Rapid City Invitational Champions

This past year the Pierre Governor Wrestling team capped off their season by winning their fourth State Class A Championship in five years, and earned the second highest team score ever recorded by a South Dakota team.  With a preseason #1 ranking for the 2016-17 season, and sights set on a third consecutive state title the Governors found success in the opening weekend resulting in dual wins over Mitchell (54-21), Watertown (38-30), Milbank (60-12), Harrisburg (54-15) and #2 ranked Aberdeen (36-32). 

The Governor Wrestling team poses after they earn the team title at the 2016 Rapid City Invite.

This past weekend the Governors entered the Rapid City Invitation with a goal of becoming one of the first teams to repeat as team champions in more than a decade.  Considered to be one of the most difficult tournaments in the region, the Rapid Invite includes 38 teams from Class A and B powerhouses in South Dakota, Wyoming and North Dakota.  Head coach Shawn Lewis noted that "The completion at the Rapid City Invitational is arguably the toughest that we see throughout the year.  It has State Champions from Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota and in multiple classes at that."  When describing the variation in preparation for his team Lewis stated that "Our preparation stays much the same as we are early in our season.  We are still building our conditioning and technique as a team.  We do start to put in a bit of individual preparation in by scouting out certain opponents that we may see." 

After an impressive first day performance that resulted in 13 of the Governor wrestlers advancing to the second day of competition with a 3-1 record or better, the team was able to maintained a 18.5 point lead over Rapid City Central.  Six wrestlers advanced to the semifinals (Turman, Turman, Hinkle, Lusk, Senger & Sarringar), with one of the most exciting wins of the day coming with a second period pin for Cade Hinkle over the #1 ranked Wesley Weischedel (Lennox) and 120lb finalist from last season.

Spencer Sarringar scores a takedown against Teigan Marchant of Gillette during his quarterfinals match earning a pin in 1:07 during the first period. 

Day two of the invite resulted in four semifinal wins with Lincoln Turman (113lbs), Michael Lusk (132lbs), Austin Senger (138lbs), and Spencer Sarringar (195lbs) advancing to the final in the late afternoon.  William Turman lost in the semifinals 2-0 against returning RC Invitational champion and 2-time North Dakota state champion Kyle Burwick, and Cade Hinkle lost by major decision to Spencer Stockman from RC Stevens.

In the fourth round wrestle-backs wins by Aric Williams (145lbs), Maguire Raske (152lbs) and Levi Stoltenburg (220lbs) ensured that nine Governors would place at the event.  Each of these wrestlers also won matchups in the fifth round wrestle backs, and Williams and Stoltenburg advanced to the consolation championships following wins in the sixth round wrestle backs. 

During the final placing round Lincoln Turman, Michael Lusk and Spencer Sarringar each secured victories in the finals, with Senger losing by major decision to two-time state champion and four time finalist Tyler Waterson in the 138lb matchup.

Lincoln Turman looks to secure a pin during his championship match against Wyatt Turnquist (Winner).  Turman went on to win 6-2.

Aric Williams had lost a close 5-3 matchup against two-time Wyoming state champion Taylor Jeffries in the quarterfinals, but went unbeat for the remainder of the tournament by advancing into the third place match with a commanding win (7-2) over #1 ranked South Dakota wrestler Riley McSherry from RC Central.  Williams finished 3rd overall at the event.  William Turman lost a close 3-1 matchup against #2 ranked SD wrestler Cody Bevier from RC Stevens to finish fourth, and Levi Stoltenburg lost the third place match after securing a 8-1 lead losing by pin to Chase Dockter from Bismarck High in the third period.  Maguire Raske finished the tournament with a 5-2 record and a fifth place finish with a first period pin over Wyatt Corely from Newcastle in his final match.  Finally, Cade Hinkle closed out the tournament with a 3-2 record and a sixth place finish when Wesley Weischedel (Lennox) avenged a loss in the quarterfinals with a 8-3 win.

"After the Rapid City Invitational, we feel our team is in a good place," said Lewis when reflecting on the current status of his Governor team.  "Seeing the competition that we did, and having the kind of results that we had are very positive take a ways.  We did see a few positions and techniques that we need to get better at.  As far as our conditioning, it looked really good compared to most of the other schools but is something we will continually look to improve" Lewis noted.

A significant milestone for the Governor program came on Friday evening with a quarterfinals win by Spencer Sarringar who became the first Governor Wrestler to place at the Rapid City Invite five times. When asked to reflect upon Sarrangar's performance and his impact to the program over his career Lewis noted, "Spencer has meant a lot to Governor Wrestling for many years. He is a kid who has grown up in the program and done things the right way.  He always works hard, tries to improve, and has a lot of fun doing so. These are things we try and pride ourselves on doing.  Seeing him accomplishing placing five times and now winning the Rapid City Invitational is no surprise.  He competes every match out and has over his entire career whether it be at 106 or 195 or any other weight class in between."  In addition to Sarringar's milestone a number of other relevant accomplishments by the Pierre Governors during the tournament on Friday and Saturday included the following:

• This was the first time that Governor Wrestling had three individual champions at the Rapid City Invite with the championship round wins by Lincoln Turman, Michael Lusk, and Spencer Sarringar;
• Lincoln Turman and Michael Lusk were the first Governors to repeat as champions at the Rapid City Invite since Tyler and Toby Bryant in 1997;
• Every Governor wrestler earned bonus points during the first day of the tournament, with a total of 27 pins awarded resulting in 54 bonus points on the first day;
• Placing nine wrestlers at the event broke the record set in 2015 when the Governors had 8 placers;
• The Governors broke the record for points scored by a team with 235.5.  The previous record had been set by the 2015 Governor Wrestling team when they scored 225.5 points.

Spencer Sarringar, Michael Lusk, and Lincoln Turman pose with their championship brackets following their finals victory at 195lbs, 132lbs and 113lbs.

The individual performance and finish for each Governor wrestlers at the Rapid City Invite were as follows:

• 106lbs - Jack Van Camp - DNP (2-2)
• 113lbs - Lincoln Turman - Champion (5-0)
• 120lbs - William Turman - 4th (4-2)
• 126lbs - Cade Hinkle - 6th (3-2)
• 132lbs - Michael Lusk - Champion (5-0)
• 138lbs - Austin Senger - Runner Up (4-1)
• 145lbs - Aric Williams - 3rd (6-1)
• 152lbs - MaGuire Raske - 5th (6-2)
• 160lbs - Garrett Leesman - DNP (2-2)
• 170lbs - Lucas Stoltenburg - DNP (3-2)
• 182lbs - Gabe Gehring - DNP (3-2)
• 195lbs - Spencer Sarringar - Champion (5-0)
• 220lbs - Levi Stoltenburg - 4th (5-2)
• 285lbs - Ty Paulsen - DNP (3-2)
• 106lbs Unattached - Jace Bench Bresher - DNP (2-2)
• 145lbs Unattached - Logan Meyer - DNP (1-2)

Governors will see their next action with an important ESD dual against Aberdeen on Thursday December 15th, and then will compete in Elk Point on Saturday December 17th.