By Rich Winter

605 Sports

In the long and illustrious history of Winner Area wrestling no athlete has won more than three state wrestling titles. This weekend Kaden Keiser can move into that rarified air while joining 10 other Class B wrestlers that have walked away with four titles.

Four state championships has been something on Keiser’s mind since 7th-grade. 

“My seventh grade year I wasn’t sure I was going to wrestle because I was small for 106,” Keiser said. 

Keiser ended up placing sixth that season and right away made the goal of winning five in a row. He reached the final his eighth-grade year but finished second so the goal of four came just after that tournament. 

“I decided I needed to put in more work because I wanted to start dominating,” he said. 

In each of the next four summers Keiser rarely found himself home. The pursuit of wrestling excellence took him out of Winner and outside of his comfort zone against wrestlers from different parts of the upper midwest.

If he wins a fourth state title this weekend Keiser will join names like Dan Bonte (Garretson), Dakota Galt (Beresford), Luke Loudenburg (Howard), Kellyn March (Canton), David Rowe (Mobridge), Travis Slaba (Wagner), Chad Uhrig (Sully Buttes), Cory Wallman (Marion/Freeman), Gary Wallman (Miller) and Troy Wallman (Freeman). 

“Being on the list behind all those guys, some of them are legends and to be part of that would be crazy,” he said. “Winner has such a rich history in wrestling to  become a four-time champ is a big deal.” 

The culmination of one of the greatest careers in South Dakota prep wrestling actually began years ago with Keiser donning a Gregory singlet. 

“My mom taught in Gregory and we drove there for one year for my pre-school,” he said. 

His uncle Jayd Schuyler (a state champion in Winner, and a current assistant coach for Winner High School) was his coach that first year and laid the groundwork for the successes to follow. 

Strength in the Winner wrestling room didn’t hurt Keiser’s chances of getting better. 

For three straight years Keiser trained almost exclusively with Wyatt Turnquist, a junior on the Northern State wrestling team. 

“My 7th, 8th and 9th-grade years he whipped my butt almost every day,” Keiser said. “I credit a lot of my success to him and he’s made me the wrestler I am today.”

“Looking back over the year it feels like we’ve gotten second a lot,” Keiser said. “We’ve had some great teams and I think we’ve kinda questioned when it is going to be our turn.”

Fueling Winner Area’s rise to the top of the Class B rankings has been the steady and solid presence of five seniors. Joey Cole, Kaden Keiser, Kaleb Osborn, Charley Pravecek and Achilles Willuweit.

Keiser has been in the spotlight for the past three seasons. This weekend will have a bit of a different feel as the Warriors are expected to contend for the Class B team title and the Class B dual championships. 

“We kinda feel like this is our year to get it,” he said. “We had a great team last year but the five seniors are going to give everything to the cause.” 

Maximizing point totals this weekend will be huge for contending teams like Winner. Keiser noted that coach Spencer Novotny hasn’t said much about getting every point. 

“We don’t really bring it up until right before the tournament,” Keiser said. “If we get ahead in a match, coach always wants us to go get another takedown. My mentality is to score as many points and if we can do that I think we’ll do our best.”

While Keiser’s high-school wrestling story is coming to a conclusion the next chapter is about to be written. Earlier this year Keiser announced that he would be attending Division I college Appalachian State located in Boone, North Carolina. 

The unlikely pairing came to fruition after Keiser began emailing a bunch of different schools across the country. In his introduction he listed his accomplishments and what he felt he could bring to a team. 

Moments after sending an initial email to Appalachian State the school responded. 

“They told me it would help if I came to one of their recruiting camps,” he said. “I went out and wrestled some new guys and two days in they said they liked what I have and they liked my style.”

During football season the college laid out their scholarship offer and told Keiser he was their guy. 

“They are a team on the come-up and have four of five guys ranked nationally,” he said. “They told me they aren’t always after the most talented wrestlers but they love athletes that work.”