By Rich Winter

605 Sports

RAPID CITY — When Aberdeen Central’s Mason Schrempp steps on the mat Saturday for the championship match at 157, his cousins, his family and his extended family from all four corners of South Dakota will be watching.

The 2025 Class B state tournament featured four athletes with connections to the Schrempp family tree, a well known wrestling family with roots in the Eagle Butte community. 

• Mason Schrempp - Aberdeen Central (157), 43-5, wrestling for Class A state championship, son of Ricki (Schrempp) Link.

• Aiden Schrempp - Canton (132), 32-5, wrestling for 5th place at 2025 Class B state tournament, son of Cameron Schrempp. 

• Tripp Schrempp, Cheyenne-Eagle Butte/Dupree/Tiospaye Topa (157), 18-15, eliminated after first two rounds of 2025 Class A state tournament, son of Josh Schrempp.

• Elijah Boutchee, Pierre, 42-11 (215), wrestling for third place at the 2025 Class A state tournament. Elijah’s mother Amy (Simon) Boutchee is the daughter of Kathy (Schrempp) Simon. 

The Schrempp name has been a fixture in the South Dakota wrestling community for the past five decades.

“Tripp and Aiden’s grandfather, Dan Schrempp, started wrestling in 1981 to stay in shape for boxing,” Josh Schrempp, current Cheyenne-Eagle Butte/Dupree/Tiospaye Topa coach, said. “He ended up liking wrestling and continued wrestling through high school.”

Dan Schrempp was a three-time state qualifier but never placed at a state tournament. 

After high school Dan started helping with the local AAU Wrestling program along with Joe Schrempp (Mason’s grandpa), and through the years their children became involved in the sport, Josh, Cameron, Jeremy, Ricki, and many other cousins. 

Aberdeen Central's Mason Schrempp wrestled Cheyenne-Eagle Butte/Dupree/Tiospaye Topa's Tripp Schrempp in the first round of the 2025 Class A state tournament. (Rodney Haas / 605 Sports)

Cameron Schrempp grew up around Eagle Butte and was a six-time state qualifier, four time place-winner and a state champion at 152 his senior year while wrestling for Canton. Wrestled for Dickinson State University and was a four-time national qualifier, three time All-American with a third-place finish at the national tournament his senior season. He wrestled professionally for a while in MMA just locally then decided to hang the towel to focus on my family. Fought professionally in the MMA and, along with wife Brittany, who was a three-time All-American for Dickinson State University, coaches wrestlers online professionally. 

“I wrestled from a young age and boxed as well,” Cameron Schrempp said. “I remember my siblings and I all doing well whenever we wrestled. Lots of great memories in wrestling, one of them being Cody Jewett winning a state youth title and then a state championship for Gettysburg.” 

Aiden Schrempp spent most of his formative years living in Nebraska. He was a youth state champion as a sixth grader before moving to Canton prior to his eighth-grade year.

“One of Aiden’s goals is to become the first father/son combination to be state champions in school history while being coached by the same coach, Jeremy Swenson,” Cameron Schrempp said. 

“Joe Schrempp is my dad and we wrestled for Eagle Butte from 1980-1984,” Ricki (Schrempp) Link said. “He did qualify for state a few times but never places. He also coached high school wrestling for Cheyenne-Eagle Butte back in the 90’s. My brother Jeremy and I both wrestled through the youth program as well. My cousin Kelly was just telling me at regions how Joe and Dan would finish wrestling practice and go straight into boxing practice.” 

Elijah Boutchee wrestles his final match for the Pierre Governors tonight as he aims for a third-place finish at 215. His father, Samson, never thought he’d be attending a state wrestling tournament until he watched Cameron Schrempp wrestle at Dickinson State.

“I had no idea how big wrestling was until I watched that,” Samson Boutchee said. “Elijah’s aunt, Jennifer (Schrempp) Simon was also a wrestler. She wrestled lots of AAU along with the boys under her dad Clinton Simon coaching.” 

Elijah Boutchee, Mason Schrempp and Tripp Schrempp are all seniors while Aiden Schrempp is a sophomore. The Cheyenne-Eagle Butte/Dupree/Tiospaye Topa roster features a seventh grader, Rowdy Schrempp, who will be an athlete to keep tabs on for the next five years.