By Rich Winter

605 Sports

In each of the last three weekends Canton, Kimball/White Lake/Platte-Geddes and Winner have been at the same tournaments: McCook Central/Montrose, Mid-Dakota Monster and Saturday’s Tri-Valley Invitational. 

While the teams have seen each other, they haven’t seen all of each other. At last weekend’s Mid-Dakota Monster, Canton brought just weight wrestlers. At the same tournament Winner wrestled without Ryken Orel, Charley Pravecek and Achilles Willuweit, who has yet to wrestle a match this season for the Warriors. 

While the field is loaded the brackets are overflowing with returning state champions, place-winners and ranked wrestlers. 

Weight class discussion: 

(106) No. 3 ranked Gavin Braun (KWLPG) and No. 4 ranked Jackson Kaul (Bon Homme/Scotland/Avon are set up for a showdown. 

(113) No. 1 Maxton Brozik (Winner) and No. 2 Teagen Herrick (Miller/Highmore-Harrold) are the top two seeds, but they’ll have some company. No. 5 ranked Holden Hawkins (Sisseton) and Class A No. 6 Tate Huff (Aberdeen Central) could make for some interesting semi finals. 

(120) No. 1 Ian Metz (Sisseton) and No. 2 Kasen Konstanz (KWLPG) had an epic final in Presho. Toss in No. 3 ranked Kellan Hurd (MHH) and No. 4 ranked (Class A) Rayden Zens (Aberdeen Central) and these semis will be stout. 

(126) No. 1 ranked Ayson Rice (Canton), No. 3 ranked Kaleb Osborn (Winner) and Class A No. 5 Mason Schrempp (Aberdeen Central) will be vying for a championship. 

(132) No. 2 ranked Kale Ask (Canton) is the heavy favorite but No. 7 ranked Riley Tschetter of (Marion/Freeman) will be looking to impress pollsters. 

(138) No. 2 Andy Meyer (Canton) and No. 3 Chase Varilek (KWLPG) are the favorites to make the final. No. 5 Brady Bierma (BH/S/A) and Class A No. 5 Brock Martin (Aberdeen Central) will be looking for ranking movement with potential upsets. 

(145) No. 1 ranked Kaden Keiser (Winner) and No. 3 Carter Lenz (KWLPG) have been duking it out over the last three weeks. No. 5 Lucas Huester (Elk Point-Jefferson), No. 7 Jack Even (Parker) and No. 8 Carter Rager (Canton) give this (145) bracket some solid depth. 

(152) The top ranked athletes in this weight class are No. 2 Luke Richardson (Canton) and No. 5 Lucas Lenz (KWLPG)

(160) No. 1 Riley Orel (Winner) and No. 3 Grayson Hanson (KWLPG) are the top ranked wrestlers in this bracket. Could be another barn-burner if these two reach the finals. 

(170) Winner’s No. 4 ranked Joey Cole has been coming up with the goods in recent weeks. If he and No. 2 ranked Ben Swatek (Elk Point-Jefferson) reach the final we’ll have a battle. 

(182) This bracket is filled with studs and we’ll see ranked wrestlers meeting as early as the quarterfinals. No. 2 Isaac Crownover (BHSA), No. 3 Jack Kruger (Winner), No. 4 Charlie Patton (Parker), No. 5 Gaviv Jacobs (EPJ), No. 6 Caleb Dietrich (Flandreau), No. 7 Josh Merkle, Canton, No. 8 Holden Havlik (KWLPG) and No. 9 Tate Hofffman (MHH) will battle it out for ranking and potential state seeding criteria. 

(195) No. 1 Tanner Myers (Canton) handed No. 2 Levi Nightingale (KWLPG) his only loss of the season in Presho. Those two will have to contend with No. 6 ranked Charley Pravecek (Winner). 

(220) The home crowd will certainly be cheering for No. 2 ranked Isaac Nehlich (Tri-Valley). Canton’s top-ranked Marshall Baldwin will have to fend off Nehlich and No. 4 ranked Levi Wieman (Parker). 

(285) No. 7 ranked Kameron Styles (KWLPG) nearly upset top-ranked Quinten Christensen (WS/W/WW) in a dual Thursday night. A little confidence boost for Styles as No. 3 Isaac Suter (Canton) looms on the other side of the bracket. 

Liveticket.tv will be webcasting the entire Tri-Valley Invitational. Make sure to check it out at https://winnerwarriorslive.com/index.php?page=wrestling-game&id=8146&match=