By Rich Winter

605 Sports

RAPID CITY — For years Pierre senior Elijah Boutchee had heard all about the Lakota Nation Invitational. 

Boutchee is related to Cheyenne-Eagle Butte/Dupree/Tiospaye Topa coach Josh Schrempp and after years of hearing about the tournament, Boutchee, an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe participated in an event he had previously just heard stories about. 

“My heritage has always been pretty big for me and I wanted to learn about it so I thought this was a good opportunity to be around it and compete in it,” Boutchee said. 

Before he ventured to Rapid City Boutchee sought permission from his Pierre teammates who were scheduled in a dual match against Aberdeen Central on the same date as the Lakota Nation tournament. 

“I talked to my teammates because their opinion matters to me,” he said. “They told me I should take this opportunity just because of how much this stuff means to me.” 

Boutchee is coming off a junior season where he finished second in the Class A state tournament (215). On Tuesday he pinned all three of his opponents including Lakota Tech’s Kolt Fox in just :48 seconds in the championship match. 

Boutchee comes from a wrestling family and had friends of the family that also wrestled. He picked up the sport in the third grade but also played basketball until the sixth grade where he decided to focus on wrestling. 

Boutchee is a multi-sport standout and was part of three state Pierre football championships during his first three years of high school. He was a two-way starter for the 2024 Pierre team that finished as Class 11AA runner-ups to Watertown.

In late November he was named a Class 11AA all-state football player for the defensive line position. He started playing flag-football in early elementary and has been playing tackle football since the third grade. 

“There is something special about being a Pierre athlete,” he said. “I’m glad I’m part of Pierre athletics and I can’t imagine being part of any other team.” 

This season the Pierre football team started the season 2-4 before reeling off five straight wins to reach the Class 11A championship game. The Governors were going for a record-setting eighth consecutive state title but fell to Watertown 14-13 in the 2024 Class 11AA championship game. 

Boutchee blamed the slow start on the youth and inexperience of this year’s team and talked about how hard the championship game loss to Watertown was. 

“We were going for an eighth consecutive state title and to be the class that lost was tough,” he said. “It was a fun season and we did a lot of things that were unexpected.” 

Undecided if he will play sports in college Boutchee said the 2024 Lakota Nation experience was worthwhile. 

“This was really cool and I’ve never been to anything like this,” he said. “I’ve done a few things here and there but nothing meaningful. I’m glad we came out there and were able to be part of it.”