Prep Boys’ Wrestling- The 2025 boys’ wrestling postseason got underway this past Saturday with the District Tournaments for all three classes sending 24 qualifiers per weight class. In Classes 1A and 2A, the top two place-winners advanced and the top three in Class 3A.
Class 1A
Pleasantville
Van Buren County, WACO, and Wapello traveled to Pleasantville to compete in their district assignment and each team sent at least one wrestler to the state tournament.
For Van Buren County in the 106-pound weight class, Leo Jirak picked up a win by fall over Cooper Sampson of North Mahaska to advance to the 1st place match. It was there where he ran into WACO’s Ian Maize, who continued his wonderful season, and fell by a 10-6 decision.
Jirak had a winner-takes-all match with Iowa Valley’s Carter Koenig and the contentious battle ended with a victory by fall for the Warrior. He will enter the state tournament with a 29-7 record.
Along with WACO’s Maize, Gage Samo in the 120-pound weight class and undefeated Louden Huisenga in the 190-pound weight class each breezed their way to district championships. Samo defeated Logan Van Zee of North Mahaska by technical fall and Owen Henriksen of Alburnett by a 5-3 decision.
For Huisenga, he pinned Blake Lamansky of Cardinal in the semifinal and collected technical fall wins over Grayson Nagle of Wapello in the quarterfinals and River Williams of Alburnett in the 1st place match.
Wapello will have Cohen Wolford in the 138-pound weight class making the trip to Des Moines after finishing in 2nd place at districts. He started off his day with a win by fall of Cardinals Kyran Spees and followed that up with a quick pin of Blake Rowson of Pleasantville in the semifinals.
Wolford would lose by technical fall of Preston Klostermann of Alburnett with his win over Rowson acting as a no contest and officially sending him on to the state tournament.
Wilton
New London was our lone local team who made the trip to Wapello and the Tigers will send two wrestlers to Des Moines.
In the 126-pound weight class, Kane Foreseen finished his day 3-1 and grabbed 2nd place after pinning Lone Tree’s Hudsyn Sojka, claiming a win by major decision over Brock Thomann of Highland, losing by major decision against Mason Shirk of Wilton, and sealing his ticket with a victory by major decision against Jaxson Wedekind of Louisa-Muscatine.
Gage Burden will return to the state tournament for another season as he started off the tournament with a pin of Clay Gates of West Branch and win by major decision over Hayden Riggan of Louisa-Muscatine to wrestle in the 1st place match.
Gabriel Brisker of Wilton would get the better of Burden with a victory by major decision but the Tiger’s early win against Riggan was enough to push Burden to the state tournament.
Class 2A
Centerville
Centerville housed four of our local teams as they wrestled for the chance to compete in Des Moines and what has become recent tradition Burlington Notre Dame will have a litany of wrestlers attending the state tournament.
In the 100-pound weight class, Kohen Dietzenbach had a relatively stress-free day, nabbing two wins and 1st place at the district. Dietzenbach’s win over Ryan Rose of Keokuk by major decision in the 1st place match was enough for Rose to qualify as he defeated Dakota Aney of Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union by fall in the semifinals.
Rowan Berndt suffered an early loss to Fairfield’s Cael McCabe, who would go on to take 1st place, in the 113-pound weight class but that did not deter him as he rattled off three straight wins, including a victory by major decision over Ben James of Creston to claim 2nd place.
Colt Boyles in the 120-pound weight class finished 3-0 on the day with a 7-2 decision victory over Matt Genobana of Centerville to win 1st place.
CJ Davis in the 126-pound weight class and Kaiden Dietzenbach in the 138-pound weight class each followed the same script and won their district with a couple of wins.
In the 132-pound weight class, Jared Glendening’s win by fall over Bowen Thomson of Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union meant the Nike got to punch his ticket to the state tournament after falling to Lane Travis of Creston in the 1st place match.
In the 150-pound weight class, Kael Cook took 1st place as did Blake Wilson in the 165-pound weight class.
In the 157-pound weight class, Fairfield’s Cason Miller and Dirk Boyles met up in the championship match and it was the Trojan who escaped with the narrow 4-1 decision victory to win the district. Boyles won defeat Parker Hemann of Albia by major decision to take 2nd place.
In another Trojan versus Nike 1st place match, Dain Burkhart of Fairfield got the better of Joey Glendening with a win by fall to take 1st place in the 175-pound weight class. Glendening’s 9-4 decision win over Kason Dopler of Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union claimed him 2nd place.
Also advancing to the start tournament was Bridge Anderson in the 190-pound weight class as he took 2nd place after pinning Jayden Myers of Creston. The Nikes will officially have 11 wrestlers competing at the state tournament.
Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union had no wrestlers advance to state as Markel Zapiensz, Itai Zapiensz, Dopler, Thomson, and Aney each ended up at the doorstep, finishing in 3rd place.
For Fairfield, along with McCabe, Miller, and Burkhart, the Trojans also had three other wrestlers advance to the state tournament.
In the 144-pound weight class, Zandrik Allison took 2nd place after defeating Paxton Thompson of Davis County by major decision in the semifinals. This granted him a win by no contest in the 2nd place match after falling to Conner Pickerell of Albia by technical fall.
Also claiming 2nd place was Alex Hudson in the 285-pound weight class as he finished 2-1 for the day. His only loss was to Nate Ballard of Albia by fall in the 1st place match.
Dre Smithburg won the district for the 215-pound weight class after pinning Giorgi Natchkebia of Centerville in the semifinals and Gunner Martwick of Creston in the championship match.
Ryan Rose of Keokuk in the 106-pound weight class, was the lone state qualifier for the Chiefs.
Williamsburg
Mediapolis had a trio of wrestlers punch their ticket to the state tournament as Kyler Crow won the district for the 175-pound weight class after defeating Jackson Feuerbach of Solon by major decision in the 1st place match.
Mason Johnson started off his run in the 150-pound weight class with a pair of pins before losing to Nile Sinn of Williamsburg by fall in the 1st place match.
At the same time, Mt. Pleasant’s Ramzy Davis fell to Sinn in the semifinals, which sent the Panther to the consolation bracket where he collected two wins by fall to secure a matchup with Johnson with the winner attending the state tournament.
It turned out Johnson would be the one to escape with the win by a 7-3 decision to knock out Davis.
In the 157-pound weight class, Peyton Johson fell to Brady Grier of Williamsburg by major decision in the 1st place match but narrowly escaped with a victory over Carson Kidwell of Solon by a 3-2 decision to earn a trip to state.
Washington’s Aaron Boone will be heading back to the state tournament after defeating Jefferson Avalos Ramirez of Mt. Pleasant by technical fall to earn a no contest in the 2nd place match.
Mt. Pleasant did not have a wrestler earn a spot at the state tournament as Levi Evans, Lane Beckler, Ramirez, Davis, and Payton Walker grab 3rd place.
Class 3A
Fort Madison and Burlington each ventured to Cedar Rapids Jefferson for their district matchup and the Bloodhounds had one wrestler earn a trip to state and the Grayhounds had a pair of wrestlers earn 2nd place.
In the 106 pound-weight class, Braxton Hutchinson of Burlington nearly had 1st place under his belt but a sudden victory for Abe Heysinger of Dubuque Hempstead in the 1st place match sent the Grayhound to a winner-takes-all match.
Hutchinson would get the best of Cole Kasparek of Clear Creek-Amana by technical fall to advance to the state tournament.
Adrian Perez-Hall’s win over Ben Haughey of Clear Creek-Amana in the semifinals for the 157-pound weight class earned his ticket to the state tournament after falling the Cole Green of North Scott by fall in the 1st place match.
Lastly, James Fuller of the 113-pound weight class pulled off a sudden victory over Maxwell Davis of North Scott in the 1st place match to secure the district championship.
Upcoming
Stay tuned to KILJ for an article detailing the first-round matchups for all of our local wrestlers and our coverage during the state tournament set the begin on Wednesday, February 19th.