Powell High School senior Stetson Davis made it official on Tuesday, signing to continue his wrestling career at the University of Sioux Falls, an NCAA Division 2 school in South Dakota, starting this fall.

Sioux Falls is restarting its wrestling program from the ground up, after the program was dropped in 2011 after competing at the NAIA level.

The program is starting up again this fall with men’s and women’s wrestling teams — being led by coach Matt Meuleners, who was a four-time All-American and two-time national champion at Northern State University.

“Meuleners is a bigger coach, and I didn’t want a 125-pounder to be my coach because he doesn’t know how to wrestle someone bigger like me,” Davis said. “He was a 197-pounder and a heavyweight so he has plenty of experience in that area. I also liked his demeanor more, a pretty good guy, stud on the wrestling mat and hopefully it comes through well.”

Davis is intending to take a gray shirt his freshman year and enroll in the National Guard.

“Sioux Falls was my number one choice but I wasn’t able to afford it before I figured out the National Guard stuff,” Davis said. “Once I got the National Guard stuff figured out and that they would pay all my tuition if I used my GI bill, then boom I was in.”

Davis had a senior season to remember for the Panthers, finishing as the 3A 220-pound state champion with a 41-2 record. He was the 3A West Regional champion, Ron Thon champion, undefeated in Wyoming and racked up his 100th win in the process.

“This year there was a lot of big stuff,” Davis said. “The amount of fun we had in the wrestling room was more than I had ever had before. We had good people in there, kids that wanted to work hard … it was game on when it was on the mat and fun when we were off.”

He said the Ron Thon and state wins were unimaginable experiences, and will be memories he always takes with him.

At the next level, Davis could compete at either the heavyweight division, which is approximately 285 pounds, or cut weight from his 220-pound class he competed in his senior year and compete at 197 pounds or even all the way down to 184 pounds.

Prior to his senior year Davis was competing at 170 pounds his sophomore and junior seasons at the state tournament.

“Where I am at right now I may go down to 184,” Davis said. “Right now I am at 190, I’m not sure how my body will grow in college or what muscle I will put on but I plan on being a 197-pounder.”

After his gray shirt season, Davis will have four years of eligibility remaining — hoping to make an impact on a program returning back after more than a decade of absence from the college wrestling scene.