Photo by ML Headrick
SIOUX FALLS – Two Flandreau seniors ended their wrestling careers with wins at the Denny Sanford Premier Center Saturday at the South Dakota High School Activities Association Class B Wrestling tournament held February 26-28. All totaled, three Fliers – Justin Klein and Teague Bergjord and sophomore Gabe Frias – finished the year on the podium.
“We had six kids compete and I couldn’t be prouder of all these kids,” said Flier Head Coach Cody Chamblin. “Everybody gave it their all.”
Both wrestling since elementary school, Klein won four matches and lost one placing third at 175 lbs, and winning four and dropping two, Bergjord placed fifth at 126 lbs. Both Fliers matched their state seeding positions.
Sophomore Gabe Frias had a good tourney placing eighth at 132 lbs.
Klein’s third place match came against Kenyon Kuiper of Kimball/White Lake/Platte-Geddes. He wrestled Kuiper twice in the tourney winning both matches.
The duo wrestled to no points in the first period, then Klein chose down to open the second, quickly escaped and earned a takedown. He led 4-0 heading into the final period. Kuiper chose the neutral position and the Flier got another takedown to win the match 7-0 and his first medal at state.
Chamblin said of his long-time wrestler, “Justin wrestled great in all his matches – even in the semis closing the gap on Landyn Reiser from Tri Valley – a kid he has wrestled a lot. Justin has been great to coach, and I will miss his leadership and dominance on the mat.”
Bergjord met a familiar foe in his final time wearing a Flier singlet taking on McCook Central/Montrose’s Parker Randall, an opponent he took an overtime lost to in the region finals. On Friday, he lost to Randall in the state quarterfinals to place in the wrestlebacks.
In the fifth place match, Bergjord and Randall ended the first with neither scoring. Randall chose down, earned a two-point reversal before Bergjord escaped and got a nearly out of bounds takedown. A penalty point gave Randall one point as the period closed, setting the score at 4-3 with Bergjord ahead going into the final period. Starting from the down position, the Flier escaped, was called for stalling which awarded Randall a point, but then added three more points via a takedown. The Fighting Cougars’ last score came on another escape late in the period, but Bergjord earned a late match takedown and won 11-4 in a major decision finale.
“Teague avenged his quarterfinal loss to Randall by getting the win back to place fifth. He had a battle every match and was fun to coach over the years.”
Another highlight for Bergjord came when he defeated Miller/Highmore-Harrold’s Preston Aesoph in the wrestlebacks picking up his 150th career win as Flandreau Flier.
“These two seniors have been part of the program for years and will be missed. Wrestling to what they were seeded at state, they showed true leadership and heart and left everything they had on the mat.”
In his first state appearance, Frias was rematched with his opening round opponent, sixth seeded Kypton Schaefers of Parkston in the 7th place finals. Frias wrestled with high energy until the buzzer, but eventually fell to the Trojan in a 14-5 major decision.
“Gabe had a great year and will be back for two more state tournaments.”
Also wrestling for the Flier boys was sophomore Zach Pederson. He faced a couple of tough foes in the first round who both finished as place winners and lost out in the 138 lb. bracket.
“Zach wrestled two great matches,” said Chamblin. “He fell in a heartbreaking overtime match to end his year.”
Chamblin has no doubt that Pederson, along with Rhyder Behnke who was an alternate but didn’t see any action, will both be in future state tourneys and make the podium.
He also sees both of his girls who participated in state returning there along with Tenley Quick, who was also an alternate.
Seventh grader Chelsey Marquez and freshman Rory Thielsen, each won a match in the state girls’ division but fell out of further competition in the second-round consolations.
“The girls both went 1-2 on the weekend,” he said. “Both of their losses were to high placing girls. Rory had a lot of fight and heart to finish after getting hung up in her first match,” said Chamblin.
“For some, this was their first time, and for some, it was their last. I asked them to give me all they could and wrestle six minutes hard – for a couple kids it was seven to nine minutes – and they all did that.”
“All of these kids are great and should make Flandreau and Colman-Egan proud. It’s been a while since we’ve had three placewinners and six qualifiers. The group has a lot of heart and determination and even with the loss of some great seniors, they’re going to keep building,” he concluded.
State Results:
126 Teague Bergjord: won 13-4 MD Riley Trout, Custer; lost 5-0 Parker Randall, McCook Central/Montrose; won 11-1 MD Preston Aesoph, Miller/Highmore-Harrold; won 15-3 MD Shay Weber, Phillip/Kadoka Area/Wall; lost SV 11-8 Kaden Wookey, Clark/Willow Lake; won 11-4 Parker Randall, MCM – 5th place; State results: 4-2; Season record: 46-8
132 Gabe Frias: lost 7-5 Kiptyn Schaefers, Parkston; won 20-4 TF Erich Fokken, Deuel/Deubrook Area; won 12-2 Chas Arend, Garretson; lost 11-1 MD John Ryder Weiss, Hot Springs; lost 14-5 MD Kiptyn Schaefers, Parkston – 8th place; State results: 2-3. Season record: 46-17.
175 Justin Klein: WBF 1:23; Dean Nathan, Hot Springs; won 13-1 MD Kenyon Kuiper, Kimball/White Lake/Platte-Geddes; lost 10-1 MD Landyn Reiser, Tri-Valley; won 11-3 MD Malachi Anderson, Sisseton; won 7-0 Kenyon Kuiper, KWLPG –3rd place; State results: 4-1; Season record: 53-10
138 Zach Pederson: lost 6-0 Logun Pankratz, Marion-Freeman; lost OT 7-2 Luke Olson, Mobridge-Pollock. State results: 0-2; Season record 42-19
100 Chelsey Marquez: LBF :16 Shaylee Speck, Pierre; won 9-8 Claire Milliron, Brookings; LBF 1:14 Jewel Gannon, Canton; State results: 1-2; Season record: 13-15
155 Rory Thielsen: LBF :27 Katie Snyder, Hot Springs; WBF 3:00 Faith Slavin, Viborg-Hurley; LBF :25 Lin Paw Jone, Aberdeen Central. State results: 1-2; Season record: 10-18
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