Lewis named wrestler of the week

Custer’s Jonathan Lewis has been named South Dakota Class B Wrestler of the Week by the Dakota Grappler website after taking first place in the 145 pound weight class at the Custer Invitational Tournament on Friday. Lewis was also rated seventh in the state overall in his weight class by the organization.
Lewis, a sophomore, is starting out his season with a 3-0 record after pinning Oakley Branch of Spearfish just 43 seconds into the championship round of the season opener tournament.
“He wrestled tough for us,” said head coach Jared Webster. “He’s a go-getter!”  
Two other Wildcat wrestlers also were tourney champs in their weight classes to lead Custer to a second-place finish in the tournament behind Sturgis JV, which scored 181 team points.
Freshman Parker Noem also took home first place honors by defeating Paul Pulling of Sturgis JV in a 5-0 decision in the first place match of the 152-pound weight class.
“Parker had some tough matches and took it right to ‘em and that was awesome to see,” said Webster.
The other tourney champ for Custer was eighth grader Tray Weiss, who claimed the 106-pound title with his 8-3 sudden victory over Sturgis’ Tegan Zebroski in the match for first.
Second place honors went to sophomore Landon Woodward at 120, senior Eli Steele wrestling at 170 and 195 pound freshman Zayne Severyn.
“It’s nice having Woodward out on the mat at 120,” said Webster. “He actually got a big win against a Douglas kid.”
Third place in the 170- pound weight class went to sophomore Weston Woodward, who pinned Gunner Geib of Belle Fourche in 1:52 in the match for third. Also taking home a third place finish at 113 pounds was eighth grader Leighton Sander. He defeated Belle Fourche’s Logan Tyndall by fall in 4:11.
The Wildcats had two fourth place finishers in seniors Sterling Sword, 160 and Ty Dailey at 182 pounds.
Webster said he was generally happy with the results of the tourney and is looking forward to seeing his team’s development through the season.
“Our light weights, once they gain some weight and separate, are gonna be fun to watch,” said Webster. “We have a lot of things we need to work on but it’s not the end of the year yet.”
Webster said the COVID restrictions put on the annual tournament, such as banning spectators, limiting the number of teams participating and cutting back from two days to one, made it feel “very weird” and awkward but he said he’s committed to seeing that his team stays healthy through the rest of the season.
“As long as we can get to the end of February I’ll do whatever it takes,” said Webster. “We’ve had COVID go through our room here and there which is a positive thing for them now I guess so that they can stay on the mat and should be healthy for a while, hopefully.”
Custer’s team score was 132 for its second place finish. Spearfish scored 121 for third place followed by Belle Fourche, fourth, 102 and Lead-Deadwood, fifth, 80 points. The other six teams participating in the tourney by order of finish were Douglas, Harding County, Hot Springs, Rapid City Central JV, Hill City, Newell and St. Thomas More.