The Black Hills Nationals Wrestling Tournament gets underway today at the Donald E. Young Center. Today’s session begins at 3 p.m. There will be two sessions Saturday at 8 a.m.and 1 p.m. Pioneer file photos
The Black Hills Nationals Wrestling Tournament gets underway today at the Donald E. Young Center. Today’s session begins at 3 p.m. There will be two sessions Saturday at 8 a.m.and 1 p.m. Pioneer file photos
SPEARFISH — The 19th annual Black Hills Nationals wrestling tournament is set for Friday, March 17 and Saturday, March 18. All matches will be held at the Donald E. Young Center on the Black Hills State University campus.
The first session is set for 3 p.m. Friday. Masters (age 30 and over), Seniors (ages 19-29), High School (ages 15-18), and Schoolboy (middle school) wrestlers will compete. Saturday starts with a session at 8 a.m. with Tots, Bantams, and Girls divisions featured. A final session beginning at about 12:30 or 1 p.m. will feature Midget and Novice division wrestlers.
A wrestler’s age division is determined by the athlete’s age on the day of the tournament. Pavich said that is a unique aspect of this tournament. “We have 32-man brackets, and there’s going to be some weight groups with 64-man brackets,” tournament director Frank Pavich said. He added numbers for the girls’ divisions continue to increase.
Pavich said roughly 1,236 entries had been secured as of Thursday morning. “I’m sure we’re going to approach 14 to 1,500 wrestlers this year,” Pavich said, adding last year’s total of 1,286 wrestlers included 125 walk-ins.
Between 25 and 30 states will be represented this weekend, said Pavich.
Fourteen referees are working the tournament, which serves as qualification for this June’s Disney Duals in Orlando, Fla.
The referees come from a total of 12 states, and two evaluators provide tips on improving their craft.
Brackets and results will be available on the trackwrestling.com website.
This tournament first year was 2003. This would have been the 20th year, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced cancelation of the 2020 event.
“The gratification to me is just seeing what the tournament has evolved to,” Pavich said. He added the tournament’s mission is to give opportunities to the wrestlers and help them progress in the sport.
That includes giving high school wrestlers the opportunity and choice of competing on the collegiate level. Pavich said the tournament encourages the high school wrestlers to do so.
“We have had a significant amount of philanthropy and scholarshipping through this tournament,” Pavich said.
He added that gives athletes opportunities they may not have necessarily had otherwise.
Businesses in the northern Black Hills area also enjoy great economic benefits, Pavich said.
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