The Class A South Dakota high school wrestling state duals tournament takes place Friday at Pierre T.F. Riggs High School, and Brandon Valley, Harrisburg and West Central are all vying for a state crown.

The first round will start at 11 a.m., but all three local schools will have their first-round matches around 12:30 p.m. The semifinals will start around 2 p.m. and the placement matches will start around 3:30 p.m.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students, and are sold at the door and on Bound Ticketing. There may be additional fees for purchasing a ticket online.

There will be a live stream for each mat on the South Dakota Public Broadcasting YouTube channel, and a special broadcast for the state championship dual.

Here’s how the three local teams, all on the same half of the bracket, stack up.

No. 3 Brandon Valley (15-2)

The fourth-place finisher from a year ago, Brandon Valley has a similar bracket in this year’s state tournament. The Lynx will face No. 6 Harrisburg to open the competition, then face either No. 2 Aberdeen Central or No. 7 West Central.

Brandon Valley beat Watertown last year before losing to Aberdeen in the semifinals. The Lynx then lost the third-place dual to Rapid City Stevens.

Brandon Valley beat Harrisburg 41-25 at home on Feb. 3. Its two losses were to Aberdeen (39-25 on Jan. 15) and unbeaten Sturgis Brown (40-28 on Jan. 24).

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The Lynx have won seven consecutive duals since the last loss to Sturgis Brown.

No. 6 Harrisburg (18-7)

Harrisburg placed sixth in the state tournament last year, going 1-2. The Tigers lost to Aberdeen, beat Watertown and lost to West Central.

The Tigers will face No. 3 Brandon Valley in the opening round, the wrestle either No. 2 Aberdeen or No. 7 West Central.

Harrisburg has lost to the top five seeds in the Class A bracket — Sturgis Brown, Aberdeen, Brandon Valley, Watertown and Pierre — and two teams from Minnesota. The Tigers cleaned up the rest of their competition, but will have to exercise some demons against Brandon Valley to open the tournament.

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Harrisburg has won three duals in a row heading into the postseason after losing four of five.

No. 7 West Central (12-3)

West Central placed fifth last season at the state tournament, losing to Rapid City Stevens before beating Madison and Harrisburg.

The No. 7 Trojans are taking on No. 2 Aberdeen in the first round, then will wrestle either No. 3 Brandon Valley or No. 6 Harrisburg.

West Central has lost to Aberdeen, Sturgis Brown and Harrisburg this season, and will have at least one chance to avenge a loss.

The Trojans have won four duals in a row to end the season after losing back-to-back to Harrisburg and Aberdeen.

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South Dakota State returns to First Bank & Trust Arena this week to host North Dakota in the annual Play4Kay game Thursday and Kansas City on Saturday afternoon for the Jackrabbits’ National Girls & Women in Sports celebration.

The Jackrabbits are 18-6 overall and 8-2 in league play. SDSU beat St. Thomas, 84-51, last Wednesday night in the Jacks’ only contest of the week.

North Dakota is 7-18 on the season and 3-8 in Summit League action. The Fighting Hawks are coming off a split week with a loss to Omaha on Thursday and a win over Kansas City on Saturday. The Fighting Hawks are led by Mackenzie Hughes, who paces UND in scoring (11.2 PPG), assists (3.3 APG) and steals (1.2 SPG).

Kansas City is 7-17 overall and 4-7 conference play. The Roos went 0-2 last week against North Dakota State on Thursday and North Dakota on Saturday. The Roos have multiple players contributing to the leading stats. Emani Bennett is pacing UMKC in scoring (14.5 PPG). Elauni Bennett is leading the Roos in rebounding (7.2 RPG) and Tierra Trotter tops the team in assists (3.2 APG) and steals (1.4 SPG).

KEY STORYLINES

• South Dakota State enters the week with an 18-6 overall record and can reach 20 wins by the end of the week. Should the Jacks go 2-0 this week, SDSU will have reached 20 wins in 15 straight seasons and 23 times overall under AJ.
• Brooklyn Meyer enters the week with 1,846 career points (5th all time at SDSU) and is 42 points from sole possession of third place on SDSU’s career scoring chart (page six). She averages 21.5 points per game.
• Brooklyn Meyer scores 21.5 points per game (13th in NCAA) and is .637 from the floor this year (4th in NCAA). She is one of four players in the country averaging 20+ points and shooting better than 60% this year (Audi Crooks, Iowa State & Jaliya Davis, Kansas & Joyce Edwards, South Carolina).
• Maddie Mathiowetz is SDSU’s second leading scorer with 12.5 points per game and has scored 15+ points in five of the last seven games.
• Emilee Fox scores 9.4 points per conference game with 2.6 3-point makes per league contest. She is .500 from deep against Summit League opponents, which leads the conference.
• In conference games, SDSU is second in the Summit League with a .489 team field goal percentage. The Jacks have 11 players shooting better than 40% in league action. The Jacks’s .473 overall field goal percentage is 16th in the country.
• In conference games, the Jackrabbits lead the Summit League in scoring defense (55.6), 3-pointers per game (8.0), rebounds per game (39.4), rebounding margin (10.5) and assists per game (18.4).

-GoJacks.com-

By: Meghan O’Brien

PIERRE, S.D. (South Dakota Searchlight) – South Dakota Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden signed a bill Tuesday that deregulates gun silencers by removing them from the state’s definition of a controlled weapon.

Unregistered possession of a controlled weapon is a felony, which could result in two years of prison time. That will no longer apply to silencers, also known as suppressors.

“South Dakota is the most Second Amendment-friendly state in America, and this is yet another opportunity for us to pave the way and set an example for the rest of the nation,” Rhoden said in a statement Tuesday.

Rhoden said South Dakota is the first state in the nation to remove suppressors from its list of controlled weapons.

The bill was sponsored by Sen. Casey Crabtree, R-Madison, who is running for the Republican nomination for the state’s lone U.S. House seat.

“Gun suppressors are hearing protection, not a weapon, and I’m glad that South Dakota will no longer be regulating them,” Crabtree said in a statement.

Republican Attorney General Marty Jackley, who is also running for the U.S. House nomination, is another supporter of the legislation. He told a Senate committee last month that regulating silencers “doesn’t promote or help public safety.”

“It’s simply extra government that doesn’t achieve any result,” Jackley said.

The bill passed through both chambers of the Legislature without any “no” votes. National opponents of silencer deregulation, including the organization Everytown for Gun Safety, say silencers make it harder for bystanders or law enforcement to identify and react quickly to gunshots.