By Rich Winter

605 Sports

HARRISBURG — Harrisburg High School’s Regina Stoeser has heard all the family stories. 

Her father Chance won a state wrestling title in 1994 at 135 pounds for Stanley County and her grandfather Rodney won a state championship with Pierre in 1969 at 133 pounds.

“I’ve pretty much heard it all,” a whimsical Stoeser said. “They call themselves legends.” 

The ‘Legends’ might have to start taking notes because Stoeser just won a second consecutive state wrestling title (126) with the Harrisburg Tigers. Stoeser won a state title in 2022 (120) when she pinned Brandon Valley’s Mary-Katherine Joseph (2:52) in the finals. Most recently she defeated Bon Homme/Scotland/Avon’s Britney Rueb (120) in the state finals with a 2-0 decision. 

“My competitiveness and that support comes from them,” Regina Stoeser said. “My success comes from them and their advice because they’ve done it so it’s really cool to keep the tradition alive.” 

Some of that drive and competitiveness may come from her family but Chance Stoeser noticed something different about his daughter at a very early age. 

“She’s had ‘It’ since she was born,” Chance Stoeser said. “She’s a phenomenal soccer player to go along with what she’s done in wrestling.” 

With girls wrestling still in its infancy as a sanctioned South Dakota High School Activities sport, Stoeser kinda stumbled into the sport by accident. She would tag along with the family to watch her younger brother Tristan compete. At a tournament in Fargo, North Dakota, she asked her parents Chance and Erika if she could give it a shot. 

Regina Stoeser along with her younger brother Tristan - Photo courtesy of Stoeser family.

“Tristan was wrestling age 5-6 and Regina was wrestling age 7-8,” he said. “Tristan got beat and she came back and beat that kid's sister.” 

While Regina Stoeser liked the sport there weren’t very many tournaments or for that matter matches to compete in. 

“She liked the sport but then Rollie Fink got some girls together to train,” Chance Stoeser said. “Ryan Hirschkorn and Toby Bryant, former Harrisburg wrestlers, would come in and train with them. They would get about five matches per year and then go to the state tournament.”

In sixth grade she told her parents, ‘Hey, I’m going to wrestle this year,’ and off she went. 

Matches may have been hard to get five years ago but Stoeser is part of a group of young women that are part of the explosive growth of girls wrestling. 

“I’m really grateful to be part of it,” Regina Stoeser said. “All the girls and I get along and it is cool to be part of a small community and push each other and the sport of girls wrestling forward.”

Long gone are the days when a handful of fans got excited for girls wrestling. Multiple times this season Stoeser competed in packed arenas, including this year’s state finals. 

“You feel like a gladiator when you are out there,” she said. “It is the kind of environment you train for and I think about all the work that myself and the rest of the girls have done that are putting those people in the arena.” 

This year’s state championship bout between Stoeser and Rueb was the fifth time this season the pair met. The match was chosen as the ‘Fan Favorite’ and was the last match of this year’s girls state tournament. 

Harrisburg's Regina Stoeser is all smiles after winning the (120) title at the recent South Dakota state wrestling championships - Rodney Haas - 605 Sports

“The difference was I wrestled my match and beat her tactically,” Stoeser said. “The last two times she beat me but I was able to ride it out and not get caught in one move.” 

The Harrisburg freshman isn’t sure if she’ll pursue wrestling or soccer but playing collegiately is definitely in her future plans. She and a team from South Dakota will be competing in a dual tournament in Des Moines, Iowa, this month. 

“I’ve got the Twin River Duals at the end of the month and then I’ll be training for the national tournament in Fargo, North Dakota, this summer,” Regina Stoeser said.