By Rich Winter

605 Sports

FARGO, N.D. — After the dust had cleared from the USA Wrestling Junior and 16U National Championships, five South Dakota girls earned All-American honors. 

Regina Stoeser (Harrisburg), Peyton Hellmann (Bon Homme/Scotland/Avon), Britney Rueb (Bon Homme/Scotland/Avon) all earned All-American honors in the 16U division. Taylor Graveman (Spearfish) and Zoe Adam (Canton) earned All-American honors in the Junior girls division.

“To come home with five All-Americans and having Dani Ringstmeyer (Pierre) coming just a few points from All-American honors is a pretty incredible feeling,” Ray Ringstmeyer, SDUSAW Chairperson said.

After losing 4-1 in Sunday’s semifinals, Stoeser (122) came back to defeat Evelyn Holmes-Smith of Alabama (7-2) for a third-place finish.

“Regina’s third-place finish is the highest finish by a South Dakota athlete since Ronna Heaton won a national here in 2015,” Ringstmeyer said. 

Hellmann (127) and Rueb (127) earned fourth and sixth-place finishes, respectively, in the same weight class.

“We had several other girls in the 16U division that performed well,” Ringstmeyer said. “My niece Dani was right there and Lemmon’s Quinn Butler won some matches on Saturday.” 

In the Junior girls division two South Dakota legends capped their careers in fine fashion. Graveman finished seventh while earning her third All-American honor. Adam finished in sixth place and is a back-to-back All-American for South Dakota.

Moments after the final match Sunday, Ray Ringstmeyer was already reminiscing about the 2023 team that earned the most girls All-American honors in team history. 

“This is a team for the ages,” Ringstmeyer said. “It is a little bitter sweet sending them home. The wrestling is tough enough up here but these girls pushed each other and it is a great thing seeing them walk out of here as friends.” 

The Team South Dakota boys will take to the mats early Monday morning after weigh-ins on Sunday. Ringstmeyer said South Dakota has 23 athletes that will be competing while the boys divisions will have over 3,000 athletes competing for top honors.