Commentary by Rodney Haas 
605 sports 

 

SIOUX FALLS — It was the girls’ 132-pound final when I realized I had seen this wrestler before. 

The wrestler was Spearfish’s Taylor Graveman, who I photographed back in December at the Rapid City Invitational. 

It was there, where I was informed by someone on the Spearfish coaching staff that she was ranked in the Top 5 in the country. So it wasn’t a real surprise to see her in Friday’s State Wrestling Finals. 

She made quick work of Pierre’s Gianna Stangeland — pinning her in 53 seconds, and afterward, as tradition of the sport of wrestling, the ref raised her arm to signify she was a champion. 

Graveman didn’t express any emotion after, she acted as if it was business as normal. There’s saying in sports, “Act like you’ve been there before,” and she was acting like she had been there before. 

At first, her reaction surprised me. Here, I’m expecting emotions to be pouring out of her after becoming a state champion, but nothing. 

Instead moments later, I realized how good of a poker face Graveman had. Because not long after shaking the hand of the Pierre coach, the emotion erupted like a volcano and she leaped into the arms of coach Joel Martin. 

Spearfish’s Taylor Graveman leaps into the arms of coach Joel Martin following Graveman’s win in the girls 132-pound final on Friday in Sioux Falls. (Rodney Haas/605sports)
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It’s moments like these that makes any state high school wrestling final a very special event. For those who were at the Danny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls on Friday night and the thousands watching at home on South Dakota Public Television, what they saw was a culmination point. 

For the 76 wrestlers who entered the arena for the finals, it was the culmination of all the blood, sweat and tears that have been poured out in the wrestling room. 

At the end of the night, only one gets to be called a state champion. Meanwhile, for the other wrestler, it’s a different story. 

If that wrestler is an underclassman, then it’s motivation to get back to the biggest stage in wrestling. If that wrestler is a senior, then its heartache. 

But for those wrestlers who win, it’s a moment in time they will remember until the day they die.

 

 

Stanley County’s Chase Hanson is carried off the floor by coach Clayton Wahlstrom after Hanson won the Class B 120-pound title on Friday night in Sioux Falls. Hanson defeated Kellan Hurd of Miller/Highmore-Harrold by a 6-3 decision. (Rodney Haas/605 sports)
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When I posted the photo of Graveman leaping into the arms of Martin on our Facebook page, CJ Bennett from Belle Fourche commented on the post. She said, “Some of the most influential people in my life were coaches. That relationship stays with you for years.” 

You know what, she’s right. 

Growing up in the mid to late 1990’s in Mitchell, most of my friends in high school where on the the basketball and wrestling teams. To this day, 20 years later, I hear them talk about the impact basketball coach Gary Munsen and wrestling coach Andy Tate had on them in becoming the type of men they are today.  

For me personally, I never actually played high school sports, but I was the student manager for the Kernel football team. However, just being around sports and coaches, did impact me and helped me in life and my career as a sports journalist.  

I had this football coach tell me once when I was working on a story about him taking his players to a local senior living and care facility. 

He told me. “The success as coaches is not measured in wins or losses, it’s measured by the type men these players become. Are they good husbands? Are they good fathers? Are they active members in their community? That’s how you measure success as a coach.”   

It’s that that relationship between coach and athlete that is endearing to both. The coach who pushes the athlete hard because they know the potential, even if the athlete doesn’t see it. And the athlete, who realizes when they become a state champion on why the coach was pushing them hard. 

 

Brandon Valley coach Derek Outland informs his 106-pounder Trevon Oehme, “You won!” moments after Oehme defeated Rapid City Stevens’ Corbin Zent for the Class A 106-pound title on Friday in Sioux Falls. (Rodney Haas/605sports)
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While the moment of Graveman and her coach, was a highlight for everyone in attendance, there was a more subtle moment that not a lot of people were probably aware of. 

It happened in the Class A 106-pound final between Brandon Valley’s Trevon Oehme and Rapid City Stevens’ Corbin Zent. 

The match was close throughout, but in the end the sophomore Oehme prevailed with a 3-2 decision. At first, Oehme looked puzzled and shocked as to question the outcome, “Did I just win?”

However, gleaming with pride, Brandon Valley coach Derek Outland knew what his young wrestler had accomplished. 

As the final seconds ticked away, Outland yelled at his shocked wrestler, “You won!"

With Oehme being a sophomore, the chances are high he will be back on wrestling’s biggest stage. But if he wins two more state titles before he closes out his career, it will take the love and support of not just his coaches, but his parents. 

It’s something that Canton’s Zoe Adam showed all of us. 

After pinning Sioux Falls Lincoln’s Betsy Martinez in 5:16 to capture the girls’ 190-pound title, Adam did the customary things following a match including shaking the hand of the Sioux Falls Lincoln coach and then get congratulations from her coach. But as she was walking off the floor, she took a detour give a big hug to who I’m assuming was her mother at the center of the arena. 

Just another person in a long line of influential people who helped get these wrestlers to the top of the mountain.

  

Redfield’s Mason Fey realizes he's a state champ after defeating Howard’s John Callies with a 1-0 decision to capture the Class B 160-pound title on Friday in Sioux Falls (Rodney Haas/605sports)
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