Sprinkel takes eighth for Kernels at Class A

WATERTOWN — Tyson Sprinkel was the lone Mitchell High School wrestler still alive at the Class A state wrestling tournament Saturday.

He finished in eighth place at 220 pounds as the Kernels’ only wrestler to earn a podium spot at state.

“I’m real proud that he snuck in and got a place,” Mitchell coach Travis Carpenter said. “He didn’t wrestle too bad at all.”

Sprinkel won his first match of the tournament Friday 6-5 in overtime and lost 8-3 in the quarterfinals. He came back with a pin in his first wrestleback match. On Saturday, he was pinned in the second period in the seventh-eighth place match.

Sprinkel helped the Kernels score 16 team points over the weekend, which landed the team in a tie for 23rd place. Pierre defending its Class A state championship with 180 points, Rapid City Central was second with 159.5 points and Huron was third with 145.

“Pierre has a very nice team,” Carpenter said. “They wrestled very well and showed how deep they are.”

Mitchell qualified seven to the state tournament and all but Sprinkel were knocked out after the first day. That should give the team some motivation for the future, Carpenter said.

“It wasn’t as exciting as a team this year, but that’s the reason we have to get to work and why we have to do it right away,” he said. “Then next year, we can experience something a little better than we did this year.”

Chamberlain came in 27th at the state tournament with nine points and got a seventh-place finish from senior Russell Felicia at 132 pounds.

Felicia defeated Casey Skillingstad 4-3 in his final match as a high school wrestler.

Tags: sports, wrestling, kernels, updates