Algona put 2 of their 11 state qualifiers into the quarterfinal round during day one of the IHSAA state wrestling tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.
Teague Alesch and Tommy Zabka dropped their opening round matches at 106 and 113 to move to Friday’s consolation round, before the Bulldogs ran off five straight wins to put 9 wrestlers into the round of 16. Isaac Wilson won by technical fall at 126, CJ McGregor pulled out an 8-7 win at 132, Carter McGregor (165) and Gavin Goche (215) each had opening round wins by fall, while Tayten Rummel grabbed a 4-0 victory at 175.
Those five joined Barrett Morgan (144), Ashton Moreno (150), Tate Slagle (157), and Jack Limbaugh (285) in the round of 16 as those four had opening rounds byes. This round however proved difficult, as Algona advanced only 2 of the nine, with Slagle picking up a 13-2 win at 157 and Goche held on for an 11-7 win to stay on the championship side of the bracket.
Wilson, the #10 seed at 126, dropped an 11-2 match to 7th seeded Jayce Curry of Sgt. Bluff-Luton. Wilson trailed 4-2 in the final seconds when his last ditch takedown attempt failed, resulting in a takedown and back points for Curry as time expired.
CJ McGregor, seeded 19th, was pinned by #3 seed Mason Avila of Decorah. McGregor trailed 3-2 after 2 periods, but gave up a reversal and a takedown in the 3rd period before Avila secured the fall.
Morgan fell to 11th seeded Collin Sesker of Clarion-Goldfield/Dows by a score of 4-0, as Sesker won the rubber match between the two North Central Conference rivals.
Moreno surrendered a takedown with 5 seconds left and dropped a 6-5 decision to Briggs Collins of West Liberty.
Carter McGregor dropped a 13-3 match to 8th seeded Christopher Meyer of Independence, while Rummel was pinned by 3rd seeded Christian Dunning of Clear Lake.
Jack Limbaugh also saw a late lead disappear, as he gave up a reversal in the final 20 seconds and dropped a 2-1 match to Maxwell Azzaline of Davenport Assumption.
Algona Head Coach Nick Kuecker felt the second round was tough all around for the Bulldogs.
All of the wrestlers on the consolation side will need to win twice on Thursday to advance to Friday, while Slagle and Goche are one win away from securing a state medal.
Kuecker says the plan is the same regardless of who is on the front or back side of the bracket.
Class 2A action resumes Thursday at 6 PM inside Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.
In Wednesday’s 1A session, West Bend-Mallard’s Mason Knapp lost his match in the round of 16 to Jaxson Page of Alta-Aurelia after receiving a bye in the opening round at 106.
North Union’s Max Merrill dropped his opening round match at 175 by fall to AC Roller of Riverside, while Brennan Bollinger won by fall in his opening round match at 285 with Matthew Praska of Riceville, before being pinned by Henry Lund of AHSTW.
All three will be back in action Thursday afternoon beginning at 1:30 PM.
