HARTFORD -- The Aberdeen Central wrestling team used a total team effort to post a total team victory.
Thirteen Aberdeen wrestlers placed fifth or higher in their weight class to boost the Golden Eagles to 211 points and a first place finish at the West Central Tournament on Saturday. Huron was second with 205 points. Aberdeen's Griffin Hieb was named the tournament most valuable wrestler after recording three pins to sweep his way to the title at 138 pounds.
"The guys have been working hard since November and finally got a whole day where everyone on the team wrestled really good," said Central wrestling coach Rocky Burkett. "It was really the first time we've had our whole varsity squad together and everybody wrestled all the way through to the end of their matches."
Josh Moore had three pins at 106 pounds including a 53 second pin over Kyle Seibel of Vermillion in the fifth place match. In addition to Hieb's championship, the Golden Eagles won titles by Grayson Neuharth at 170 pounds and Sam Schaunaman at 220. Second place finishes went to Zach Russman, John Frisco and Cole Carlson as Aberdeen had six wrestlers reach the finals.
"Seth Moore had a big day for us and came back for third. Trevor Larson and Trevor Hieb had two pins each for us. They picked up some falls and some points. Zach and John finished second. Grayson had a takedown with about five seconds left in the championship match," said Burkett.
The Golden Eagles had 17 pins on the day.
"Cole Carlson got to the final and Sam had a big day," said Burkett. "It was a total team effort. The guys wrestled all the way through and finished their matches. It was a close team score and those bonus points count up. Every point is important."
Aberdeen Central holds its annual Lee Wolf Tournament on Saturday at Golden Eagles Arena.
"We need to keep improving," said Burkett. "I'm excited to see where we'll be at next Saturday."
Team Points: Aberdeen Central 211, Huron 205, Sioux Falls Roosevelt 202, Sioux Falls Washington 154 , West Central 109, Vermillion 86, Mitchell 72, Chamberlain 55 , Milbank 43, Lennox 42, Harrisburg 39.
106, Josh Moore, AC: lost to Austin Ideker, West Central, 4-2; pinned Cole Halouska, Lennox, 2:01; pinned Nick Wright, Milbank, 1:58; def. Briggs Havlik, Mitchell, 4-0; lost to Ideker, 4-2; pinned Kyle Seibel, Vermillion, :53. FIFTH PLACE.
113, Seth Moore, AC,: lost to Kahlen Morris, Roosevelt, 11-3; pinned Ben Ostebee, Harrisburg, 1:57; pinned Brock Wulf, Washington, 2:29; def. Tayt Boeckholt, West Central, 4-3 OT; def. James Lusk, Milbank, 6-1. THIRD PLACE.
113, Madison Peterson, AC: pinned by Wyatt Shillingstad, Huron, 3:40; def. Spencer Kirkpatrick, Chamberlain, 8-0; lost to James Lusk, Milbank, 4-0; lost to Tayt Boeckholt, 8-0. SIXTH PLACE.
120 , Trevor Hieb, AC: won by forfeit; pinned Tristan Boeckholt, West Central, 3:04; pinned by Troy Kiggins, Roosevelt, 5:30; pinned Logan Pickner, Chamberlain, 1:44; def. Matthew Mazourek, Lennox, 10-3. THIRD PLACE.
126, Trevor Larson, AC: pinned Logan Warzecha, Harrisburg, :20; def. Jonah Rechtenbaugh, West Central, 14-0; lost to Chet Glanzer, Huron, 6-0; pinned Warzecha, :25; lost to Brock Kortan, Roosevelt, 4-2. FOURTH PLACE.
132, Shea Krause, AC: lost to Zach Gross, Harrisburg, 11-2; def. Tory Wollschalger, Milbank, 15-4; def. Josh Dipippo, Mitchell, 13-5; pinned by Josh Mettler, West Central, 3:36; def. Chayden Fitzsimmons, Washington, 10-8. FIFTH PLACE.
138, Griffin Hieb, AC: pinned Brock Stein, Lennox, :57; pinned Carter Kratz, Vermillion, 3:26; pinned Zach Determan, Roosevelt, 3:43. FIRST PLACE.
145, Zach Russman, AC: pinned Arthur Hines, Huron, 1:35; won by default over Dan Armstrong, Rooseelt, def. Matt Larson, Mitchell, 7-4; lost to Regan Bye, Vermillion, 5-4. SECOND PLACE.
152, John Frisco, AC: received a bye; pinned Josh Goeman, Lennox, 1:53; def. Hartman Katz, Huron, 5-4; lost to Brett Bye, Vermillion, 5-4. SECOND PLACE.
160, Zach Melcher, AC: def. Brandon Hertz, Vermillion, 3-0; pinned by Reagon Francom, Huron, 3:07; def. Ben Kummer, Mitchell, 4-0; lost to Luke Reiter, Washington, 5-3. FOURTH PLACE.
170, Grayson Neuharth, AC: def. Zac Freese, Washington, 15-7; def. Brandon Pennock, West Central, 7-3; def. Francis Boehmer, Roosevelt, 4-2. FIRST PLACE.
182, Cole Carlson, AC: pinned Connor Wood, Chamberlain, :15; def. Dan Marlette, Washington, 11-5; pinned by Tyler Kleinsasser, Huron, 1:11. SECOND PLACE.
195, Aaron Henley, AC: pinned Chase Morin, Roosevelt, 3:00; lost to Dustin French, Huron, 3-1; pinned Riley Heck, Mitchell, 2:46; def. Chase Morin, Roosevelt, 10-1. THIRD PLACE.
220, Sam Schaunaman, AC: def. Tyson Sprinkle, Mitchell, 2-0; def. John Blue, West Central, 4-1; def. Kyle Hansen, Harrisburg, 11-0. FIRST PLACE.
Hwt., Hayden Grote, AC: pinned by Robert McCardle, Mitchell, 1:08; received a bye; pinned by Josh Waagen, Huron, 2:06.