2 champions and a gift for Midgets

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BELLE FOURCHE, S.D. — There was good news for the Dickinson High wrestling team in both North and South Dakota on Saturday.

In North Dakota, the Midgets learned they would be the No. 3 seed in the Class A state dual tournament.

In South Dakota, Dickinson finished with two champions at the Belle Fourche Invitational after sending seven wrestlers to the semifinals.

Devin Berger and Austin Hutzenbiler claimed individual championships, the Midgets had 12 total placers and a third-place team finish.

“They really wrestled well today,” Dickinson co-head coach Cody Wolf said. “I told the boys right away this morning, ‘If we end up 12 placers, they can have Monday off.’ Sure enough they came through with 12 placers.”

Bismarck Century won the invite with 276 points and Sturgis, S.D., finished as runner-up with 229.5. Dickinson rounded had 174.5.

Hutzenbiler, a sophomore at 113, took a 5-3 decision over Bismarck Century’s Nate Humann, who had defeated Hutzenbiler twice during the regular season — most recently a 6-4 decision in the Midgets’ 49-15 dual loss to the Patriots on Thursday.

Berger, a junior at 132 pounds, pinned Teigan Strohschein of Newell, S.D., in 5 minutes, 48 seconds. Dickinson junior Jace Dukart also made it to the finals but lost to Payson Dirk of Sturgis, S.D., by a 4-2 decision.

Jaret Lee (106) and Chris Sickler (220) each placed third for the Midgets, while Jesus LeBaron (126) and Clayton Tangen (145) took fourth. Rafael Lopez (170), Jacob Shypkowski (160) and Michael Cherwinski (152) added fifth-place finishes, followed by Collin Thielen (138) and Michael Dobitz (160) in sixth.

Dickinson has the next two weeks off before traveling to Williston for the West Region Tournament on Feb. 9.

The Midgets learned they had qualified for the state dual tournament because Williston defeated Jamestown and Minot High defeated Turtle Mountain this weekend, taking Dickinson out of a tiebreaker situation and officially into the No. 3 seed.

Tags: high school wrestling, dickinson midgets, sports, wrestling