Sturgis’ Cody Cassen is quickly making a name for himself on a team loaded with big-name wrestlers.

The Scooper sophomore came into the state tournament as one of the few Sturgis wrestlers not ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in his weightclass, but it was Cassen who put on one of the most impressive shows on the day.

He began his day with a 10-4 win over Brookings’ Ryan Palmer before downing Sioux Falls Washington’s Blake Jans to advance to today’s semifinals with a 17-8 record on the season.

“He stuck me at the Greater Dakota Conference Duals,” Cassen said of the pair’s earlier meeting this season. “I have just done a lot of practice and built up my stamina. I have spent a lot more time in the practice room working on stuff.

“This win was huge and set me up well for the rest of the tournament.”

Cassen will face Sioux Falls O’Gorman’s Ben Fichter in the semifinals today.

AMO GETTING IT DONE AT STATE: Rapid City Central’s Aero Amo has wrestled well all season long, but he consistently took his lumps against some of the bigger kids at 145 pounds. Making the jump from 112 to 145 in one season will make that happen.

However, now that it is state tournament time Amo, who finished as the state runner-up last year is back at it.

He pinned a pair of opponents including the higher-ranked Jason Greenway of Mitchell in the first round.

“I guess anything is possible but I was just trying to wrestle as hard as I could and we would see what happened,” he said. “I just think about all the hard work that you put in, and now you are down to the last few matches. You have to go out there and show what you can do.”

TOUGH DRAW: There is little doubt that the 119-pound weight class had one of the toughest draws in the whole state tournament.

The top three-ranked wrestlers in the state were all on the same side of the bracket.

Sturgis’ defending state champion Tanner Bothwell won his first-round match but lost to Milbank’s Jordon Redmond in the quarterfinals in a battle of the second- and third-ranked wrestlers in the state.

Now, Redmond will faced top-ranked T.J. North of Vermillion in the semifinals.

Bothwell did rebound to win in the wrestlebacks.

WHAT A REVERSAL: Pine Ridge’s Bruce Jacobs turned the tables on Sturgis’ Nate Wilson.

Wilson downed Jacobs in the Region 4A finals at 140 pounds, but it was Jacobs who downed the top-ranked Wilson in the wrestlebacks, 6-0, ending Wilson’s season.