By Rich Winter

605 Sports

HARTFORD — With a strong AAU program at West Central, Trojan co-head coaches Cole Grocott and Mike Ideker knew exactly what was coming up the wrestling pipeline. 

For the 2023-24 season, the West Central boys wrestling team has six sets of brothers, with many of them contributing varsity members who helped the Trojans to a No. 5 Week 1 rating in Class A. 

Coach Grocott knew full well the competitiveness that brothers often bring to wrestling programs.

“I think it starts when they are little kids,” Grocott said. “”They are fighting against each other as little kids and once they get in the wrestling room they just seem to have another gear.” 

An extra gear and about 500 extra matches that only siblings and their parents can fully understand.

Brothers or even sets of brothers is one thing, but the 2023-24 West Central team has so many siblings frankly it’s hard to keep them all straight.

West Central brothers on 2023-24 team

• Carda: Chandler and Chet Carda are seniors. Younger brother Chaz is a sophomore. Their father Chip Carda is an assistant coach for the high school team. 

• Klinkhammer: Langdon Klinkhammer, freshman, Bentley Klinkhammer, 7th-grader

• Pischke: Gavin is a senior (285) and Grayson Pischke.

• Gebhard: Gabe is a senior and Oliver Gebhard

• Whiting: Rayce Whiting is a senior, Orlando is a junior, Hayden is a sophomore and Jett is a freshman.

• Vessells: Keaton Vessells is a junior on the team while Karson is a freshman. 

Grocott said the Trojans program numbers just keep rising all the way up to 48 athletes wrestling this season. The AAU program is strong, the girls program is coming along and a high school room full of wrestling brothers is helping with an upward trajectory of the wrestling program. At the 2022 state tournament the Trojans finished 13th scoring just 41 points. At the 2023 tournament the Trojans finished seventh scoring 94 points. 

Senior Chandler Carda is ranked No. 2 (165) and said he and his brother, Chet, messed around a lot as youngsters, primarily in the family's big living room which undoubtedly saw a few broken items over the years.

Chandler Carda has a twin brother Chet and a younger brother named Chaz - Photo courtesy of Lexy Klinkhammer

“I don’t feel like my parents liked that very much but that’s always where our skirmishes occurred," Chandler Carda said.

Drawing from his own brotherly experience Chet Carda feels like West Central is better because of the brothers on the team.

“We feel like we have been on the team to help,” Chet Carda said. “I think each set of brothers lifts the others and that pulls the whole team up.” 

https://605sports.com/Six-sets-of-brothers-bolster-West-Central's-ascension-in-Class-A-wrestling--

For senior Rayce Whiting he has mixed feelings about his experience with brothers. 

“Sometimes having brothers can be a good thing and a bad thing,” he said. “Brothers are close and we push each other harder with all that brotherly love.”

Rayce didn’t qualify for the state meet last season. He is currently ranked No. 6 (175) but he’s planning on maximizing every moment he has as a member of the team. 

“My goals this year are to work harder, do as well as I can in wrestling and become the best human being I can,” he said. 

West Central hasn’t had an individual state wrestling champion since Zach Butler in 2010. Coach Grocott joked a bit saying the Trojans have come close to that elusive state title with Tim Weber, now an assistant coach with the high school and Austin Ideker both being two-time runner-ups at the state tournament. 

West Central had seven wrestlers rated in the top-eight of their weight classes in the first Dakota Grapplers poll that was released Monday. 

Chandler Carda is No. 2 (165), Gavin Pischke is No. 3 (285), Keaton Vessells is No. 3 (157), Orlando Whiting is No. 4 (132), Karson Vessells is No. 6 (126), Rayce Whiting is No. 6 (175) and Jesse Jost is No. 7 (144).

Kaden Haakinson (106), Bentley Klinkhammer (113), Gabe Gebhard (215), Hayden Whiting (150) and  Langdon Klinkenhammer (138) were all in the honorable mention category of the Week 1 ratings (8-12).

Freshman Langdon Klinkhammer is receiving honorable mention votes in the first wrestling poll - Photo courtesy of Lexy Klinkhammer

Assistant coach Chip Carda has been around the West Central program for over a decade, first as part of the AAU program. He says that brotherly connection is huge in the world of high school wrestling. 

“Having brothers plays a huge role because brothers don’t like to see the other one succeed or outdo them,” Chip Carda said. “When these brothers compete against each other growing up their expectations bring them to a higher level.”

The West Central girls team also features siblings with sisters Leah and Kyliegh Schuller.