Ryan Bozer:
Thanks for listening to SDPB News. I'm Ryan Bozer, bringing you Your Morning in Play. With me is our sports and recreation reporter, Nate Wek, back after a busy weekend of gymnastics and team wrestling duels. Nate, how was the weekend?
Nate Wek:
It was good. Very busy, but I think when you see the celebration, yes, there's some heartbreak and stuff too, that kind of comes along with that, obviously for seniors and some of these events. Especially with gymnastics, there's always going to be tears and stuff like that too. But that raw motion that you see on weekends like this, where there is just different variations of champions being crowned, once you see the trophies being hoisted and you see that raw emotion, it definitely makes it worth it.
Ryan Bozer:
That's incredible. And even for those seniors, they're there, they're competing and they've put in all that work regardless of how they did. I think that's just a feat within itself to be there competing like that. So let's dive into team duels wrestling first. How did that shake out?
Nate Wek:
Yeah, we can roll through these pretty quick, but Canton was the state champion on the B side. And this is something at least for Canton, they were state champs in the team duels in Class B in 2020, '21 and '23. So really since they brought the team duals back as far as a state event, that's four out of the last five years that they've won. And they're a powerhouse in Class B wrestling as well. They're bound to have a pretty big week here in a couple of weeks too at the State Individual Wrestling Championship. They're always a fun program to watch. And then on the Class A side, you actually had Sturgis Brown that won it and Sturgis Brown, their last team duel state championship was in 2004, the last year that they had it before it went away. And then when it came back in 2020, Stevens, Pierre, Brandon Valley and Pierre kind of won those last four years.
And then this year it was Sturgis Brown. So it was kind of fun to see, because Sturgis does have a lot of rich history with wrestling as well. So it was kind of fun to see. You hear the name Sturgis Brown being crowned a state champion as well. And it was kind of fun. I was actually at the tournament too, that Sturgis one, I was up in Brookings at the Dacotah Bank Center where it took place, and there was a point in the championship duel against Watertown where Sturgis kind took control, and you could tell that the confidence was there. And once they put that foot down on the gas, I don't know if anybody was going to stop. So that was pretty impressive and fun to watch.
Ryan Bozer:
Yeah, no, that sounds fantastic. I mean, I remember my time on the mat, you get into that groove and go, oh no, I got this. Now we can just roll, right?
Nate Wek:
Exactly. And kids were feeding off each other from the past match would be something really exciting and the next, kids would step out and just kind of feed off of that energy.
Ryan Bozer:
Yeah, it's that forward momentum.
Nate Wek:
Exactly. Momentum is a very real thing in sports and when you see it, you recognize it pretty quick. And Sturgis definitely had that.
Ryan Bozer:
Awesome. Good for them. So that's team wrestling duels. Let's turn now to the other mats, the gymnastics. How was the state championships there?
Nate Wek:
Yeah, so Friday was the team competition and Saturday was the individual competition. So on Friday for both Class A and Class AA, it's all about individual performances, but contributing together as a team. So Estelline-Hendricks, who was the defending state champs, they came in and they won on Friday afternoon for Class A. And then Mitchell was actually the state champion in Class AA, which was also pretty exciting. So the team thing, I really like how gymnastics kind of starts as that team side, that first day, because there are some butterflies and stuff like that. And I think, not that kids are overly relaxed when it comes to Saturday, when it's time to perform on the individual side, but I do think some of those butterflies and some of those early nerves at least go away, because the athletes have had a chance to get used to the setting, and get used to the feel and the atmosphere of the event.
So yeah, Estelline-Hendricks, Class A Champs, Mitchell was the Class AA. And then on Saturday was the individual side of the competition, and obviously there was a lot of great performances and stuff like that, but the one name that I think we really need to highlight is Sadie Johnson. She won in vault, she got third and uneven parallel bars. She got first in floor exercise, she got first in balance beam, and for the second year in a row she was the state all-around Class A champion as well. So tremendous performance by Sadie Johnson out of Estelline-Hendricks. Not only getting to celebrate that state team championship on Friday night, but to also go back to back as the state all-around champion is such a big deal. So I'm guessing all smiles if you're Sadie Johnson this week. And I actually did have a chance to talk with her, and I talked winning it last year, being a senior this year coming in. And she had some really good comments just to kind of about her process of coming into this year's event.
Sadie Johnson:
Winning that title last year just meant so much to me, and I had these high hopes, and I was telling mom, I'm like, if it's God's plan to make me all-around champion again, it's God's plan. And just all throughout the day I was just thinking just one event at a time. And I mean you can definitely tell I lack a little bit more in beam and bars. I would say I'm a little bit more of a powerful athlete, more so than a graceful and a flexible gymnast. But I still give it my all on those two events for sure. And sometimes on my beam routine, my skills are a little bit easier, but I just focus on staying on the beam, staying tight, performing those skills to my best ability, and essentially just doing that on everything.
Ryan Bozer:
Wow. So it sounds like Sadie had a good time at gymnastics championships then.
Nate Wek:
Absolutely.
Ryan Bozer:
It was a good weekend to be Sadie, right?
Nate Wek:
Absolutely. And speaking with her yesterday, the one thing that I don't know if I necessarily clicked in my brain until I was talking with her yesterday, but Hendricks is on the Minnesota side of the border, so she actually lives in Hendricks. So because of the co-op with Estelline, and since Estelline's like the host school of that co-op, she competes on the South Dakota side for athletics. So the state all-around champion for the second year in a row is technically a Minnesota resident, which I thought was pretty cool. But I mean if you know where Hendricks is though, I mean you might as well be in South Dakota, because it's that close to the border.
Ryan Bozer:
Absolutely, yeah. Any other standouts from gymnastics?
Nate Wek:
Yeah, there was a lot of great performances. And with all of our coverage, honestly, the best thing to do is to just go online. So for full gymnastics results with the team scores, all of the individual results, go to SDPB.org/gymnastics. As far as the wrestling side, SDPB.org/wrestling. And on both sites as well, we do have photo albums from our photographers from those events too. So plenty of great action shots, some award pictures as well that helped capture the moment. But yeah, the individual wrestling tournament obviously coming up in two weeks and we'll have a highlight show from the State Gymnastics Championships that will air on March 17th. That's a Sunday at 1:00 PM central, noon mountain.
Ryan Bozer:
Awesome. Well, thanks, Nate for joining me again this morning. I look forward to talking more sports, more of these championships we got coming up next week with you.
Nate Wek:
All right, thanks, Ryan.
