Three area wrestlers are one win from securing a state medal, while five more are fighting on the consolation side of the bracket after Class 1A and 2A teams took to the mat for the first time at the Casey’s Center in Des Moines.
Algona brought 9 wrestlers to Des Moines, and six of them made it through the first day of competition, with Will Limbaugh leading the way. The junior came in seeded 11th at 285, and he started the day with a 1st period pin against Jack Zeleny of Sgt. Bluff-Luton. In his 2nd match of the day, Limbaugh used a late takedown to defeat 6th seeded Max Azzaline of Davenport Assumption. That win put Limbaugh into the quarterfinals, where he will take on 3rd seeded Layne Kleppe of North Fayette Valley.
Barrett Morgan (150), Carter McGregor (157), Taevyn Zinnel (165), Brody Shipler (175), and Tayten Rummel (215) each went 2-1 on the day to advance to Friday’s action, where they will compete in 3rd round consolation matches, needing a win to reach the blood-round. Morgan’s win in the opening round was the 150th of his career, becoming the 3rd Bulldog in school history to reach that total.
CJ McGregor (144) won his opening round match, but then lost his next two to end his season with a record of 28-6. Teague Alesch (120) and Brooks Morgan (132) both went 0-2 on the day and were also eliminated from the tournament. Alesch concludes his sophomore season with a record of 25-18 while Morgan concludes his sophomore campaign with a record of 32-15.
West Bend-Mallard brought two wrestlers to state, as both Hunter Lester and Mason Knapp will be competing in the quarterfinals Friday morning. Lester came into the tournament seeded 4th at 106 with a record of 32-1, and the freshman controlled his first state tournament match from start to finish, pinning Kaleb Gordon of Jesup in 4:45 to advance to the quarterfinals. Knapp is seeded 8th at 120, and after giving up the opening takedown to 9th seeded Kasen Lopez of West Sioux, Knapp turned the freshman in the 2nd period and earned the fall in 3:04 to move on to Friday. Lester will take on 5th seeded Lincoln Huck of Nashua-Plainfield in Friday morning’s quarterfinals, while Knapp will take on the #1 seed, Jensen Dyer of Martensdale-St. Mary’s.
North Union sophomore Castor Kollasch dropped both of his matches at 144 pounds, and wrapped up his first trip to state with a record of 38-16.
Wrestling begins at 9AM Friday with action in Class 1A followed by Class 2A. We will have live coverage on KLGZ 98.5 FM/1600 AM.
