In a season where the end could come at any moment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mitchell High School wrestling team is looking to avoid fading away down the stretch.
The Kernels started last season strong, winning their first four Eastern South Dakota Conference duals, only to hit a late-season skid to finish 10-7 overall and missed the Class A state dual tournament.
With 12 returning letterwinners and 16 wrestlers that won at least 15 varsity matches last season, Mitchell is seeking a top-six spot on the podium at the state tournament and finishing in the top-eight during the regular season to qualify for the state dual tournament as it opens the season against Chamberlain at 7 p.m. today in the Mitchell High School gymnasium.
“Our toughest part of the schedule was the last week of the season,” MHS head coach Andy Everson said. “We were young and that had a lot to do with running into those buzzsaws and not reacting the way I’d like the kids to react. We had a lot of sophomores and now those sophomores are upperclassmen. That maturity on the team will make a big difference.”
Mitchell lost state placewinners Kyler Bauder and Ryan McGinnis to graduation, but it also returns four placewinners in Beau Foote, Joe Van Overschelde, Tucker Vilhauer and Wyatt Winter.
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Foote has produced the most success of the group, as the junior placed third at 285 pounds in the state tournament, a year after finishing as runner-up as a sophomore.
The 285-pound division appears to be up for grabs, with the graduation of runner-up Gus Miller, of Brookings, and Chamberlain’s Nash Hutmacher, who had a stranglehold on the weight class with four consecutive state championships.
“It’s 100 percent going to come down to Beau himself,” Everson said. “He can work hard and when he chooses to work hard he does really good things. If we can convince him to do that on a consistent basis, Beau is going to be the guy to beat at heavyweight.”
Bauder and McGinnis were the most consistent wrestlers for the Kernels last season, but Everson will be looking to a variety of wrestlers to fill in this year. Van Overschelde (170), Vilhauer (145) and Winter (220) each took seventh at the state tournament and have been consistent performers in the varsity lineup for two seasons.
Juniors Brandon and Brock Sparks are also entering their third seasons as varsity regulars, with Brock two years removed from placing in the state tournament at 106 pounds. Tyson Degen also showed promise at 160 last year, going 27-14 in his first full varsity campaign.
“Different moments of the season in the next three months are going to fall on different guys,” Everson said. “I don’t think there’s going to be one or two that stand out like Kyler and Ryan did last year. … Most of the guys I had on varsity last year, I’m going to look at and say, ‘Which one of you is going to step up today?’”
