By Matt Gade

605 Sports

SIOUX FALLS — The Sturgis Scoopers don’t rebuild, they reload.

That’s how Sturgis boys’ wrestling coach Mike Abell said his team has continued to dominate the past three years.

After winning their third-straight dual title earlier this season, the Scooper boys claimed their third-straight Class A team title on Saturday during the South Dakota High School Activities Association state tournament at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls. 

“We try and keep reloading,” Abell said. “It's not about rebuilding, but reloading. 

“We got a lot of kids here cheering on their teammates. We got a lot of kids back home in the wrestling room that are excited to get that chance, put on a singlet and go score points for the team.”

On Saturday, the Scoopers scored 219.5 points, defeating second-place Brandon Valley, which finished with 174.5. 

The Scoopers were led by their lone state champion, Benjamin Nadig. Nadig won the 150-pound title, defeating Brandon Valley’s Braden Shoemaker 9-6. 

“Ben deserves everything he got. He's the hardest working kid I've ever been around, just an all-around great kid,” Abell said. “I told him, you know, before he went out or after he got done, he deserves everything that he got. He outworks everybody, every day. I'm super happy for him.”

While the day didn’t go as well as the Scoopers would have liked, with six wrestlers making their respective championship match, Nadig was the team’s sole winner. 

Despite that, Abell said he’s still proud of his guys. 

“We can't let that last round erase everything that we did this weekend, scoring 219 and a half points, qualifying 14 kids, placing 13 kids,” Abell said. “It's a special thing.

“You don't like to see your final round be like what it was, but we can't let that erase all the good things that happened this weekend. There was a lot of good wrestling this weekend, so I'm still super proud of the team, you know, even bouncing back from some of those losses, cheering on their teammates.”

The Sturgis boys wrestling team accepts the 2026 state championship trophy following the 2026 SDHSAA state tournament at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls. (Matt Gade/605 Sports)

Final results

Team Scores:

1 Sturgis Brown 219.5

2 Brandon Valley 174.5

3 Watertown 169.0

4 Aberdeen Central 136.5

5 West Central 129.0

Individual results:

106 pounds

1st Place - Caden Roe of West Central

2nd Place - Sullivan Sigman of Sturgis Brown

3rd Place - Braylon Schell of Watertown

4th Place - Macyn Gardner of O`Gorman

5th Place - Liam Moumy of Beresford/Alcester-Hudson

6th Place - Caden Swaney of Belle Fourche

7th Place - Parker Wingen of Vermillion

8th Place - Darian Feese of Dakota Valley

113 pounds 

1st Place - Pierce Hurd of Rapid City Central

2nd Place - Kaden Haakinson of West Central

3rd Place - William O`Connor of O`Gorman

4th Place - Charles Aldana of Madison

5th Place - Jonah Anderson of Watertown

6th Place - Tyce Dunn of Sturgis Brown

7th Place - Carter Nelson of Huron

8th Place - Isaac Weerheim of Brandon Valley

120 pounds

1st Place - Brendon Oehme of Brandon Valley

2nd Place - Tyler Baldwin of Sturgis Brown

3rd Place - Bentley Klinkhammer of West Central

4th Place - Esten Foss of Aberdeen Central

5th Place - Owen Serck of Beresford/Alcester-Hudson

6th Place - Chase Mathews of Watertown

7th Place - Aaron Halbur of Tea Area

8th Place - Griffin Felder of Harrisburg

126 pounds 

1st Place - Beckett Rehorst of Brandon Valley

2nd Place - Karson Vessells of West Central

3rd Place - Brody Randall of Watertown

4th Place - Mason Backous of Aberdeen Central

5th Place - Tarver Zebroski of Sturgis Brown

6th Place - Isaac Kauffman of Sioux Falls Lincoln

7th Place - Bode Minder of Pierre T.F. Riggs

8th Place - Aden Candelaria of Rapid City Central

132 pounds 

1st Place - Shea Richter of Watertown

2nd Place - Brody Gossen of West Central

3rd Place - Parker Graveman of Sturgis Brown

4th Place - Jackson Dargatz of Aberdeen Central

5th Place - Jaxon Toennies of Rapid City Stevens

6th Place - Noah Bennett of Mitchell

7th Place - Wyatt Davidson of Harrisburg

8th Place - Camden Tebay of Dell Rapids

138 pounds

1st Place - Tyler Woodring of Tea Area

2nd Place - Mason Hagen of Sturgis Brown

3rd Place - Steven Lamont of Harrisburg

4th Place - Kutler Swenson of Watertown

5th Place - Josiah Kauffman of Sioux Falls Lincoln

6th Place - Micah Stern of Brookings

7th Place - Alex Siemonsma of West Central

8th Place - Will Allen of Aberdeen Central

144 pounds

1st Place - Alex Oedekoven of Pierre T.F. Riggs

2nd Place - Graham Wilde of Sioux Falls Jefferson

3rd Place - Hudson Cisar of Sioux Falls Lincoln

4th Place - Langdon Klinkhammer of West Central

5th Place - Tristan Stoeser of Harrisburg

6th Place - Dexton Miller of Beresford/Alcester-Hudson

7th Place - Josiah Drummer of Sturgis Brown

8th Place - Aaron Tucker of Brandon Valley

150 pounds

1st Place - Benjamin Nadig of Sturgis Brown

2nd Place - Braden Shoemaker of Brandon Valley

3rd Place - Dylan Ulmer of Rapid City Central

4th Place - Jordan Schafer of Pierre T.F. Riggs

5th Place - Trevin Audiss of Tea Area

6th Place - Ramsey Williams of Lennox

7th Place - Porter Lozenski of Aberdeen Central

8th Place - Kruse Brennan of Chamberlain

157 pounds

1st Place - Gage Lohr of Watertown

2nd Place - Caleb Hodges of Madison

3rd Place - Ridley Waldo of Aberdeen Central

4th Place - Logan Johns of Harrisburg

5th Place - Keanu Lee of O`Gorman

6th Place - Tate Winter of Rapid City Central

7th Place - Jace Thurman of Sturgis Brown

8th Place - Riley Dighton of Belle Fourche

165 pounds

1st Place - Slaton Jones of O`Gorman

2nd Place - Shayce Platt of Yankton

3rd Place - Markus Pitkin of Watertown

4th Place - Porter Hunsley of Pierre T.F. Riggs

5th Place - Greyson Deelstra of Sioux Falls Lincoln

6th Place - Paiden Sandal of Douglas/Rapid City Christian

7th Place - Tucker Mason of Rapid City Stevens

8th Place - Dylan Johnson of Harrisburg

175 pounds

1st Place - Levi Veskrna of Brandon Valley

2nd Place - Grayden Timm of Aberdeen Central

3rd Place - Tayge Privett of Harrisburg

4th Place - Gavin Werlinger of Sturgis Brown

5th Place - Grant Larson of Lennox

6th Place - Landen Lewis of Watertown

7th Place - Will Eilers of Pierre T.F. Riggs

8th Place - Bennett Lukken of Dakota Valley

190 pounds

1st Place - Owen Ward of Aberdeen Central

2nd Place - Kelson Dirk of Sturgis Brown

3rd Place - Anneyso Ahmed of Brandon Valley

4th Place - Wyatt Kleinschmit of Sioux Falls Lincoln

5th Place - Padraig Fulton of Vermillion

6th Place - Blake Kannegieter of Brookings

7th Place - Lucas Chaparro of Huron

8th Place - Cade Kuemper of Watertown

215 pounds

1st Place - Edly Amaro of Yankton

2nd Place - Zhoel Irion of Sturgis Brown

3rd Place - Cody Lindekugel of Brandon Valley

4th Place - Hayes Petersen of Sioux Falls Washington

5th Place - Morgan Woods of Rapid City Central

6th Place - Zach Hagemann of Brookings

7th Place - Sawyer Hegg of Madison

8th Place - Alex Marich of Spearfish

285 pounds

1st Place - Elijah Schunke of Brandon Valley

2nd Place - Rip Siemonsma of O`Gorman

3rd Place - Carlos Rodriguez Jr. of Sioux Falls Lincoln

4th Place - Rocky Clark of Mitchell

5th Place - Ashten Dorhout of Madison

6th Place - Lawson Novy of Milbank

7th Place - Noah Duran of Sioux Falls Jefferson

8th Place - Tyce Uherka of Sturgis Brown