Des Moines, IA- It’s championship Saturday for the 2025 Iowa Boys’ High School State Wrestling Tournament, a sacred day for many in the state of Iowa and a packed day of competition as the top eight for all 14 weight classes for the three classes are decided. Here’s a look at how our local wrestlers competed.
Class 3A
106-Pound
Burlington’s #2-seed Braxton Hutchinson started the day with a match against #4 Chase Watkinson of Prairie in the consolation semifinals and the Grayhound exited with the victory by a 6-2 decision, throwing him into the third-place match.
Hutchinson was presented a rare opportunity, a rematch against #7 Abe Heysinger of Dubuque Hempstead—the wrestler who knocked him into the consolation bracket. Unfortunately, the result was congruent with the first, a 1-0 decision win for Heysinger.
The Grayhound ended the year with a 42-6 record and 4th place overall.
Class 2A
Burlington Notre Dame’s #6 Kohen Dietzenbach had the tough draw of facing off against #1 Coy Mehlert of Union in the consolation semifinals and was unable to execute the upset, losing by technical fall and being sent to the fifth-place bout.
Similarly, the Nike was unable to displace #2 Charlie Boelman of North Polk, falling by technical fall to take home 6th place. Dietzenbach finished the year with a 44-7 record.
113-Pound
In a local matchup, Fairfield’s #2 Cael McCabe was paired up #8 Rowan Berndt with the winner advancing to the bronze medal match. The Trojan would thump Berndt by technical fall to advance.
McCabe would parlay that victory into a 7-1 decision win over #7 Kolbe Hanson of Iowa Falls-Alden to claim 3rd place. He ended the year with a 37-3 record.
Berndt was able to avenge his loss with a 10-4 decision victory over Bryce Oostenink of Sioux Center to take 5th place. He ended the year with a 50-8 record.
120-Pound
Burlington Notre Dame’s #6 Colt Boyles competed against #4 Mitchell Schmauss of Crestwood in the consolation semifinals and fell to Schmauss by major decision, sending the Nike to the fifth-place match.
Awaiting him there was #5 Jon Gonzalez of West Marshall and Boyles did not miss out on his opportunity, winning by a narrow 5-3 decision to claim 5th place. Boyles finished the season with a 46-9 record.
132-Pound
Washington’s #2 Aaron Boone was not going to let anyone stand in his way as he started off the day with a pin of #4 Steele Diercks of Assumption in the consolation semifinals. Boone only had #5 Kaiden Parker of Oskaloosa left to beat for third place.
In a difficult match, Boone was able to stave off Parker to pick up a 4-1 decision win and the bronze medal, collecting a 50-4 record for the season.
150-Pound
Burlington Notre Dame’s #7 Kael Cook had one match on the day, and it was a high-scoring affair that needed overtime to decide against #9 Aiden Hippen of Clear Lake. Aptly, the #7-seed Cook was the one who grabbed the sudden victory (15-12) to grab 7th place for the tournament.
He ended the season with a 45-8 record.
157-Pound
#3 Cason Miller of Fairfield tangled #16 Hayden Schafer of Eagle Grove for 7th place and it was the Trojan who grabbed the decisive victory by an 11-2 decision to finish the year with a 39-4 record.
165-Pound
Burlington Notre Dame’s #5 Blake Wilson paved his path to the third-place match after pinning #6 Degan Miller of Greene County within the first minute of the match. However, the battle for the bronze would not prove so easy.
#4 William Fullhart of Decorah pulled out with the 16-10 decision victory over the Nike. Wilson finished the year with a 44-7 record and 4th place.
175-Pound
Lastly, #4 Kyler Crow of Mediapolis was unable to pick up the pieces after losing his semifinal matchup as he fell #2 Brock Mulder of Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley by technical fall in the consolation semifinals and #9 Braylen Bieber of Independence by a 12-8 decision to claim 6th place.
The Bulldog finished his senior season with a 40-3 record.
Class 1A
120-Pound
#5 Gage Samo of WACO unfortunately finished the day 0-2 as he fell by two narrow decisions: 6-3 versus #11 Owen Henriksen of Alburnett and 3-0 against #3 Brock Shaha of Mount Ayr.
Samo finished the year in 6th place and with a 38-5 record.
138-Pound
For his senior season and fourth trip to the state tournament, New London’s #13 Gage Burden wanted to finish in the top eight and he guaranteed that yesterday. In two tough matchups the Tiger would come up short, losing by fall against #6 Aiden Timm of Belle Plaine in the consolation semifinals.
In the fifth-place match, he was tasked to take on #5 Dustin Van Oort of West Sioux in a rematch from earlier in the tournament. Burden battled valiantly forcing overtime, but Van Oort would claim the match with a sudden victory.
Burden finished the season with a 43-9 record and 6th place.
#8 Cohen Wolford of Wapello was looking for 7th place in his matchup against #3 Gabriel Brisker of Wilton; nonetheless, Brisker was able to hold off Wolford to collect a 7-4 decision.
Wolford ended his sophomore campaign with a 38-8 record.
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Stay tuned to KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, for the championship finals for the 2025 Iowa Boys’ High School State Wrestling Tournament as thank our local sponsors for helping us with our coverage!