Des Moines, IA- Championship Saturday is in the books and here are the final results for all of our local wrestlers competing for the state championship.

Carter West of Burlington Notre Dame faced off against the #1 seed Brayden Bohnsack of Union, LaPorte City for the Class 2A 106-pound weight class title. The first two periods went scoreless between the two wrestlers and with the chance of overtime rapidly approaching in the third period, Bohnsack went for a late takedown and got it to win on a 2-0 decision. West claimed 2^nd place.

Tate O’Shea of Keokuk had a tough matchup as he was pitted against last year’s champion from Greene County, McKinley Robbins, in the Class 2A 138-pound weight class championship bout. Robbins started things off with a takedown to score the first two points of the match. O’Shea responded with an escape and the cycle would repeat the rest of the way through the match with Robbins earning one point for an escape to start the third period. Robbins won the championship on a major decision with O’Shea finishing in 2^nd place.

Burlington Notre Dame already had a second and third place finisher, Isaiah Fenton made it a state champion as well as he defeated Cooper Sanders of Vinton-Shellsburg by a 10-3 decision. Fenton started off the scoring with a first period takedown and with no points scored in the second period and Sanders getting a point for an escape to start period three the score was 2-1 in favor of Fenton. Sanders would get out of position with a minute to go and Fenton took advantage capturing two points with a takedown, Sanders would reverse, but Fenton had control the rest of the way piling up points on his way to a state championship for the Class 2A 152-pound weight class.

The Class 1A 160-pound weight class would provide the crowd with a match full of excitement and drama. The #1 seed Wyatt Reisz of Logan-Magnolia was looking for his third state championship in a row, while Dom Lopez of New London, the #2 seed, was looking for his first state championship after two 3^rd place finishes in a row and becoming the all-time winningest wrestler in Iowa state history two rounds before. Reisz would get things going with a takedown to take the 2-0 lead before Lopez was able to escape to cut the lead in half to 2-1. Reisz, starting in the bottom position, would escape to start period 2. Lopez would capture a late takedown and was looking to ride it out, but Reisz was able to escape and make the score 4-3. Lopez would get one-point via an escape to tie the match at 4 sending the match into overtime for the first time during the championship session. Reisz would get the sudden victory with a late takedown to secure his third state championship. Lopez would claim 2^nd place.

CJ Walrath of Burlington Notre Dame came into the Class 2A 182-pound weight class state championship bout with a 159-1 record over the last three years. The third seed Brody Sampson of Ballard was looking to upset the #1 seed and started out as such as he picked up and put down Walrath for a 2-point takedown. Walrath would respond by scoring the next 8 points with three takedowns and two escapes. This all led to a third period pin where Walrath would add another state championship to his illustrious career and improve his three-year record to 160-1.

In the Class 1A 195-pound weight class, it was the #1 seed Jackson Dewald of Westwood, Sloan battling against the #2 seed Josh Glendening of Mediapolis. The scoring would show how even of a match it was with each wrestler picking up one-point via escape in the first three periods sending us to overtime. In overtime, Dewald would go for the quick strike and connect walking away with the sudden victory takedown to become the state champion. Glendening would claim 2^nd place.

Des Moines, IA– The last day of the Iowa High School Athletic Association boys’ wrestling state tournament is almost in the books and here is how Class 3A finished up for our local wrestlers before the championship matches.

Isaac Thacher of Fort Madison would move past McCrae Hagarty of Waverly-Shell Rock due to a forfeit by injury, catapulting him to the 3^rd place match in the 195-pound weight class. AJ Petersen of North Scott would take the 3^rd place medal as he took down Thacher by fall. Thacher takes home the 4^th place medal.

That concludes KILJ’s coverage of local wrestlers in the Class 3A state tournament. Stay tuned for final results.

Des Moines, IA– The last day of the Iowa High School Athletic Association boys’ wrestling state tournament is almost in the books and here is how Class 2A finished up for our local wrestlers before the championship matches.

Aaron Boone of Washington would be sent to the 5^th place match as he fell to the #1 seed Carson Doolittle of Webster City by major decision. Slated against Shane Hanford of West Marshall, Boone would be defeated by fall to earn 6^th place in the tournament.

In the 126-pound weight class, Kaiden Dietzenbach of Burlington Notre Dame kept up his dominating run through the consolation bracket as he took down Amare Chavez of South Tama County by a 7-0 decision. Dietzenbach would claim the Nike’s first medal of the day by finishing in 3^rd place when he defeated Jerren Gille in a 6-3 decision.

Jackson Boese of Van Meter fell to Zach Adelmund of Dike-New Hartford in a 5-2 decision pitting him against Jace Mulder of Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley for 5^th place. Mulder would get the better of Boese winning the match by major decision. Boese would claim 6^th place.

In the 285-pound weight class, Russell Coil of Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union would fall to Mac Miller of Osage in a close match by a 3-2 decision. Paul Ballard of Albia defeated him in the 5^th place match on a 5-2 decision. Coil claims 6^th place.

Carter West, Isaiah Fenton, and CJ Walrath of Burlington Notre Dame and Tate O’Shea of Keokuk are still due to wrestle for their respective championships. Stay tuned to KILJ for results.

Des Moines, IA- The last day of the Iowa High School Athletic Association boys’ wrestling state tournament is almost in the books and here is how Class 1A finished up for our local wrestlers before the championship matches.

In the 113-pound weight class, Gage Samo of WACO was defeated by Eli Becerra of Missouri Valley by fall to send Samo to the 5^th place match. Samo would take on Nick Brase of Nashua-Plainfield in the 5^th place match and in a close contest lose on a 4-2 decision. Samo claims 6^th place for the 113-pound weight class.

In the 220-pound weight class, Spencer Kessel of Louisa-Muscatine defeated Jack Hiland of Bellevue on a 6-4 decision to move on to the 3^rd place match. Evan Foreman of Interstate 35 would get the better of Kessel in a 9-2 decision as the Bulldog finished in 4^th place.

Dom Lopez of New London and Josh Glendening of Mediapolis will be wrestling tonight for the state championship for their respective weight classes. Stay tuned to KILJ for results.

Winfield-Mt. Union, IA- In a packed house at the Wolves Den, fans were gifted a rare postseason doubleheader between two teams that had gotten to know one another rather well. The golden opportunity came about how most things come about in the Midwest during the winter: a snowstorm had postponed the boys’ game between Winfield-Mt. Union and Burlington Notre Dame on Thursday. The only issue was the girls’ team for the Wolves was also supposed to play at home on Friday. However, luck would shine down upon Southeastern Iowa as the girls were also supposed to battle against Burlington Notre Dame, so the doubleheader was set.

Game one tip-offed at 6 pm, but before we get into the game it’s good to know the backstory. Winfield-Mt. Union came into the matchup with first year head coach and WMU alumnus, Mendy McCreight, at 20-1 with their lone loss coming against 12^th ranked Mediapolis of Class 2A. The Wolves have not made it to state since 1998 when McCreight was playing for the team. To add some fuel to the fire, the Wolves’ postseason runs the last three years have been quashed by Burlington Notre Dame by an average of 36 points with the last two years ending in the same spot, the semifinals.

Now, Burlington Notre Dame has dominated the Southeastern Iowa scene having made it to the Regional Championship the last three years, including a trip to the state quarterfinal last year where the fell to the eventual state champion Bishop Garrigan. Both teams were ranked throughout the year with the Wolves finishing ranked 8^th, while the Nikes collected an 18-6 record on the season after falling out of the top 15 midway through the season due to a 1-4 slump.

The game started as if the status quo would be kept, as the Nikes won the tip and had an open lay-up to start the game. However, things played out a different way last night as the ball danced around the rim and fell out. Keetyn Townsley knocked down a three to get the scoring started as the Wolves rattled off a 7-0 run. Burlington Notre Dame would shake off the initial shock as the Nikes hit three three-pointers of their own in the first half, but all the momentum would go the way of the Wolves after Anna Anderson nailed a high-arcing three at the buzzer to give Winfield-Mt. Union a 30-21 lead at halftime.

But, as Coach McCreight would say at the end of the game, “…they’re a good second half team.” Burlington Notre Dame would outscore the Wolves 14 to 10 in the third quarter to smack the lead down to 40-35. Lauren Krieger hit four three-pointers in the second half and Gabby Deery would get her work done in the paint as she put up 12 points in the second half to keep the Nikes close. However, Melina Oepping would score 10 points of her own along with Anderson and Bradie Buffington going 6 of 8 from the free throw line. Winfield-Mt. Union never trailed as they won 57-54 to move on to play North Mahaska in the Class 1A Region 8 Regional Championship. Oepping would finish with 20 points in the game, while the Nikes were led by Krieger’s 20 points, as she hit five three-pointers in the contest.

Coach McCreight was overjoyed when she talked about her team’s effort,

“We’re excited, we believed, we went and achieved, and that’s what we did we got the job done.”

Game two—the boys’ game—had a high standard to meet, as the winner already knew New London had defeated WACO to move on to the district 7 semifinals. The Wolves and the Nikes had already met two weeks ago in the Southeastern Iowa Super Conference Shootout, when the Wolves would squeak by with the 53-52 victory. Winfield-Mt. Union was trying to make it back to state since their state championship loss to Rock Valley, 52-51, back in 1996, and Burlington Notre Dame was looking to make it back to the dance for the first time since 2009, as both teams lost to Danville last year in the playoffs.

Burlington Notre Dame started the game hot as the Nikes led 14-8 at the end of the first quarter. However, the Wolves would not go away easy as Jake Edwards hit two three-pointers in the second quarter leading to a Wolves one point lead, 23-22, going into halftime. The third quarter became the Cam Buffington show as the junior could not miss as he scored 18 of his 27 points in the one quarter. Buffington, alone, outscored the Nikes 18 to 14 in the quarter. The defense for the Wolves would hang on despite Spencer Brent’s three three-pointers in the second half, as Carter Loyd would hit 5 of his 6 free throws late in the game to give Winfield-Mt. Union the 63-49 win.

Klay Edwards, a member of the Wolves when they went to the state tournament three times in the 1990s that included a 2^nd place finish, a 3^rd place finish, and a 4^th place finish, the head coach for Winfield-Mt. Union reflected how evenly match the two teams are,

“Fantastic effort really, Notre Dame is a great team, and we match up with each other so well. We can play each other ten times and it would probably come out 5 to 5. We’ve been fortunate to get the last two here. So, just really proud of our guys.”

Winfield-Mt. Union will now have to take on New London in the Substate 4 semifinal. Coach Edwards knows his team will have their hands full, but there’s one player he knows they will have to contain,

“Blaise Porter will be topic number 1…you’re going to have to guard everyone and try to contain the two big dogs [Blaise Porter and Cade Benjamin] , so we are going to have our hands full.”

The Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ team will play February 21^st at Mediapolis High School at 7 pm and the girls’ team will play February 22^nd at Williamsburg High School at 7 pm.