On Feb. 21, Lennox High School sent five wrestlers west to compete in the 2023 State A Wrestling Tournament held at the Summit Arena in Rapid City, Feb. 23-25.
Grant Larson, Ramsey Williams, Hayden Herlyn, Jocelyn Thoms, and Sierra Smidt all represented the Orioles at State, but ended just shy of reaching the podium.
“When you compete at a state competition you want to be wrestling your best and I can honestly say for our wrestlers I felt we were wrestling the best we could,” said LHS head coach Blake Crosby. “Every match we competed hard and showed the grit I have been preaching all year. We brought in a lot of youth to this event with only one athlete ever competing in a state tournament before this.”
Larson, an eighth grader, brought a 31-11 record into the State Tournament. He faced off against Owen Fischer of Milbank to open State in the 106 pound division and lost by fall in 1:55. This placed Larson in a match-up against Wyatt Packard of Madison.
“He was up 2-1 going into the third and blew the doors off the match, winning 7-3,” said Crosby.
Larson then fell to Rapid City Central’s Pierce Hurd in 2:27. Hurd ended up taking seventh at State and Fischer eighth.
“With this being Grant’s first showing at state I am excited to have him back next season and see how much he grows,” said Crosby. “I know he will be ready to go.”
Also competing for the LHS boys were Williams and Herlyn.
“Ramsey and Hayden each competed tough against some tough opponents we had seen during the season, but it just wasn’t their day,” said Crosby. “We will miss having Hayden on the team next season. I look for Ramsey to come back tougher than ever next season.”
Williams, wrestling at 126 pounds, lost to Zander Nielsen of Brandon Valley by decision, 6-3, and then lost to Spearfish’s Parker Graven by fall in 4:03. Herlyn, wrestling at 285 pounds, lost by fall in 5:16 to Harrisburg’s Gueibondy Dole and then lost by fall in 3:43 to West Central’s Gavin Pischke.
For the girls, after falling to Rapid City Steven’s Cassandra Witte, Thoms picked up a second-round win against Bailey Yost of Chamberlain, winning by decision 10-9 in the 113 pound division. Thoms was down 5 to 6 entering the third before getting a takedown and locking up her cradle, to get the win in the high scoring affair. Thoms then lost by fall in 3:00 to Madelynn Schlup of Spearfish, ending her State run.
“Jocelyn has shown so much growth this year coming in as seventh grader who had never wrestled to being one match away from placing,” said Crosby.
Smidt, wrestling at 132 pounds, went from five wins last season to 15 this year and a spot at State.
“She was super committed to the sport and put in the work to get better,” said Crosby. Smidt opened State with a loss to Viborg-Hurley/Irene-Wakonda’s Morgan Lee, falling in 1:11. She picked up a second round win by forfeit as the wrestler from Rapid City Central didn’t make weight.
“I was confident Sierra would have beaten her either way,” said Crosby. “I am proud of all the work she put in.”
Smidt then lost by fall in 1:59 to Lakota Tech’s Giada Scherich, ending her season.