The Cheyenne-Eagle Butte/Dupree wrestling team pushed two of its top wrestlers through to the State A meet by qualifying at the region contest on Saturday in Eagle Butte. Freshman Treye LaPlante wrestled his way to a top four finish at 112 pounds, while sophomore Garrett Keegan took second place in the 125-pound division.
Both LaPlante and Keegan will compete this week at the state competition in Sioux Falls. LaPlante will wrestle Trenton Schmidt of Harrisburg in the first round. Schmidt is a senior with a 27-9 record, while LaPlante has earned a 24-15 record this year.
“It’s good to have a couple young kids do so well,” Coach Nate Grueb said. “They will both have to wrestle tough at the state tournament this next weekend in Sioux Falls, but I think we’ll surprise some people.
Keegan, who stands at 25 wins and 12 losses this season, is paired with Madison’s Jon Waba in the first round at 125. A senior, Waba has a 29-6 record.
Pierre won the Region 3A tournament with 182 team points, edging Huron by three points.
Here’s a recap of how the CEB/D wrestlers fared on Saturday:
At 103 pounds, KT Burgee fell to Mitchell’s Alex Herrick in the first round. Burgee made his way to wrestle No. 2 seed in the consolation bracket, with the winner advancing to the 3rd/4th match and earning a trip to state. Keyes took a major decision win over KT.
At 112 pounds, Treye LaPlante pinned Blaine Geppert of Chamberlain in the first round (1:19). Lakin Neugebauer of Mitchell defeated Treye by fall at 2:20 of their semifinal match. LaPlante defeated Aberdeen’s Seth Moore to advance to the 3rd/4th match. Wyatt Shillingstad of Huron won that match, but LaPlante had already punched his ticket to state.
As the #2 seed at 125 pounds, Garrett Keegan had a bye in the first round and faced off against Huron’s Michael Johnson in the semifinals. A fired-up Keegan took control early and worked
his way to a pin of Johnson at 1:55. In the Region 3A championship match, Pierre’s Dusty Paulsen defeated Keegan. The top seed with a 33-4 record heading into the tournament, Paulsen was able to pin Keegan in 1:39.
Cameron Wright lost an 8-6 decision to Mitchell’s Landon Neugebauer in the first round. Pierre’s Chance Scott took a 12-7 decision over Wright in the consolation bracket.
At 171 pounds Sage Till was pinned by Pat McCarty of Huron in :58. Till also lost his consolation match.
