Four local high school graduates competed for the Augustana University men’s wrestling team Friday as the Vikings competed in the South Dakota Showcase at Frost Arena in Brookings.
Three of those are Martin County West grads, with Payton Anderson going 2-0, Connor Simmonds 1-0 and Jaxson Rohman 1-1. Jackson County Central graduate Payton Handevidt was 1-1.
The Vikings went 2-1 in the quadrangular, beating Northern State 26-18 and Dakota Wesleyan 52-6 and losing to South Dakota State 37-9.
Anderson wrestled at 165 pounds, winning 10-5 major decision vs. Northern State and by fall vs. DWU.
Rohman, rated first at 125 pounds in Division II, won by fall vs. Dakota Wesleyan and lost 14-3 to Brandon Meredith of South Dakota State. Meredith spent four seasons at Penn State before transferring to SDSU and was the starter at 125 for the Nittany Lions in the 2019-20 season.
Handevidt’s first match as a Viking didn’t last long as he won by fall in 15 seconds vs. Dakota Wesleyan’s Eli Isakson. He then lost 6-3 to South Dakota State’s Cael Swensen, a two-time state Class 3A champion at Wayzata and rated No. 13 in Division I at 157.
Simmonds won his lone match, a 6-3 decision over Northern State’s Cael Larson at 157 pounds.
There are three other JCC connections with the Augustana program this season. Logan Butzon and Caleb Vancura are both freshmen with the Vikings and Cooper Moore is a graduate assistant coach.
Also, JCC senior Nolan Ambrose recently signed a letter of intent to wrestle for the Vikings starting with the 2024-2025 season and was in attendance Friday in Brookings.
And there is one more Martin County West grad on the roster, junior Miles Fitzgerald.
Augustana is scheduled to wrestle Northern State again on Thursday, Dec. 7 in Aberdeen and then host Parkside at noon on Saturday, Dec. 9.