By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com
Prep Wrestling: Seven Nikes, Six Tigers Headline 27 District Qualifiers:
Seven Notre Dame-West Burlington-Danville Nikes and six New London Tigers headline area qualifiers for this weekend’s district wrestling tournament, following Saturday’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 on Saturday.
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 this 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 this 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 this 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)
Prep Wrestling: Regional Dual Sites Announced, New London to Lisbon, NDWB-Danville to Assumption:
The 2021 Regional Dual pairings have been released and two area programs will compete for a spot in next Wednesday’s team state duals, tomorrow.
New London, who finished second as a team at Sigourney, will travel to Lisbon where they will meet up with No. 20 Alburnett.
The Tigers are ranked 13th in Class 1A.
The winner of their matchup will then square off with the second-ranked Lions of Lisbon.
In Class 2A, No. 14 Notre Dame-West Burlington-Danville will meet up up with No. 22 Albia in their opening round bout.
Like Notre Dame, the Nikes finished second at their sectional (Davenport Assumption) on Saturday.
If the Nikes should win over Albia, they will meet up with the fourth-ranked Knights in the finals.
Assumption was the sectional winner Saturday.
Wrestling tomorrow will begin at 6:00 p.m.
Prep Basketball: Lopreato Sets Records, Schedule For Tonight:
Following Andrea Lopreato’s earth-shattering performance on Friday against Burlington, where she erupted for 37 points and 16 rebounds, the star sophomore also broke two long-standing records.
Lopreato broke the record for sophomore high points in a game, which was previously set by Taylor Shull, who, as a sophomore, scored 31 points.
Lopreato also broke the record for single game points scored ever — the record was previously held by Darlene Corey, who finished with 34 points. Lopreato made 13-of-19 field goals in the win for the Panthers on Friday, improving to 10-9 in the process.
The Panthers girls’, as currently scheduled, are off until Friday when they take on Fairfield.
Here’s tonight’s schedule:
- Mount Pleasant boys’ vs. Ottumwa (FM 105.5)
- Washington boys’ vs. Williamsburg
- Keokuk boys’ at Burlington
- West Burlington at Fairfield (doubleheader)
- Danville boys’ vs. Fort Madison
- WACO at Central Lee (doubleheader)
- Mediapolis boys’ vs. Louisa-Muscatine
Men’s College Basketball: Wesleyan Falls in Season Opener to Cornell:
Kaleb Cresswell had 14 points but it was not enough as the Iowa Wesleyan men’s basketball team (0-1) fell to Cornell 75-51 in their season opener Saturday at Ruble Arena.
Former Mount Pleasant standout Jordan Magnani had 10 points for Cornell, while the Rams were led by Cooper Kabela who finished with a game-high 23 points to go along with nine rebounds and three steals.
Cornell limited Iowa Wesleyan to just 31.5% from the field, while the Tigers made just 6-of-19 three point attempts.
The Tigers will be off until Wednesday when then they will rematch the Rams, this time in Mount Vernon.
Tip is set for 7:00 p.m.
View the full release here.
Women’s College Basketball: Wesleyan Women Fall to 0-3:
Anija Simmons had 22 points, but it was not enough as the Iowa Wesleyan women’s basketball team dropped to Cornell 67-50 yesterday at Ruble Arena.
The loss was the Tigers third straight to begin the year.
Morgan McCrea also finished in double figures, scoring 10 points and adding six rebounds for the Tigers.
Cornell was led by Madison Osborn, who finished with 14 points.
The Wesleyan women will too rematch Cornell, their tilt on Thursday in Mount Vernon.
Tip is set for 7:00 p.m.
You can view the full release here.