BELLE FOURCHE - Brian Schultz doesn't make it too complicated. He just works as hard as he can and tries to win every match he wrestles.

The Belle Fourche senior has done a pretty good job of that so far this season, going unbeaten through the first three events of the season with a win at 171 pounds in the always-tough Rapid City Invitational last weekend.

For that effort, Schultz has been named the Rapid City Journal Athlete of the Week.

"The goal's always to win it, not to be second but to be the best," said Schultz, who beat Job Hausauer of Bismarck, N.D., in the 171 final. "That's always the goal going in no matter what."

Schultz entered the season as the No. 3-ranked 171-pounder in Class A in South Dakota after a 41-7 season and a fifth-place finish at 160 pounds at the state tournament last season. He came into this year knowing that he'd have a good shot at winning the Rapid City Invitational after finishing second at 160 pounds last season.

"I knew that he was a state champ up in North Dakota, and that he's really strong," Schultz said of Hausauer, whom he defeated 10-7 for the title. "I knew I could beat him, but I knew that I had to keep good position and not let him get any big points."

The win does provide a little boost for Schultz as he heads into the rest of the season, but he doesn't want to get too far ahead of himself.

"It's just a stepping stone," Schultz said. "It's a good win, but it's still early in the season. I've had downfalls every year at the region and state tournaments, so this is a good win now, but I'm just going to keep working hard. I'm looking toward the end of the year."

The end of the season has been a bit of a thorn in Schultz's side during his first three years in high school. He has taken fourth place all three years in Region 4A, beginning at 119 pounds as a freshman.

"Something always comes up at the end of the year," Schultz said. "I've always been ranked at the top of the state and beaten lots of kids, but something happens and I've just always ended up getting beat."

It's those memories that caused Schultz to end his football career this season to concentrate solely on wrestling. He also spent his summer wrestling for the first time in his career.

"I went down to the Disney Duals in Florida and up to the biggest national tournament in Fargo," Schultz said. "I've always just spent my summers lifting before, but I went to those tournaments and worked on my technique and wrestled pretty well."

Schultz thinks the competition he saw in those tournaments has prepared him well for the season thus far.

"I wrestled against the No. 4-ranked kid in the nation," Schultz said. "Wrestling around here my nerves don't go as much."

Another part of that preparation is simply the competition that Schultz faces in his own region and his own practice room.

"I think the stiff competition I faced in the early rounds really prepared me for the championship match," Schultz said. "(Douglas') Damon Lappe is a good wrestler, so that's always a tough match. He's just a young kid (sophomore), so he's going to be really good. And the kid from Winner (Jayd Docken) that I wrestled in the semis was tough, too. That definitely helped me."

But it was another invitational champ from his very own school that Schultz was quick to point out as being most instrumental in his success.

"Our 215-pounder Kyle Blake, he's a junior, also won at the Invite this weekend. I don't know if anybody picked him to win it, but every day we're up here battling," Schultz said. "We just go at it every day trying to make each other better. It's really good having somebody heavier, somebody to push me."

Schultz doesn't know if he's going to try to wrestle in college or possibly join the military, but he does know one thing. Somebody's going to have to give it everything they've got to beat him in his senior season.

"I'm competitive and I always want to win," Schultz said. "Everyday after practice I go up to the gym and hit the weights and run.

"I'm just trying to outwork everybody."

Contact Duffy at 394-8429 or at padraic.duffy@rapidcityjournal.com