By Anne Homan
On Friday, Feb. 19 the Lennox High School wrestling team traveled to Brandon Valley to compete in the Region 2A wrestling tournament—at stake was a trip to the 2021 State A Wrestling Meet.
Lennox already had two girls qualify for the State meet—Brooke Otte and Alexis Fischer—and were looking to add some male athletes as well.
Punching their ticket and earning runner-up honors at Brandon Valley were Brandon Otte and Jase Langbehn.
“I am very proud of our four state qualifiers—each have put in a lot of time over the course of the last year,” said LHS head coach Blake Crosby. “Jase had a great tournament; he ended up with two pins to get into the finals and wrestled tough. Brandon had two quick pins to start his day then wrestled tough in the semis to pull off an OT win. It was a very exciting match and showed how far Brandon has come in his career at Lennox.”
Otte, wrestling at 138 pounds, began competition on Friday taking on Robert Watkins, wrestling for Beresford/Alcester-Hudson. Otte won by fall in 28 seconds. In the quarterfinals, Otte won by fall in 1:57 over Dakota Valley’s Latrell Watson, sending him into the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, Otte won by sudden victory, 10-8, over Brandon Valley’s Tegan Harstad. The win put Otte in the 138 Championship round. Otte faced a strong wrestler from Harrisburg, Logan O’Connor, and lost by major decision, 15-4, to give him second place honors.
Langbehn, wrestling at 195 pounds, began competition on Friday taking on Sioux Falls Washington’s Myles Titagesu. Langbehn won by fall in 40 seconds to reach the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, Langbehn won by fall in 2:46 over Sioux Falls Lincoln’s Bryce Kwiecinski. The win sent Langbehn into the Championship match. Langbehn faced off against Harrisburg’s Carter Tuntland and fell in 4:45 to finish with runner up honors.
The 2021 State A Wrestling Tournament will be held Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in Rapid City. The girls’ tournament begins on Friday.
Brooke Otte and Alexis Fischer both have byes into the semifinals. Otte goes into state as a second seed.
“I am very proud of the effort she has put in over the course of this year. She really turned a corner recently and I can’t wait to watch her at state,” said Crosby.
Fischer comes into state as a second seed also.
“She is wrestling well right now. She has put so much time into wrestling this year, it’s great to see her have so much success. I am excited to watch each of these girls compete in the first ever South Dakota girls wrestling State,” said Crosby.
Brandon Otte, who enters State with a 28-17 record, will begin State competition facing off against Sam Olson, a senior from Madison. Olson had a 27-7 season record. Jase Langbehn, who bring a 36-9 record into the State Tournament, will face off against Luke Wickersham, a senior from Brandon Valley. Wickersham has a 20-10 record.
Also competing at Regions for the LHS boys were Ramsey Williams, Lincoln Ford, Ashton Bach, Sam Haar, Dawson Anderson, Ethan Schroeder, and Hayden Herlyn.
Williams and Bach both finished with fifth place honors, Williams at 106 pounds and Bach at 132 pounds.
Region Wrestling | Page 11
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