By Rich Winter

605 Sports

LEAD — The Lead-Deadwood wrestling team broke into the Class B team rankings this week for the first time in a long time. 

Second-year coach Mike Sneesby knows his squad has a long way to go but the weekly rankings, and the number of ranked Golddigger wrestlers is proof positive that the plan is working. 

“I took the job last year and former Spearfish state champion Tyler Waterson also joined the staff,” Sneesby said. “We started working together with the kids on technique and just basic wrestling.” 

The results for the Golddiggers are starting to break through. In addition to being tied as the 13th ranked Class B team this week Lead-Deadwood also had six grapplers that made the individual rankings. Parker Millard (113), Drew Janke (126), Mekhi Hayes (138), Miles Renner (150), Ethan Hess (175) and Dylan Meade (190) all cracked the top-12 of their respective weight classes. 

Lead-Deadwood’s wrestling numbers are up significantly and that includes the middle-school where the numbers are up from five a year ago to 14 this season. A year ago the high school team had 14 athletes wrestling and that number has swollen to 24 athletes on the 2023-24 roster. 

Sneesby said he sees small progressions every tournament. 

“It has been kind of a grind,” he said. “It takes a while and is a process to see the way to work in a wrestling room. We’re working on having the right mentality so we go into every match expecting to win. We’re not there yet but still have two months to climb that mountain.” 

For a program on the way up Lead-Deadwood is looking for tradition and state place-winners. It has been 20 years since the Golddiggers last had a state champion and that was Jason Schweitzer in 2003. 

Class B freshman look strong in 175-pound weight class 

It is always interesting to follow younger wrestlers, especially those that are competing against bigger and older kids in the upper weight classes. Here are three freshman names to remember, all are ranked at (175). Hot Springs freshman Hunter Kunz is rated No. 5, Parker freshman Dylan Buseman is ranked No. 7 and Parkston freshman Gage Jodozi is rated No. 8.

Northern State signs South Dakota athletes 

The incoming freshman class at Northern State for the fall of 2024 is going to lean heavily on South Dakota wrestlers. The Wolves announced this week that Grady Fey (Redfield), Sloan Johannsen (Watertown), Karstyn Lhotak (Wagner) and Rayden Zens (Aberdeen Central) will continue their athletic and academic careers in Aberdeen. 

Watertown Hach’s competing at high level

Sibling rivalries between brothers is a well known and recurring theme but with the introduction of girls wrestling we may start hearing more about brother/sister tandems. Watertown’s junior Micah Hach is ranked No. 2 in Class A (285). Watertown freshman Eden Hach made a big move in the week 3 girls rankings moving all the way up to No. 2 (250). Harrisburg’s Regina Stoeser is top-ranked (126) and her younger brother Tristan is ranked No. 2 (113) in Class A. Another pair of siblings to keep an eye on are Caleb and Sarah Rickenbach. Caleb is the top-ranked Class A wrestler (215) while Sarah is ranked No. 4 (145). 

Most anticipated matches at McCook Central/Montrose invitational

With the holidays upon us the McCook Central/Montrose boys invitational on Friday promises some fireworks as a number of top Class B teams see each other for the first time this season. Canton, Philip Area, Kimball/White Lake/Platte-Geddes and Winner are set to collide. The potential finals matchups are tantalizing for South Dakota wrestling fans. In the (285) class, No. 1 Traun Cook of Canton and No. 2 Grady Fey of Redfield could meet in the finals. The (126) weight class features the top-four Class B ranked wrestlers. Winner’s Maxton Brozik, KWLPG’s Kasen Konstanz, Canton’s Aiden Schrempp and MCM’s Trystan Traupel will duke it out for bragging rights and potential state-tournament seeding. At 132, No. 1 Gavin Braun, KWLPG and No. 2 Ashton Keller of Canton should meet in the finals. At 144,  No. 1 KWLPG’s Iden Myers and Teague Granum of Canton should meet in the finals. At 150, No. 1 Ayson Rice of Canton should meet No. 2 Jace Blasius of Philip Area in the finals. At 157, No. 1 ranked Kale Crowser of Philip Area and No. 2 Andrew Even of Parker are slated to meet in the finals. At 165, No. 1 ranked Jackson Remmers of Howard could meet Philip Area’s Thane Simmons in the finals. At 175, No. 1 ranked Burk Blasius of Philip Area and No. 2 Carter Randall of MCM will meet in the finals if the seeds hold.