Apr. 2—KIMBALL, S.D. — Little has stood in the way of Lucas Lenz from wrestling.
For the little that has, Lenz had big hurdles to overcome.
A sledding accident at age 8 while beginning to get acclimated with the sport resulted in both a lacerated kidney and spleen, requiring multiple surgeries. A wrist injury as a sophomore from football delayed the beginning of his wrestling season for Kimball/White Lake/Platte-Geddes until there were three weeks before the state tournament, only to injure it again once he qualified.
Lenz has also wrestled the last two state tournaments with heavy hearts following his aunt Tara's death in February 2024 after a three-year battle with ovarian cancer and his uncle John's unexpected death in January.
Even in dual matches, Lenz battles a multitude of nerves felt before stepping on the wrestling mat, regardless if he wrestled well the match before. In a competitive Wildkats wrestling room, one constant pushes Lenz to perform at his best: the support of his family.
"I'm doing it for my family," Lenz said. "I didn't always have the most motivation in wrestling. My brothers were probably the ones who overall convinced me to do wrestling. ... They like to see me be successful."
Following in the footsteps of older brothers Carter and Caden, both former KWLPG wrestlers, Lucas established his own path in the sport, finishing his six-year prep career with a 166-41 match record and three podium finishes at the Class B state wrestling tournament. Over his last three seasons, Lenz was 94-9 and finished on the podium twice at state, wrestling at 165 pounds in both instances. From the start of the 2024 state tournament, where he finished as the runner-up, Lenz won 46 of his last 47 matches.
This year included a championship, in dominating fashion. Completing a 43-0 senior season and closing his prep career with the Class B 165-pound title, Lucas Lenz was chosen as the 2025 Mitchell Republic boys wrestler of the year, receiving all four first-place votes. The award was selected by the newspaper's sports staff via a point-based voting system that awards five points to the top wrestler, four points to second on the ballot and so on.
Other wrestlers receiving consideration were Winner teammates Apollo Willuweit and Karson Keiser, Wessington Springs/Woonsocket/Wolsey-Wessington's Holden Havlik, Wagner's Gannon Knebel and McCook Central/Montrose's Landon Flogstad.
As Lenz began to understand the intricacies of wrestling, he didn't quite grasp the technical aspects of the sport right away
Throughout his middle school years, Lenz found himself competing for a varsity roster spot on the Wildkats during the season and often found himself wrestling in junior-varsity matches when possible to gain experience. When taught a particular move or set of moves during practice at the time, recalling instruction proved to be difficult.
"I know being in practice with the older kids helped, but I would struggle to pick up on moves," Lenz said. "We'd get taught a move and I'm back to work on it with my practice partner and I wouldn't know what I was doing. It was freshman and sophomore year when I really picked up on this sport."
The competition also taught Lenz how to be mentally tough in a sport as physical as wrestling, knowing each match comes down to how he executes his best moves against the opponent's best. Seeing KWLPG's success as a team on the mat along with teammates' individual accomplishments spurred Lenz on to keep marching forward.
"I think having the competition around him made him better," KWLPG head coach Thomas Konechne said. "The combination of having successful teammates and the big brothers in the wrestling room is what ...
