at the time. Swaney struggled with injuries last season going 19-6 but failing to place at the state tournament. 

“Last year I was hampered by an MCL knee injury,” Swaney said. “It was pretty disappointing not to be on the podium but that has been fueling me all season.

Entering this week Swaney is 23-7 and ranked No. 8 at 138.

“With her being a senior I’ve put a little pressure on her to place at state,” Neuharth said. “She started the year at 145 and is down to 138 and she’s had a couple of good matches with Custer’s Tiara Faehnrich (ranked No. 4, 138).” 

Vandenberg, a sophomore, already has three state tournament medals, finishing sixth in 2022, eighth in 2023 and eighth in 2024. After a solid regular season, Vandenberg was not happy with barely making the podium a year ago. 

“My mental state wasn’t very good a year ago and I got into my own head a lot last year,” she said. “This year I did some training over the summer and added some muscle and I grew a little bit. I wanted to come back from last year and prove myself.”

Vandenberg announced herself as a top contender in the 100 bracket when she won the Rapid City Invitational on Dec. 14 with a 7-4 decision over Pierre’s Shaylee Speck. Immediately after that tournament Vandenberg moved to the top of the Dakota Grappler rankings at 100. 

Neuharth called Vandenberg a “little firecracker” and talked about her athletic background paving the way for success on the mat. 

“She’s been wrestling for a long time and has been around long enough where she had to wrestle boys,” he said. “She has a gymnastics background and is super flexible.” 

Vandenberg has just two losses on the season, one to a wrestler from Miles City Montana, the other to Jenika Leonhardt of Sturgis. Vandenberg was ranked No. 5 in this week’s Dakota Grappler rankings.

“We didn’t wrestle very well against the Sturgis girl and we’re waiting to get that match back,” Neuharth said. “We’ve wrested the girl from Aberdeen Central (Madison Little) and the Speck girl from Pierre and we’re ready for these bigger meets in the next month.”