Nine area wrestlers seek state tourney berths this weekend

Prairie City-Monroe’s Tristan Clark needs just one more win to set a new school record for victories in a season. But if the Mustang senior wants to advance to the Iowa High School State Wrestling Championships next week, Clark, along with eight other area wrestlers, will need to win twice at Saturday’s Class 1A and 2A district meets.

Top two wrestlers from each sectional last weekend advanced to districts and half of the remaining four wrestlers in each weight class at each district will move on.

PCM coach Cory Waddell hopes Clark, and teammates Xavier Miller and Ron Marshall, is part of the the group that moves on to Wells Fargo Arena.

“It’s one of the toughest districts in 2A for sure,” Waddell said of PCM’s district meet at Fairfield. “But if we wrestle like we did last Saturday, I like our chances.”

Clark (126), Miller (132) and Marshall (170) will all take part in the district tournament at Fairfield that includes 10 wrestlers from second-ranked Mediapolis, three ranked grapplers from Albia and pair of Columbus Community wrestlers who are ranked.

Over in Pleasantville will be a Class 1A district tournament featuring five wrestlers from Lynnville-Sully and two each from Collins-Maxwell/Baxter and Colfax-Mingo.

Three of those district qualifiers were sectional champs at BGM — Lynnville-Sully’s Cole Nickell (113) and Shannon Dunsbergen (285) and CMB’s Charles Robertson (220).

The Hawks also advanced Josh Dunsbergen (106), Noah Zylstra (182) and Blake Wehrle (195) to the next round, while CMB’s Jake Hennick (126) and Colfax-Mingo’s Richard Blom (138) and Ty Carlson (113) also moved on.

“We have wrestled some of those guys before,” Lynnville-Sully coach Steve Northcutt said. “It will be tough, but I told the kids that they take half of the guys who are in it to state and anything can happen at districts. I am pretty excited about it. I think our chances are pretty good.”

Clark enters the Fairfield district tourney as the top seed at 126 pounds. The last time he lost a match was Jan. 3 at the Solon Dual Tournament. Both of his losses this season came on that day.

To win the district title, Clark (40-2) may have to knock off third-ranked Shea Swafford of Mediapolis in the final.

First things first though. Clark, who went 1-2 at last year’s state tournament, opens with Washington’s Austin Hazelett (33-8) in the semifinals, while Swafford (44-2) faces Centerville’s Noah Coatney (21-19).

Marshall (30-4) will have two ranked wrestlers in his 170-pound weight class. The PCM senior faces sixth-ranked Tucker Morrison (37-3) of Columbus Community in the semifinals and a win would like send him to the finals against fourth-ranked Luke Erickson (42-6) of Mediapolis. Erickson takes on Albia’s Ben Mason (19-20) in his semifinal match.

“Ron has really taken it to another level since the conference tournament,” Waddell said. “He is working hard, listening well and just wants more than the other guy right now.”

Miller (34-5) spent most of his season at 120 but decided on conference tournament weekend that a move to 132 would be permanent.

He was the runner-up at that weight class that weekend and took second again at the sectional meet last weekend. The Mustang sophomore will get 10th-ranked Cody McNeil (38-10) of Mediapolis in the semifinals.

The other side of the bracket features second-ranked Bradley Irwin (45-7) of Centerville and Louisa-Muscatine’s Austin Leopard (30-9).

Shannon Dunsbergen’s sectional title was his first championship this season. He comes in as the top seed with a record of 32-15 and will face Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont’s Luke Welch (31-11) in the opening round. Sigourney-Keota’s Bryce Brown (25-8) and West Marshall’s Cole Gilmore (28-19), who Dunsbergen beat in the sectional final, are in the other semfinal.

Brown pinned Shannon Dunsbergen in their dual earlier this season.

Nickell (36-11) also has a bracket with no ranked wrestlers in it. He will face EBF’s Adam Proctor in the semifinals, while Carlson (25-20) faces Moravia’s Nicholas Martin (34-4). Proctor defeated Nickell 11-8 during during their team’s dual earlier this season.

Robertson comes in as the top seed at 220 pounds. The Raider junior is 23-7 on the year and gets Van Buren’s Dakota LaRue (30-13) in the semifinals. The other semifinal pits HLV’s Edmond Herring (34-11) against Sigourney-Keota’s Noah Boender (29-11).

“It feels a little crazy. I really didn’t expect to advance,” said Robertson, who had never wrestled at sectionals prior to last weekend’s tourney at BGM. “I get the end-of-the-year slump sometimes where I feel like there’s nothing left for me. But I wrestled my heart out and that paid off.”

Both Zylstra and Wherle will have one ranked wrestler in their respective bracket.

Zylstra (37-14) took second to BGM’s Colton Massengale at last weekend’s sectional and that is who the Hawk senior will face in the finals if both win their opening match.

Massengale (43-3) is ranked No. 9 and gets Moravia’s Quinton Castell (29-10) in the semifinals, while Zylstra faces Sigourney-Keota freshman Kaleb Reeves (28-15) in his semifinal. Zylstra defeated Reeves by fall earlier this year.

Wehrle (7-6) has the toughest semifinal match of any Hawk wrestler. He challenges EBF’s Hunter Johnston (39-3), who is ranked fifth. The winner of that match faces the winner between West Marshall’s Alex Schaper (28-15) and Pleasantville’s Joe Kauffman (30-8).

Johnston defeated Wehrle with a first-period pin earlier this season.

Josh Dunsbergen (20-11) will not face a ranked wrestler in his 106-pound bracket, but his semifinal opponent —North Mahaska’s Tyler Strasser — is 37-4 on the season. The other semifinal is West Marshall’s Hunter Pfantz (29-16) and EBF’s Tanner Rea (19-12).

On paper, CMB’s Hennick and Colfax-Mingo’s Blom have the toughest paths to the state tournament. Both of their brackets feature two ranked wrestlers.

Hennick (26-10) squares off against second-ranked Briar Cochran (39-2) of Moravia in the semifinals and the other semifinal features No. 6 Jacob Krakow (44-6) of Iowa Valley and EBF’s Dakota Boyer (31-13).

CMB coach Mike Leslie knew his 126-pound senior would have some tough matches. And he expects most won’t give Hennick a chance to advance to state.

“Jake will have some tough matches,” Leslie said after sectionals. “The Moravia kid is really tough. I am sure there are people that are already counting him out. Anything can happen at this point in the season.”

Blom (31-12) will face second-ranked Jeren Glosser (48-0) of E-B-F in his semifinal. On the other side of the bracket is seventh-ranked Drake Healey (47-4) of Iowa Valley and Sigourney-Keota’s Noah Reeves (9-4).

“They are going to have to beat someone who is maybe seeded above them or has a better record,” Colfax-Mingo coach Bryan Poulter said about Blom and Carlson. “They have to get to the point where they stay in the match and keep themselves in position to use the third period to their advantage and using conditioning as a tool.”

The Class 1A district meet in Pleasantville and the 2A tourney in Fairfield both begin at noon. The Iowa High School State Wrestling Championships kick off Feb. 19 at Wells Fargo Arena in downtown Des Moines.