First day of Iowa state wrestling championships kick off

Teams begin to charge towards titles, individual glory

By Dana Becker 

The first of the expanded four-day Iowa state wrestling championships kicked off Wednesday in Des Moines from Wells Fargo Arena.

For the first time, individual weight classes were expanded to 24 qualifiers, with the Top 8 seeds at each one receiving a bye. The first two rounds of the championship side took place in all three classifications, with quarterfinals set for Thursday.

Here is a recap from each class on Wednesday:

Fast start for favored Dons

Don Bosco had little trouble picking up another state duals title earlier this year, and after day one at traditional state, the Dons are looking poised to repeat here.

With 55 points, Don Bosco holds a 12-point advantage over Wilton. Nashua-Plainfield, Alburnett and Lisbon round out the Top 5.

Jaxon Larson, Myles McMahon, Kaiden Knaack, Andrew Kimbal, Jacob Thiry, Landon Fernandez, Jared Thiry and Mack Ortner all marched into the quarterfinals, with several others set for the consolation round.

As they tend to do, the Dons earned plenty of bonus points, picking up seven falls and a major decision from their winners.

Wilton has Mason Shirk, Austin Etzel, Gabriel Brisker, Brody Brisker, Trae Hagen, Kaden Shirk and Alexander Kaufmann in the quarters, while Nashua-Plainfield, who pushed 13 through to state, still has five in the final eight including unbeaten Garret Rinken.

Midland’s Caden Ballou pulled one of the few major upsets, as the senior knocked off No. 2 seed MaKade Bloker of North Butler-Clarksville in the 182-pound second round with a third period fall.

Osage out front in 2A race

It is not suprise Osage had a big opening day in Class 2A. The Green Devils, who have held the top spot for the entire season, racked up 47.5 points and are sitting well ahead of both Mount Vernon and West Delaware.

Blake Fox, Anders Kittelson, Tucker Stangel, Chase Thomas, Max Gast, Nicholas Fox, Barrett Muller and Mac Muller all secured spots in the quarterfinals. Blake Fox, Kittelson, Stangel, Gast, Nicholas Fox and Mac Muller earned bonus points in their matches for Osage.

Tucker Stangel kept his perfect record intact with a fall over Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley’s Brock Mulder in just over five minutes at 145 pounds. Six other Green Devil wrestlers have over 40 wins on the year, led by 48 from Blake Fox and Kittelson.

To catch Osage, Mount Vernon will need even more out of its qualifiers. Klayten Perreault, Jase Jaspers, Mikey Ryan, Jackson Jaspers, Henry Ryan and Clark Younggren all reached the elite eight. West Delaware, meanwhile, still has five competing on the championship side.

At 170 pounds, Forest City’s Kellen Moore remained unbeaten with a first period fall. Moore improved to 42-0 on the year and is now the school’s career win leader, passing former Iowa State University standout Andrew Sorenson.

Moore now has 156 career wins on his resume. He has committed to Grand View University to play football in the fall.

One of the biggest upsets of the state tournament happened at 126 pounds, as Decorah freshman Mason Avila knocked off top-seed Kaiden Dietzenbach from Notre Dame, West Burlington. Avila posted a 4-2 victory, sending himself into the quarterfinals.

The 152-pound bracket featured a handful of upsets, as No. 11 Brenden Heying of Benton, 12th-seed Chaz Graves from Knoxville and No. 14 Lucas Kral of Garner-Hayfield/Ventura stunned higher seeds to move on.

At heavyweight, No. 18 Russell Coil of Columbus WMU knocked off second-seed Sam Gravert of Central DeWitt, 5-2. That came on the heels of a 4-3 win in the first round by Coil over Sean May from BCLUW-SH.

Go-Hawks, Rams tight at the top

The final session of state wrestling showed just how exciting the Class 3A team race is shaping up to be this week. Waverly-Shell Rock holds the overnight lead with 55.5 points, as Southeast Polk is right behind with 54.

Bettendorf sits third with 43.5 and surprising Carlisle is fourth with 40. Ankeny, Linn-Mar, Ankeny Centennial, Johnston and Waukee Northwest follow.

Most of the expected standouts for the Go-Hawks advanced, though they did lose 220-pounder Caden Wetherell to the consolation side. Ryker Graff, Zane Behrends, Ryder Block, Bas Diaz, Ethan Bibler, Danny Diaz, McCrae Hagarty and Jake Walker had little trouble moving on.

Block and Danny Diaz are both unbeaten on the year for Waverly-Shell Rock, who scored eight falls to lead all teams regardless of classification.

The Rams went a combined 11-3, as Carter Pearson, Wil Oberbroeckling, Justis Jesuroga, Maximus Riggins, Trevor Oberbroeckling, Brent Slade, Holden Hansen, Harrison Gibson, Antonio Loving and Cooper Martinson reached the quarterfinals.

In an upset, Linn-Mar’s Grant Boddicker handed Johnston’s Owen Helgeson his first loss of the season to reach the 160-pound quarters as the No. 20 seed, 2-0. He scored a takedown in sudden victory to best Helgeson.

West Des Moines Dowling’s Ralston Rumley was forced out of the meet, as the 220-pounder suffered an injury this past week. Rumley reached the finals last year, falling to Iowa City High’s Ben Kueter. He was the No. 3 seed in the bracket.