Prep Wrestling- The high school boys’ District meets concluded yesterday and for Class 1A and 2A the district champion and runner-up advanced to the State Tournament and for Class 3A the third-place finisher also advanced. Here’s how our local wrestlers fared.
Below are the State Tournament qualifiers by team and weight class.
Class 1A
New London
Gage Burden (126)
WACO
Gage Samo (113)
Louden Huisenga (190)
Wapello
Zach Harbison (138)
Matthew Helscher (150)
Pekin
Reed Laudeman (106)
Class 2A
Burlington Notre Dame
Colt Boyles (106)
Carter West (113)
CJ Davis (126)
Kaiden Dietzenbach (132)
Kael Cook (138)
Dirk Boyles (150)
Blake Wilson (157)
Fairfield
Cael McCabe (106)
Cason Miller (157)
Dain Burkhart (175)
Carter Moore (190)
Dre Smithburg (215)
Mediapolis
Kyler Crow (165)
Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union
Jacob Nelson (113)
Ty Scorpil (126)
Kason Dopler (175)
Russel Coil (285)
Washington
Aaron Boone (132)
Class 3A
Fort Madison
Nolan Riddle (157)
Isaac Thacher (190)
Cory Arnett (285)
Burlington
Braxton Hutchinson (106)
For a full breakdown, continue reading.
In Class 1A New London, WACO, and Wapello traveled to Wilton and here’s how the Tigers finished; Kane Foreseen in the 120-pound weight class finished in fourth place after finishing 2-2 at the meet. His two wins were by technical fall and major decision, while losing to Cade Happel in the third-place match by a 10-9 decision.
Gage Burden, in the 126-pound weight class, punched his ticket to state with a 6-2 decision win over Brock Thomann of Highland in the second-place match. His only loss was in the first-place match to Owen Adlfinger of Wilton by fall.
Falling just outside of qualifying for state was Corbin Jacobs-Jewell in the 144-pound weight class and Michael Raines in the 165-pound weight class. Jacobs-Jewell defeated Wyatt Cole of Durant by fall in the third-place match to earn the chance to advance to state, but loss to Jordan Dusenberry of Wilton by tech fall in the second-place match.
Raines worked his way into the first-place match but lost to Matthias Kohl of Lisbon by fall, which sent him to the second-place match where Jensen Boorn of Wilton outpaced his by points in a 12-7 decision win.
WACO saw two wrestlers advance to the state tournament as Gage Samo in the 113-pound weight class finished 3-1 on the day, with a narrow 2-1 decision defeat in the first-place bout at the hands of Mason Shirk of Wilton. He won the second-place match by no contest over Codder Malcom of Wapello.
Louden Huisenga, ranked the 3rd best wrestler in Class 1A at the 190-pound weight class by IAwrestle, claimed the district championship and kept his undefeated season alive with a win over Anthony Harrington of Midland and an 8-4 decision win in the first-place match over Nathan Beitz of Maquoketa Valley.
John McLaughlin went 2-2 on the day after falling in the third-place match to Cohen Wolford of Wapello in the 132-pound weight class.
Wapello will also have two wrestlers competing at the state tournament in Zach Harbison and Matthew Helscher.
Harbison, 138-pound weight class, cruised to the first-place match after defeating Ryder Meeks of Lisbon by fall and Hayden Riggan of Louisa-Muscatine by an 8-1 decision in the semifinals. Harbison would claim second place after being bested by Gabriel Brisker of Wilton by major decision. His earlier win over Riggan sealed his position.
In the 150-pound weight class, Helscher was pinned by Nate Wood of North Cedar, which placed him in the consolation bracket. Helscher battled his was to the second-place match after defeating Tyreese Crippin of Maquoketa Valley by an 8-5 decision. He then defeated Hayden Hill of Wilton by a 10-6 decision to finish as runner-up.
At Pleasantville, Pekin’s Reed Laudeman was the lone Panther to advance to the state tournament after defeating Tanner Booth of Pleasantville by a 6-1 decision in the second-place match.
Moving our attention to Class 2A, Fairfield hosted the District 3 meet with Mt. Pleasant, Mediapolis, Keokuk, and Burlington Notre Dame all making the trip.
For Mt. Pleasant, Lane Beckler in the 126-pound weight class, Tucker French in the 165-pound weight class, William Birdsell in the 215-pound weight class, and Juan Lopez in the 285-pound weight class each finished in fourth place in the respective weight classes.
Ramzy Davis had to battle his way from the consolation bracket into the third-place match, where he defeated Mason Johnson of Mediapolis by fall to earn the opportunity to advance to state. Unfortunately, Bode Thompson of Albia pinned him at the 4:50 mark in the second-place match.
Mediapolis will have one Bulldog wrestling at state as Kyler Crow claimed second-place in the 165-pound weight class. Crow fell in the third round of the first-place match to Lance Helm of Albia but defeated Bridge Anderson of Burlington Notre Dame by fall to secure his spot.
Caden Hauenstein, 175-pound weight class, and Parker Lange, 190-pound weight class, each clinched third place.
No wrestlers advanced from Keokuk with Robert Howes of the 126-pound weight class and Joshua Baum of the 132-pound weight class each taking third place after losses in the second-place match.
Fairfield was headlined by two district champions and a total of five wrestlers advancing to the state tournament. Cael McCabe of the 106-pound weight class went 2-0 at the meet with a 4-3 decision win in the championship match against Colt Boyles of Burlington Notre Dame.
Cason Miller, in the 157-pound weight class fell to Blake Wilson of Burlington Notre Dame in the championship match by a 4-3. This set up a must-win match against Kael Hutchinson of Albia with the winner moving on to state. Miller won by fall in the second round to punch his ticket.
Dain Burkhart claimed the district championship in the 175-pound weight class with a win over Dru Diaz of Assumption by a 7-2 decision.
Carter Moore, 190-pound weight class, had to battle his way through the consolation bracket with a win over Maverick Kindred of Assumption pairing him against Lange, who he defeated by fall in the third round to win second place.
Lastly, Dre Smithburg of the 215-pound weight class defeated Nate Ballard of Albia by fall in the second-place match to lock his spot in the state tournament. His only loss was to Rhett Schaefer of Assumption in the championship match by major decision.
Burlington Notre Dame has had southeast Iowa in a half-nelson for a while now and this performance was no different with five district champions and seven total wrestlers advancing.
Boyles took second place by no contest after his loss to McCabe in the championship match of the 106-pound weight class.
Carter West in the 113-pound weight class won the championship by fall over Matt Genobana of Centerville. CJ Davis, 126-pound weight class, pinned Conner Pickarell of Albia in the first-place bout. Kaiden Dietzenbach won by a 9-3 decision in the 132-pound weight class championship match against Steele Diercks of Assumption. Dirk Boyles, 150-pound weight class took down Bode Thompson of Albia by a 7-2 decision to claim first place and Blake Wilson defeated Cason Miller for first place in the 157-pound weight class.
Kael Cook took second place over Fletcher Mick of Albia in the 138-pound weight class with a win by fall.
Moving over to District 9 where Solon was hosting Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union, the Wildcats had four wrestlers advance to the state tournament with one district champion.
Jacob Nelson worked his way into the first-place match of the 113-pound weigh class but loss to Ryan Cassady of West Liberty by a 4-0 decision, which sent him to the second-place match to face off against CJ Martin of Mount Vernon. Nelson dispatched of Martin by a 6-1 decision to advance to state.
Ty Scorpil, 126-pound weigh class, breezed his way to the district championship with two first round pins against Dolan Theisen of Central DeWitt in the semifinals and Evan Burg of Solon in the championship match.
Kason Dopler defeated Grayson Chrones of Central DeWitt by a 3-1 decision in the semifinals of the 175-pound weight class to place him against Watson Krob of Mount Vernon in the championship match. In a hard-fought match, Krob ended up on top, winning by a 6-4 decision. His earlier win over Chrones propelled him to the state tournament.
Russel Coil fell to Ethan Wood in the championship match of the 285-pound weight class, meaning he was in a must-win match against Burke Berry of Mid-Prairie with the winner advancing to state. Coil won in the second round by fall.
Bowen Thomson had a nice meet, finished 3-2 and in third place after falling to Charlie Karam of Solon by major decision in the second-place match of the 132-pound weight class.
In District 12 at Williamsburg, Washington’s Aaron Boone was the only Demon to advance to state after winning the district championship by a 5-2 decision over Logan McDonald of Grinnell in the 132-pound weight class.
In Class 3A, Fort Madison and Burlington traveled to Bettendorf for their district matchups. Three Bloodhounds advance to the state tournament, while the Grayhounds will have one wrestler competing in Des Moines.
For Burlington, Braxton Hutchinson finished 3-0 in the 106-pound weight class with a third-round pin of Hudson Fleming of Bettendorf culminating in a district championship.
Fort Madison’s Nolan Riddle took second place in the 157-pound weight class with a win by no contest over Trace Robinson of Clear Creek-Amana after Riddle defeated him in the semifinals by fall. His loss was at the hands of Kael Voinovich of Iowa City, City High by fall in the first-place match.
Isaac Thacher claimed second in the 190-pound weight class by similar means to Riddle with a win over Ethan Williams of Clear Creek-Amana in the semifinals helping to propel him to the state tournament after falling to Brayden Koester of Bettendorf by fall.
Lastly, Cory Arnett secured the district championship in the 285-pound weight class after defeating Aiden Lee of Bettendorf by a 5-4 decision in the championship match.
The State Tournament will begin on Wednesday, February 14th, with the first season starting at 9 am with the Class 2A first round and consolation matchups. The tournament will wrap up on Saturday, February 17th, with the finals beginning at 5:15 pm.