By Ryan Deal

605 Sports

SIOUX FALLS — The Pierre wrestling program etched its name in South Dakota wrestling history on Friday.

The Governors won their first-ever girls state wrestling championship at the state wrestling tournament. Last season marked the first sanctioned girls wrestling tournament, but only an individual competition was held. 

This year was the first tournament and the Governors, behind their 10 state place winners, captured the inaugural title with 146 points. Canton placed with 129 points. 

“It’s a roller coaster of a weekend and with a lot of new girls who haven’t gone through the experience,” Pierre coach Matt Thorson said. “A lot of questions were asked and we learned by experience and it was a lot of fun for them. So it was a great experience for a lot of these girls.”

And it was an experience Thorson said the Governors will remember for a long time. 

“We wanted to etch our names in the history books and it’s pretty cool for these girls to be able to always say that,” Thorson said. “They can come back in 20 years and they will always have this to their name and say ‘I was part of this history. I was part of this really cool opportunity for girls wrestling.’ ”

The Governors advanced seven of their 10 state qualifiers into the semifinals, including Gianna Stangeland (132) and Ciara McFarling (285) to the finals. 

McFarling won her second straight state championship. One year after winning the 275-pound championship, McFarling pinned Canton’s Kiara King (3:07) in Friday’s finals. 

Stangeland was pinned by Spearfish’s Taylor Graveman in her title match. 

The other Pierre placewinners included: Sydney Uhrig (106, 3rd), Hattie Baldwin (126, 6th), Abbigail Lewis (142, 3rd), Ireland Templeton (154, 5th), Emalee Larson (170, 4th) and Marlee Shorter (190, 4th). 

In addition to its 10 state qualifiers, Pierre had 25 total wrestlers this season to bolster the program. That’s why Thorson praised the Governors and everyone associated with the program. 

“It just speaks a lot about the community of Pierre,” Thorson said. “It’s a pretty big wrestling community. The girls, the families, the entire community and the administration really bought into the idea of girls wrestling. They hired coaches and it shows. Look at the numbers we have and not many communities are able to have the girls we have.”