Pine Ridge High School Wrestling 2003 / 2004 Summary »
 This season started out with the youngest men we have ever had try out for the wrestling team. There were 42 people who tried out; 40 young men and 2 young women (the state of South Dakota voted to allow high school girls the opportunity to wrestle on the teams).
Throughout the season we lost many young men for various reasons, some decided to play basketball; some did not enjoy the rigors of such a grueling practice, while others did not want to stay on the strict diet that is required of wrestlers. We even lost 5 due to injury, 3 broken collar bones and 2 torn knee's that required surgery. These injuries happen due to the violent nature of the sport of wrestling.
The two young women that tried wrestling lasted half of the season before stopping. They performed well and even recorded several victories before the demands of the toughest sport around proved to be much.
Overall we recorded one of our most successful seasons at Pine Ridge; our team tournament placements are as follows: Custer 11th, Lyman 10th, Winner 10th, Gordon 6th, Bennett County 5th, Red Cloud 4th, and Lakota Nation 1st.
| Name |
Grade |
Name |
Grade |
| Matt Standing Crow |
11th |
Brandon Kills Small |
11tth |
| Phillip Davis |
10th |
Phillip Rowland |
10th |
| Travis Red Owl |
10th |
Kelly Pulliam |
10th |
| Jared Two Bulls |
9th |
Louis Ramos |
9th |
| David Michaud |
9th |
Joey Black Feather |
9th |
| Donald Clifford |
9th |
Darrin Merrival |
7th |
We finished the season with 12 wrestlers. 2 juniors, 4 sophomores, 5 freshmen and one 7th grader.
We rounded out our regular season with 5 wrestlers qualifying for the state wrestling tournament in Aberdeen on Feb. 26, 2004. With qualifying 5 wrestlers to the state tournament we tied the school record of 5 qualifiers. In 2001, 5 young men qualified for the state tournament. The 5 young men for this year were Travis "Gollum" Red Owl at 119, David "Bulldawg" Michaud at 145, Matt "Ogre" Standing Crow at 152, Phillip "Shade" Rowland at 160, and Phil "Herbie" Davis at 189.
At the state meet the Thorpes were led by "145 pounder" Dave Michaud. He became only the second freshman from Pine Ridge to qualify for the state tournament and the first freshman from Pine Ridge to ever place at the state meet with an 8th place finish. This makes him only the 6th person to ever place at the state meet for Pine Ridge.
The other wrestlers performed well at the meet but fell short of placing. We were a young team this year and with the experience gained by this year's end with state participation we will improve over the next few years get better with age.
A great asset to this year's team was our manager Bev Long. Bev is a senior with plans to join the army after high school.
Article by
Christy Webber
As Always »
If you would like more information about the Pine Ridge School Thorpes, please call the High School Administration Office (605) 455-6505. If you have other questions or web site feedback, please view our contact information page.
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