By Kandi Tonsager, On Saturday March 8th, 50 youth wrestlers took to the mats in Buffalo at the District 1 tournament. The top 8 placers in Districts move onto Regionals.
Saturday March 15th, in Sturgis, 48 of those 50 wrestlers moved on to fight their way to the top 3 spots in their weight classes, with the 8U bracket allowing the 4th place finisher this year as well (this rotates each year). The Belle Fourche AAU club had 18 youth wrestlers qualify to move onto the state competition by earning top spots on the podium at Regionals.
16U wrestlers who register for Regionals wrestle Freestyle (youth and high school competitions are wrestled in Folkstyle) to earn their top 3 spots on the podium and qualify for the state competition. Belle Fouche had 3 wrestlers qualify in the 16U division formerly known as “Cadets”. 19U wrestlers, formerly known as “Juniors” are able to register in their respective weight classes directly into the state competition. There is currently not a 16U girls bracket, therefore all 16U aged girls enter as 19U to fill brackets at the state competition. Belle Fourche had 4 wrestlers register for the state competition as 19U wrestlers, for a total of 25 wrestlers representing the Belle Fourche AAU Club at the South Dakota State AAU Tournament.
On Friday March 28th, at The Monument in Rapid City, the 16U and 19U wrestlers competed in Freestyle wrestling at the state tournament. In the boys 16U 94 pound division Porter Manke placed 3rd, in 16U 106 pound division Caden Swaney placed 4th, in 16U 150 pound division Kolby Tibbs placed 3rd. In the Girls 19U 125 pound division Railynn Strickland placed 6th. In the boys 19U 144 pound division Garet Huston placed 4th, in 19U 157 pound division Riley Dighton placed 4th, and in the 19U Heavyweight division Lucas Tonsager earned his 3rd consecutive Championship 1st place finish.
On Saturday March 29th and Sunday March 30th, the AAU Youth Wrestlers competed in Folkstyle wrestling at the state competition. Wrestlers Finley Horman (Boys 6U 53 pounds), Brooks Lynch (Boys 8U 57 pounds), Brady Hakala (Boys 12U 138 pounds), Charlie Huston (Girls 14U 105 pound), and Jaxon Linch (Boys 14U 90 pounds) fought hard through double elimination preliminary rounds.
Wrestlers taking the podium at the 2025 South Dakota State AAU Competition were:
Girls 8U 40 pound division- Mila Hudson 6th place, Riley Mehlhaff 5th place and Nora Hodge 1st place
Girls 10U 125 pound division- Lizzy Tonsager 3rd place
Boys 10U 77 pound division- Royce Bachman 8th place
Girls 12U 60 pound division- Gracie Hodge 7th place
Girls 12U 130 pound division- Alice Bonefield 6th place
Boys 12U 100 pound division- Tate Krul 6th place
Girls 14U 90 pound division- Lochlin Tibbs 7th place
Girls 14U 112 pound division- AnnaBelle Dighton 5th place
Girls 14U 145 pound division- AnnieMarie Luna 7th place
Boys 14U 215 pound division- Logan Gleason 6th place
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