Des Moines, IA- To start off championship Saturday for the Iowa High School Athletic Association’s 2026 Boys’ State Wrestling tournament, the consolation bracket played out all of their matchups to fill in the podium for 3rd through 8th place and KILJ had eight local athletes vying for the best spot they could get one the podium.
Here’s how our local athletes fared.
Class 1A
157-Pound Weight Class
Wapello’s #6 Cohen Wolford was handled by #9 Jaxon Gordon of Riverside by technical fall in the 7th place bout.
Wolford claimed 8th place with a season record of 40-7.
Class 2A
113-Pound Weight Class
#2 Kohen Dietzenbach of Burlington Notre Dame tangled with #1 Ethan Humphrey of West Branch in the consolation semifinals, but loss by a 10-3 decision. Dietzenbach was able to recover in the 5th place match as he pinned #12 Lucas Peters of West Delaware in the 3rd period.
Dietzenbach finished the season with a 40-2 record and with the 5th place medal.
120-Pound Weight Class
A southeast Iowa showcase pitted Burlington Notre Dame’s #5 Rowan Berndt against Mt. Pleasant’s #14 Levi Evans for the consolation semifinals. Berndt jumped out to a 6 to 1 lead entering the third period before the Panther scored an escape and takedown within the first minute to bring the match within one point.
Berndt gained a two-point lead after tabbing an escape and appeared to have won the match, but Evans scored a takedown with four seconds remaining to claim the 8-7 decision victory to advance to the bronze medal match.
Evans appeared exhausted from 8th match in three days and just could not keep up with #4 Atlee Dewitt of Alburnett, losing by technical fall. Still, the first boys’ state wrestler since 2020 claimed 4th place and a 38-7 record.
Berndt could not usurp #2 Urijah Courter of West Marshall in the 5th place match, falling by a 7-1 decision. The Nike took home a 5th place medal and a 43-8 record.
132-Pound Weight Class
#5 Colt Boyles of Burlington Notre Dame was in a stalemate against #3 Carter Schmauss of Crestwood for most of the match, but a 2nd period escape by Schmauss was all he needed to win the match by a 1-0 decision.
In a rematch from the quarterfinals, Boyles kept close to #4 Linden Phetxoumphone of Clarion-Goldfield-Dows yet still fell by a 4-0 decision. Boyles finished in 6th place with a 44-6 record for the year.
138-Pound Weight Class
#7 Caden Greiner of Washington pulled off the upset in shutout fashion, as he defeated #4 Kaydin Jones of Union by major decision. However, Greiner would lose by fall to #3 Liam Adflinger of Wilton to take 4th place overall.
150-Pound Weight Class
#4 Kael Cook of Burlington Notre Dame pinned #6 Aiden Hippen of Clear Lake within the third period. The victory gave the Nike 7th place and a 45-3 record.
175-Pound Weight Class
Fairfield’s #6 Dain Burkhart finished the day 2-0 after defeating #5 Kasen Tyler of Decorah by a 6-3 decision, sending him to the 3rd place match. In a match where every second was needed, Burkhart snuck away with a 9-8 victory after a couple rounds of overtime.
Burkhart took the bronze and finished with a 41-7 record.
More Information
KILJ would like to thank all of our tournament sponsors for allowing us to cover the 2026 Boys’ Wrestling State Tournament.