'Cat wrestlers strong before Districts

Despite most of the team being either battered or sickly, a slew of  Custer Wildcat wrestlers placed in the Hill City Invitational Tourney this past weekend in Hillâ??City. 

Cody Herman (103) set the pace for Custer as he took first place, while Clayton Wahlstrom (125) finished in third place, Soren Wahlstrom (130) finished in fourth despite not finishing due to a sickness. Max Wilson (135) finished in sixth place, Dylan Severyn (140) took second place, Zach Wager (160) took third and Ty Cooper (215) took fifth.

“Cody is a tough kid,” said Webster. “He just needs to keep it going every week.”

Not only did Herman impress the coach, but the whole team, as the injured and sickly bunch showed him their tough hearts. 

“All of them wrestled tough,”â??he said. “We just need to keep building. We just need to keep getting better.”

Pins by Herman (103), Severyn (140) and Wager (160) propelled Custer to defeat Newell 39-34 in Custer last Thursday, Feb. 4. 

After a Custer pin at 103, a forfeit and two losses gave Newell the early lead. Custer was able to retake the lead with a pin at 140 and a “huge” win by Clay Seidler (145).

“That was a huge win at 45,” Webster said. “His opponent (Levi McTaggart) is one of the top wrestlers in the state. Clay kept wrestling and was able to counter and threw him to his back twice.”

A Wager pin and Newell forfeits at 171 and 189 sealed the Custer victory. 

“The kids wrestled well against a lot of Newell’s tough kids,”â??said Webster. “We kept the score close. I was impressed with all the kids. Some of the kids were sick, but they wrestled well.”

Sickness is Webster’s main concern as the District 7B Tournament is just around on the corner in Philip. 

“The kids need to stay healthy now, especially during this part of the season. Hopefully they are ready to go,” Webster said.

Webster went on to say that sickness is still bothering the team, but not as bad as it was. And despite battling injuries and illnesses, Webster likes how his team looked the last week. But hopefully there is still room for improvement.

“Hopefully we haven’t peaked,” he said. “We need to keep on getting better.”