By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com
(Photo Courtesy: Andy Abeyta /thegazette.com)
(KILJ) — Seven Notre Dame-West Burlington-Danville Nikes and six New London Tigers headline area qualifiers for next weekend’s district wrestling tournament, following today’s sectional results.
NDWB-Danville was paced by second-ranked 120-pounder Blaine Frazier, who made quick of both of his opponents, earning a fall victory over Davenport Assumption’s Mike Kersten (1:00) in the semis and then pinning Nolan Riddle (Keokuk) in the finals in 0:58 seconds to get one step closer to punching his ticket back to Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.
Joining him as a sectional champion was 170-pounder C.J. Walrath. Walrath won his opening round bout in 0:58 seconds via fall over Zach Glasscock (Keokuk) and then came back in the finals to blitz Assumption’s Logan Schimanski 10-1 to earn a major decision victory.
On New London’s side of the coin, both Marcel and Dominic Lopez put on box office performances at Sigourney.
Marcel, a two-time defending state champion, rampaged everything in his path on his way to two tech fall victories — one over Calvin Walton of Moravia (23-8) and the other in the finals over North Mahaska’s Paul DeJong (25-10). He was an absolute clinician today.
Dominic followed tightly in his elder brother’s shoes. He too earned himself a technical fall finals victory at 145, surging past Wayne’s Jakson Cobb 25-8 in dominating fashion.
Not to be outdone, six Wapello Indian matmen are advancing to districts next week. 145-pounder Christopher Ewart dazzled in particular. Ewart earned two relatively easy fall victories: 0:30 over Cody McDonald (Louisa-Muscatine) and 1:26 over Iowa City Regina’s Sam Aitchison.
Mediapolis’ Quinten Aney showed why he is one of the most feared 132-pounders statewide, putting on a clinic in his home gym.
Aney rolled to a fall win in the semis in 0:39 over Eligah Fegel (Regina) and came behind that with a tech fall win (19-2) over Wapello’s Elijah Belzer. Aney, a state medalist last year, seems poised to repeat that success once more.
WACO’s Landon Provino was the Warriors lone district qualifier, but he made sure he did it in style. The 285-pounder rolled to a fall win in 2:08 over Colton Weaver (Wilton) to punch his ticket to next Saturday’s dance.
Meanwhile, Columbus-Winfield-Mount Union’s Lane Scorpil and Chance Malone had as a easy route to the districts as you could have wanted. Scorpil didn’t actually wrestle a match after receiving multiple byes and then a forfeit. He’s ranked No. 2 at 106 (2A) in the latest Predicament rankings.
His teammate Malone spent barely one minute on the mat, earning a fall in 0:34 seconds over Aiden Kniffen (NDWB-Danville) in his semifinal bout, while dominating Keokuk’s Jordan Salyers for a fall victory in 0:45 seconds in the finals.
The ninth-ranked 285-pounder was incredibly impressive.
Mount Pleasant had just one qualifier for next weekend’s district tournament: Sam Carrasco.
Carrasco, wrestling at 220, was a sectional champion, squeaking by Chase Diaz (Assumption) via 11-9 decision.
Just missing out on joining him were teammates Bowen Davis, who lost his wrestle-back, and Carson Coleman who did not get a chance to wrestle-back.
Coleman was a state qualifier last year but put in another terrific junior season.
Here’s our full list of district qualifiers:
Class 1A-Sectional 10
120 — Marcel Lopez (New London)
145 — Dominic Lopez (New London)
152 — Josh Glendening (New London)
170 — Boden Pickle (New London)
195 — Currey Jacobs (New London)
220 — Carter Allen (New London)
Class 1A-Sectional 16
120 — Garret Dickey (Wapello)
132 — Quinten Aney (Mediapolis)
132 — Eiljah Belzer (Wapello)
138 — Chase Witte (Wapello)
145 — Christopher Ewart (Wapello)
152 — Evan Ross (Wapello)
170 — Levi Arnold (Mediapolis)
195 — Owen Housman (Wapello)
285 — Landon Provino (WACO)
Class 2A-Sectional 10
106 — Carter West (NDWB-Danville)
113 — Lane Scorpil (Columbus-WMU)
120 — Blaine Frazier (NDWB-Danville)
138 — Isaiah Fenton (NDWB-Danville)
145 — Sam West (NDWB-Danville)
152 — Grifen Molle (NDWB-Danville)
160 — River Belger (NDWB-Danville)
170 — CJ Walrath (NDWB-Danville)
182 — Ayden Frazier (Washington)
195 — Ethan Palmer (Columbus-WMU)
220 — Sam Carrasco (Mount Pleasant)
285 — Chance Malone (Columbus-WMU)