By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com
KILJ — It was as clinical as head coach Mark Chiri could have asked for.
He saw his New London Tiger wrestling team — led by the Super Lopez Bros., Marcel and Dominic — punch five individual tickets to the State Wrestling Tournament headlining the KILJ-area on District Saturday.
Marcel, again showing why he’s 1A’s most feared 120-pounder, upped his season ledger to a sterling 56-0 with two more technical fall victories; 23-8 over Jacob Pierick (Collins-Maxwell) in the first round and 26-9 over Paul DeJong (North Mahaska) in the finals.
He’s heading back to the Well after already claiming back-to-back state titles.
A threepeat is on his mind now.
Not to be outdone his little brother Dominic rolled to two tech. falls as well, 20-5 over Martensdale-St Mary’s Devin Schall and 25-10 over Jakson Cobb (Wayne) in the finals.
Teammates Josh Glendenning (two falls), Currey Jacobs (two falls) and Boden Pickle (one fall) also looked to be in top form for the Tigers who will look roar loudly in our state’s capitol.
At District 8 of Class 1A, Mediapolis’ Quinten Aney made sure he wouldn’t miss out on the fun.
Aney started hot with a fall win (1:05) over Cale Seydel before embarking on a top-8 matchup against No. 6 (1A-132) Quincy Happel (Lisbon) in the finals.
Happel got the upper hand on the eighth-ranked Aney, but the Bulldog stayed steadfast in his journey winning his wrestleback via fall (1:59) over Wapello’s Elijah Belzer.
Aney, a state medalist last year, is heading back to improve on his 8th place finish last season.
How about WACO’s Landon Provino?
The Warrior 285-pounder turned more heads on Saturday earning a monster fall win (0:35) over Northeast-Goose Lake’s Nate Lorenzen in the first round.
Provino then had the task of grappling 1A’s No. 3 ranked 285-pounder in Lisbon’s Brant Baltes and while he lost that match, he avoided having a wrestleback when Lorenzen, whom he already defeated, won his consolation match.
In 2A, the terrific pair from Columbus-WMU made their mark early and often as Lane Scorpil (113) and Chance Malone (285) both punched tickets to state as district champions.
Scorpil picked up a fall (2:32) in the first round over Mose Yoder (Mid-Prairie) before coasting to a 4-0 decision in the finals over Albia’s Brodie Conner.
Malone also earned a first round fall, making quick work of E-B-F’s Skyler Young (1:34) before coming from behind late in the finals nabbing a 4-1 decision over Mid-Prairie’s Gannon Callahan.
Scorpil, No. 2 at 113 in 2A, and Malone, No. 9 at 285, both have their eyes on the podium next week.
For Notre Dame-West Burlington-Danville, it was business as usual punching five individual tickets to the Well beginning Thursday.
Second-ranked 120-pounder Blaine Frazier is making his third trip in as many seasons.
Frazier picked up a fall (1:26) over Dawson Bonnett (Albia) in the first round before sneaking by Davis County’s Dawson Townsend by decision, 4-1.
A podium is the next step for the talented junior.
152-pounder Grifen Molle, who suffered his first defeat last week to Parker Terronez (Assumption) made sure that was a mere aberration.
Molle went full demolition man on Terronez in the finals, earning a fall win (4:42) to punch his return ticket to Des Moines.
Molle was a medalist for the Nikes, who wrestled 3A, last year.
Three other Nikes are state qualifiers:
- 170-pounder C.J. Walrath (two falls)
- 160-pounder River Belger (one fall)
- 145-pounder Sam West (wrestleback winner, SV-1 3-1)
Mount Pleasant’s Sam Carrasco had a gutsy showing, falling to Albia’s Paul Ballard in his opening round match before coming back to destroy Davenport Assumption’s Chase Diaz via major decision 11-3.
He did not get a chance to wrestleback and ended his season 23-13.