By Rich Winter

605 Sports

PHILIP — Wall senior Kale Crowser hasn’t been spending much time on the mat lately. What time he has been on the mat has been a series of Crowser taking his opponent down, letting him up, taking him down, letting him up, etc… 

Crowser had three matches at last week’s Tom Studelska Invitational, all three ended in similar scores as the 35-1 Crowser dominated. Crowser, wrestling at 175 this season, defeated Garretson’s Cole Schlueter (21-6) in the quarterfinals then defeated No. 4 ranked Justin Klein of Flandreau (21-6) in the semifinals. In the finals Crowser dismantled No. 2 ranked Tri-Valley’s Landyn Reiser 19-4. Earlier this year, Crowser’s teammate Jace Blasius intimated that Crowser was going for a takedown record. 

As of Feb. 2 according to Dakota Grappler, Crowser is the South Dakota leader in takedowns. 

1. Kale Crowser, PKAW, 173; 2. Mason Schrempp, Aberdeen Central, 139; 3. Jacob Williams, Rapid City Stevens, 134; 4. Tray Weiss, Custer; 5. Karson Keiser, Winner Area, 111, Aiden Wells, Sioux Falls Jefferson, 110. 

Milestones Matter 

• Christian Ehresmann reaches 200 wins: Groton Area’s Christian Ehresmann became the first wrestler in school history to reach 200 wins. Ehresmann, a senior, is Class B’s No. 3 ranked wrestler (157) and won the 157 championship at last weekend’s Groton invitational. 

• Tyler Woodring closing in top of Tea Area career wins list - Earlier this season Tea Area senior Tyler Woodring became the fifth Tea Area wrestler to eclipse the 150 career wins. 1. Wyatt Stuntebeck, 176; 2. Sam Werdel, 170; 3. Lance Shaull, 161 and Tanner Fridrich, 155. 

• Trystan Traupal and Kale Crowser reach 200 career wins: McCook Central/Montrose senior Trystan Traupal and Philip/Kadoka Area Wall’s Kale Crowser both eclipsed the 200 win plateau on the same weekend. Traupel is Class B’s No. 6 ranked wrestler (132) while Crowser is Class B’s top-rankied grappler at 175.

• O’Gorman’s Keenan Sheridan 200 wins with 100 pins - With over 50 matches possible in a season it is not terribly uncommon for a wrestler to reach 200 wins. Quite rare for a 200-win wrestler to reach the 200 win plateau and have 100 of those wins coming by pin. O’Gorman senior Keenan Sheridan reached that plateau earlier this year and will be looking for his first state title at the state wrestling tournament on Feb. 27-March 1 in Rapid City.