By Rich Winter

605 Sports

For Bon Homme junior Peyton Hellmann, there is no offseason from wrestling. 

The calendar may read early July, but Hellmann has already wrestled at tournaments in Iowa, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Nevada.

“Wrestling against elite competition I feel makes me better,” Hellmann said. “South Dakota has some great wrestlers but when I go out-of-state everyone is as good or better than me and that has helped me improve. In the end it comes down to who is the more technical wrestler.”

Not only has it been a busy summer, it has been a successful run for Hellmann who is ranked No. 28 in the nation at 127 pounds. Hellmann won a Northern Plains regional tournament in Wisconsin and compiled a 14-1 record wrestling for team South Dakota in Oklahoma and Iowa. 

The only tournament where Hellmann didn’t find success this summer was the U.S. Open in Las Vegas, Nevada. While she didn’t place she walked away from that experience with a new resolve to keep improving. 

“It wasn’t my best tournament but I’ve improved since then,” Hellmann said. “I was mainly over-thinking at that tournament. I figured out how to use the stuff I already have and trust my wrestling more.” 

Only a junior, Hellmann is already a three-time South Dakota state champion. A physically imposing athlete Hellmann won the 126-pound title at the 2023 South Dakota state wrestling tournament with a first-period pin over Cateri Yellow Hawk of Sully Buttes. 

Hellmann is a regular in the weight room.

“I fell in love with lifting in the seventh grade and did it almost every day because it was fun,” she said. “Now I lift two to three times a week, sometimes more if I’m between tournaments.”

Wrestling for the Bon Homme/Scotland Avon team during the high school season Hellmann says 2022 state champion and 2023 runner-up Britney Rueb is the ultimate training partner. 

“We push each other,” she said. “It is extremely valuable to have her in the same room. We have very different styles and push each other on skill development.”

Those skills will be tested when Hellmann, wrestling for Team South Dakota, competes in the 2023 USA Wrestling Junior and 16U National Championships in Fargo, North Dakota, on July 14-22. 

Hellmann is looking forward to the opportunity of competing against the best of the best. 

“It is extra special to put on that Team South Dakota singlet and represent South Dakota,” she said. “Our state isn’t very big and we don’t have the most girls but it is fun to be part of that team and see how we stack up against other states.” 

While girls wrestling enters its fourth year as a competitive sport in South Dakota this year Hellmann relishes her role as one of the athletes helping to bring the sport forward. 

“When we started there were barely any girls and now we have packed brackets,” she said. “Next year we are going to have regionals and I think when I’m older I’ll be able to look back and see those younger girls and realize I was part of the beginning.” 

The Team South Dakota girls will gather in Mitchell for workouts on July 11-13 with weigh-ins slated for July 14. 

Hellmann has two older brothers that wrestle and a younger brother that currently wrestles. Her cousin, Hannon Hisek won five state titles for Bon Homme in the mid to late 1990's.