HOT SPRINGS – The Hot Springs Bison boys wrestlers stayed in the Black Hills this past week, competing in both the Black Hills Conference (BHC) tournament at home on Friday and then the Black Hill Classic tournament in Hill City on Saturday.
At home for the Conference meet, the Bison boys had three individual champions and placed fourth overall out of nine teams, with Custer winning the team title. In Hill City for the Classic meet, the Bison had one individual champ and placed sixth as a team behind champion Sturgis Brown JV.
“A lot of teams had sick wrestlers which made for some low numbers in some weights, but it gave our young kids a chance to get up there on the stage with a BHC medal,” said Hot Springs head coach Ray Ringstmeyer. “There’s something about an ounce of confidence you can give a young kid who has worked their tail off all season, and now they are dangerous opponents to some of these other teams. I think we are in a really good place right now.”
Hot Springs’ three individual champions at the Conference meet included seventh-grader Ryder Weiss at 106 pounds, eighth-grader Thor Fish at 157 pounds and senior Caleb Rickenbach at 215 pounds. All three went 2-0 in their bracket following first round byes. Freshman Hunter Kunz also qualified for the championship finals at 175 pounds but finished as the runner-up with a 1-1 record.
Others getting on the award stand to receive medals were senior Jonathan Pellicotte (3rd at 138 lbs), sophomore Jayden White Face (4th at 150 lbs), freshman Holden Luper (4th at 132 lbs) and sophomore Braden Yeager (4th at 285 lbs).
“Three Conference champs on the boys side with the possibility that we could have had a fourth, and with three of our four finalists being freshmen or younger is a statement that we have some talent coming up,” said Coach Ringstmeyer. “And even though he didn’t place in either tournament, Jayden White Face showed up this weekend to compete. He wrestled very well.”
In Hill City at the 21-team Classic meet, Hot Springs’ medalists included champion Caleb Rickenbach with a 3-0 record at 215 pounds and runner-up Hunter Kunz with a 3-1 record at 175 pounds.
“Caleb had a good weekend where he could just go out and wrestle and have fun,” Coach Ringstmeyer said. He did get a test against Jensen Fitch of Philip (5-3 decision), but he wanted to make sure to wrestle a full six minutes to test his endurance that he’s going to need in the post season. He keeps building on his impressive 200-plus win career.”
Pellicotte also went 2-2 at 138 pounds to place fourth at 138 pounds. Eighth-grader Von Mogen-Frankfort was also fourth at 190 pounds with a 2-2 record.
“Jonathan was selected to receive the Dusty Swanson ‘Grind’ award voted on by coaches,” Ringstmeyer said. “I didn’t even get a chance to bring him up; another coach had already put his name up there before I even got into the room, so that’s a huge statement to Jonathan’s impression on other coaches. Some comments made were ‘he’s always in that 4th or 5th spot or one match from placing, but he keeps coming at you and wrestling hard’ and he’s been at it a long time without a lot of accolades, yet here he is still here coming at you.’ That’s a huge honor when coaches from other teams make those statements, made me a bit emotional hearing those in the room.”
Ryder Weiss did not place at 106 pounds but did finish with a winning record of 3-2 on the day.
“Ryder ran into a very tough weight class in Hill City, but he was right in there in all of his matches,” Coach Ringstmeyer said. “He almost had a big move at the beginning of his match against Mason Hagen of Sturgis, and was a few seconds away from pulling off a come-from behind against Maxwell Anderson of Lemmon (4-5 decision). I’ll tell you, if I coached another team, I would not want to see my kid matched up against Ryder at regionals in a match to make it to state. He turns it up and brings it when he needs to.”
Other Bison boys wrestlers who won matches in Hill City but did not earn medals included Micah Burchfield (1-2 at 113 lbs), Jayden White Face (2-2 at 150 lbs) and Braden Yeager (1-2 at 285 lbs).