By Rich Winter

605 Sports

SIOUX FALLS — For all of the memorable matches, the record-breaking accomplishments and the many shining moments, I can’t shake the memory of Viborg-Hurley/Irene-Wakonda’s Gia Miller celebrating her state title Saturday. 

Miller has been a standout on the mat for the past four seasons. As a freshman and sophomore, Miller reached the championship match before falling to Canton’s Carlee Laubach. A year ago, as a junior, she finished fourth. 

Had the other girls caught up? 

Would Miller ever see her hand raised in victory in the final match at a state tournament?

After years of disappointment and countless hours of work and dedication, and in the last match of her high school career, Miller came through. An exquisite moment captured on camera after Miller pinned Brookings’ Maizy Mathis (2:32) to culminate a brilliant career with a state title.

Perseverance pays off for Wieman, Breen, Williams, King, Zens and Fey

Not all of us are blessed with the drive, talent or desire to win four of five state titles. While those multi-time champions are spectacular, somehow I’ve got a spot in my heart for the athletes that get that forever state title in the last matches of their high school careers. 

• Parker’s Levi Wieman - Wieman capped off a 52-0 senior season with a pin over Wessington Springs/Woonsocket/Wolsey-Wessington’s Holden Havlik. It makes me wonder how much Wieman put into his senior year after disaster struck at the 2023 meet. Wieman was poised to win a state title (220) as a junior but lost in the semifinals after an inadvertent slam left his opponent unable to continue. Wieman was defaulted into the consolation semifinals and ended his junior year with a third-place finish. 

• Wagner’s Jhett Breen - How sweet was Saturday's 7-2 win over Kimball/White Lake/Platte-Geddes’ Lucas Lenz for Breen. As a freshman he reached the final but had to medically default against Canton’s Ayson Rice. In each of the last two seasons Breen finished third, last year in the 138-pound class. Breen put in some serious time in the weight room in the offseason (terrific football player) and wrestled at 175 and 157 this year before settling in at 165 where his brilliant career was stamped with a state title. 

• Sioux Falls Lincoln’s Bentley Williams -  Found myself cheering for Sioux Falls Lincoln’s Bentley Williams late in the season. It feels like Class A wrestling is dominated by the big-four teams: Brandon Valley, Sturgis, Pierre and Watertown (West Central). When Williams popped into the No. 1 ranking late in the season I had to reach out to Lincoln coach Mark Ernster just to ask about his program. Lincoln is a program on the rise as they finished 10th in the team standings. Williams finished his career with over 170 wins and his success could do a lot to inspire the growth of the program in the next few years. 

• Canton’s Kiara King - After a second-place finish as a sophomore and a third-place finish as a junior, Canton’s Kiara King broke through with a state title. King has been a building block for that Canton program and her perseverance and breakthrough in her last match will do a lot for the C-Hawk girls who must replace five seniors. 

• Aberdeen Central’s Rayden Zens - Several years ago I noticed that somehow Aberdeen Central athlete Rayden Zens and I were Facebook friends. Don’t remember the friending process but because of this ‘friendship’ I’ve kinda kept one eye on Zens. As a freshman Zens was third (106), as a sophomore he was fifth and last season he finished sixth. Not exactly sure what drove Zens this offseason but when you see him on the mat he just looks stacked. Earlier this season, Zens beat Watertown’s Sloan Johannsen in a tournament in South Dakota. Zens beat Johannsen 5-2 Saturday afternoon, stopping the Watertown senior from winning a fourth-straight state title. 

Aberdeen Central's Rayden Zens hoists Watertown's Sloan Johannsen into the air during Saturday's Class A 126 finals - Rodney Haas - 605 Sports

• Redfield’s Grady Fey - Pretty cool to see Redfield senior Grady Fey pop off the mat and flex those gigantic guns after pinning Canton’s Traun Cook in the 285-pound finals. Fey was a runner-up as a sophomore and then lost by pin in overtime to Cook in the finals in 2023. Fey finished his high school career Saturday with a 49-0 season record and a pin over Cook in the championship. (The selfish part of me wants to see Fey and Brandon Valley’s Navarro Schunke, rated No. 4 in the country, square off but the mere thought of these two heavies clashing will have to suffice) 

How many people did it take for the Canton dynasty to reach seven consecutive state titles? 

Somewhere in the distant future, some sports nerd like myself is going to look back at the current Canton dynasty and just say “WOW.”

How in the world does a team win seven consecutive state titles?

You start following these teams and these programs that find success and it immediately becomes clear that it takes an entire village, with everyone on the same page, to see the kind of success the C-Hawks are seeing. 

In order to be great for years at a time you need a strong youth program. Within that youth program you need strong leaders and patient people to give athletes the proper foundation to be successful at the high school level.

You also need parents to participate, coordinate and be part of the process. 

You need outstanding coaches at the high school level and you need a wrestling room that is rich in tradition as athletes see and feel the accomplishments of the wrestlers that have come before them on an everyday basis.

This year more than ever I felt like I was visiting with Canton more than any other year. I wrote a story about cancer survivor Daneen Gannon whom the girls program in particular rallied around all year. I interviewed Ayson Rice a few weeks ago and I got called out if I made a mistake involving Canton wrestling. 

I watched as photos galore from Dawn Kranz and Bree Adam were posted every week and I saw first-hand the posters and t-shirts that were printed with that ‘extra’ bit of love that makes the difference.

Rodney Haas - 605 Sports

Girls wrestling in South Dakota has jumped several notches in the last few years

Somewhere in the vast abyss that is the state wrestling tournament I glanced up to watch the 126 semifinal between Spearfish’s Mathilde Matsuda and Ipswich/Bowdle seventh-grader Sophia Knittel. 

The girls were absolutely brawling. 

Such good wrestling as two really good athletes went after one another. A couple of massive throws just missed on the edge of the mat but it stood out how absolutely physical the match was. 

So exciting to see our nationally ranked girls wrestlers Peyton Hellmann, Britney Rueb and Regina Stoeser take the sport to the next level. Hellmann, who is from Bon Homme/Avon/Scotland, won her fourth state title and Rueb, from the same school, won her third. Stoeser won her third state title and her younger brother, Tristan, an eighth-grader at Harrisburg finished third in the 113-pound division. 

Harrisburg's Regina Stoeser wrestling Ipswich/Bowdle's Sophia Knittel in the 126 final (Bosten Morehart / 605 Sports)

Thanks for the memories Ayson Rice, Burk Blasius and Navarro Schunke

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention three giants of wrestling in South Dakota history. 

Canton’s Rice was spectacular all weekend and on his feet, he was just a takedown machine. Blasius was battling a hamstring injury but still dominated every match he was in. After the match he talked about wanting to wrestle in college so one could imagine his phone blowing up for the next few weeks. 

Rice and Blasius each captured their fourth-straight state titles this weekend. 

It was almost a little sad to see Brandon Valley’s Nararro Schunke take off his shoes and leave them on the mat to signify the end of his wrestling career. To see a South Dakota athlete so dominant, so fluid and so unflappable will be a lasting memory for wrestling fans for decades. 

A superb athlete with unlimited potential, I think we’ll all be keeping tabs on Schunke and the Kansas State football team for the next few years.

Brandon Valley's Navarro Schunke left his shoes on the mats after becoming the first Class A wrestlers to win five state titles. (Rodney Haas / 605 Sports)