Kandi Tonsager
Special to the Beacon
Friday March 28th and Saturday March 29th, an AAU Folkstyle Nationals Wrestling Tournament was held at Black Hills State University. Male and Female divisions from Tot to Grand Masters competed to become All American Wrestlers and take a spot on the podium.
Belle Fourche had 30 wrestlers compete with 12 of those taking the podium and placing in the top 8 qualifying them as All American Wrestlers. Boys Midget 80 pounder Tate Krul placed 5th, Boys Midget 95 pounder Bayzen Curtis placed 3rd, Boys Novice Heavyweight Logan Gleason placed 4th, Schoolboy 95 pounder Caden Swaney placed 7th, High School Boys Division 160 pounder Peyton Alexander placed 3rd, High School Boys Division 220 pounder Lucas Tonsager placed 3rd and in the Men’s Senior Division, ages 19-30, Thomas McCoy took to the mat with an epic return taking champion at 185 pounds!
For the Lady Broncs, Girls Midget 90-100 pound division wrestler, Lizzy Tonsager, took 3rd, Schoolgirls 73 – 82 pound division wrestler, Lochlin Tibbs, placed 2nd and 100 pound division wrestler, Ema Leach, placed 5th, High School Girls 106 pounder Kyra Vandenberg placed 1st, and in the Woman’s Masters division, ages 19 and above, Hailey Rodriguez returned to the mat with another epic showing of champion at 125 pounds!
In the Tots Division, ages 6 and under, competitors were William Bonefield at 45 pounds, Easton Swaney and Joey Tonsager at 55 pounds. Competitors in the Boys Bantam Division, ages 7 and 8, competitors were Wyatt Ager, Riddik Randdolph and Anderson Burke at 60 pounds. Competitors in the Boys Midget Division, ages 9 and 10, were Logan Atkinson and Royce Bachman at 60 pounds, Landon Swaney at 70 pounds, and Brody Gustofson at 80 pounds. Competitors in the Boys Novice Division, ages 11 and 12, were Jayden Hodge at 70 pounds, Jaxon Linch at 80 pounds and Elijah Beatson at 95 pounds.
Competitors in the Schoolboys Division, ages 13 and 14, were Teedin Humble at 98-106 pounds Kolby Tibbs who double bracketed in Schoolboy 140 pounds and High School Boys Division at 138 pounds wrestling 1-2 in both divisions. In the High School age division, other competitors were Toarin Humble at 120 pounds with a return after a broken shoulder in regular season and Lady Broncs Alexa Swaney and Aleyah Carbajal at 138 pounds.
Black Hills Nationals had an estimated 1700 wrestlers compete in the two day event.
