Ladies host first home tournament

Newcastle High School’s lady wrestlers hosted their first ever girls only wrestling tournament Saturday, and 14 teams were on hand to compete for the top prize of a tiara. Head coach Shaide Bowthorpe was pleased, not only with how the tournament theme was received by all who competed, but also with how her team showed up in front of their home crowd.

“We had a good turnout of a mixture of South Dakota and Wyoming schools,” Bowthorpe said. “We had a good day and a great tournament, and we finished third out of those 14 teams, so that was awesome.”

“Also, all of the coaches and girls — even the more tomboy girls — really loved getting tiaras for first place and sashes for second through sixth,” Bowthorpe said. “Next year, we’re going to do larger, orange tiaras for first and then smaller tiaras for second and third. It’s just kind of a fun thing that everyone seemed to enjoy.”

With how the brackets were laid out, nearly every Lady Dogie left the gym with a sash for their efforts, and Brylee Caster (140) and Courtney Matthews (120) overcame the “three-win ceiling” by finishing with a 4-1 and 4-2 record, respectively, and earning second and third in their weight classes.

“Our goal this week was to get past the three-win max that we seemed to have set for ourselves, so to have two girls do that was awesome,” Bowthorpe said. “I think that will translate positively in the next couple of weeks and heading into regionals. Hopefully we can start pushing deeply into tournaments and finish higher.”

Caster dropped down a weight class on Saturday, which Bowthorpe and Caster each agreed was helpful in putting her on more even footing with her opponents.

“I think (Brylee) was much better sized for that weight class and I think it showed in how she wrestled,” Bowthorpe said. “She was lifting people up and just doing what she wanted to for the most part.”

On her way to her second-place finish, the freshman claimed four consecutive, dominant wins by pinning opponents from Lemmon, Wheatland, Burns/Pine Bluffs and Lead-Deadwood with the longest match lasting only a little over a minute into the second period.

She ran into a tough Custer opponent (45-7 record) in the championship, and fell to her in the first period.

“I do think it made a difference dropping to 140 because instead of being at the bottom of the bracket with girls having six pounds on me, to being more at the top of the bracket, it makes it easier for me to do what I want to do,” Caster said. “My morning started off a little rocky and, honestly, I had some things that I got mad about, which may have actually helped me. I didn’t over-think my matches and just channeled that energy into them.”

After stumbling in the first period against Sturgis in the third period, Mathews rallied to pin Lead-Deadwood, Belle Fourche and Mahpiya Luta before falling to Spearfish in the semi-finals. She came back from that loss to win third place against Belle Fourche with a pin near the end of the first period.

“If you’re wrestling for third and fourth, those are often pretty tough matches,” Bowthorpe said. “Courtney was able to get it done, though, and take third, which is great.”

Teahlah Stevenson (125) and Netanya Prell (130) both went 3-3 and placed fourth. Adelyn Bergstrom (145) went 2-2, finishing third in her weight class.

“Tealah and Netanya always have good weekends and this was no exception,” Bowthorpe said. “Addie is getting to where she is wrestling more consistently and is pushing through tough matches that she was losing at the beginning of the season, but she is winning now — which is exactly what we want to see as we get closer to the end of the season.”

This week is an easy one for the Lady Dogies with their only competition being a home dual against Moorcroft on Tuesday, which was also senior night.

“We decided to take it a little easy this week so we can give our kids a week to recover from sickness and some injuries before regionals on the 21st,” Bowthorpe said. “We just need a week to recuperate and recover.”