Two area teams sent a combined nine wrestlers into Class 1A district wrestling tournaments on Saturday. Three wrestlers qualified for this week’s Iowa High School Athletic Association’s Class 1A State Wrestling Tournament.
Colfax-Mingo’s sixth-ranked senior Chance Rice (46-3) captured the 160-pound Class 1A District 1 championship at Guthrie Center. Rice was a state qualifier for Manson-Northwest Webster as a sophomore.
Junior Teammate Cauy Fitch (47-6) notched second place at District 1 in the 120-pound division. Fitch is making his first trip to state.
Lynnville-Sully senior Josh Dunsbergen earned his second trip to the 1A state tournament with a runner-up spot at 138 pounds at the 1A District 4 tournament at Pleasantville. Dunsbergen went to state as a freshman.
Class 1A competition at the 2018 IHSAA state tournament begins at 6 p.m. Thursday at Wells Fargo Arena. The combined state tournament — Class 3A, 2A, 1A — runs Thursday through Saturday.
Dunsbergen was one of four Lynnville-Sully wrestlers at the District 4 tournament. Seniors Cayden Johnson (152) and Sage Zylstra (170) and freshman CJ Snethen (120) each finished fourth in their respective weight classes.
Dunsbergen’s opportunity to qualify for the 1A state tournament came down to facing a very familiar foe — senior Tyler Strasser of North Mahaska. The two South Iowa Cedar League wrestlers had met four times this season including last week’s sectional 138-pound title match won by Dunsbergen.
Dunsbergen had lost a 12-7 semifinal decision to Pekin’s Drake Harbison at the district meet. He pulled out a 12-8 decision over Nick Ives of Sigourney-Keota in the third-place match. Strasser lost 5-0 to Harbison in the championship match to set up a wrestleback for second place and a berth in the state tournament.
Dunsbergen (36-5) made no doubt he was going to reach the state tournament as a senior. He defeated Strasser, 10-3, to secure second place at 138 at districts and a berth to the state meet.
Dunsbergen went as a freshman at 106 in 2015.
On Thursday in the state’s 138-pound bracket, Dunsbergen opens against third-ranked GTRA senior Kolten Roth (45-2).
Lynnville-Sully at District 4
At 152, Johnson was pinned by Pekin’s Katon Baayen in 1:21 in the semifinals then was pinned by Montezuma’s Jaedon Probasco in the third-place match.
In the 170-pound division, Zylstra dropped an 8-2 decision to BGM’s Tylor Kane in the semifinals and was pinned by English Valley’s Caleb Peach at the 2:16 mark in the third-place match.
Snethen was pinned by English Valley’s Seth Thompson in 1:45 of the 120-pound semifinal. He was pinned in 1:22 by BGM’s Blake Mann in the third-place match.
Lynnville-Sully scored 11 points in the tournament as a team finishing 13th. Pekin was the district tournament champion with 94 points.
Colfax-Mingo at District 1
All five Tigerhawk wrestlers won at least one match at the district tournament in Guthrie Center on Saturday.
Colfax-Mingo is sending its first wrestlers to the state tournament since Brett Stevens made it back in 2014.
Sixth-ranked Rice went 2-0 on the day. He won his first match by fall and then defeated No. 5 Jacob Steinlage of Interstate 35 for the second straight week. This time, his 6-3 win sent him to his second state tournament.
Rice opens the 1A tournament Thursday against Lake Mills freshman Elijah Wagner (39-14).
Fitch was 1-1 on the day. He won his first match by fall and then lost 16-6 to second-ranked Casey Baker of Interstate 35. Fitch finished as the true second without a wrestleback.
Fitch’s first state tournament begins Thursday against third-ranked Blake Thomsen (43-4) of Underwood.
Sophomore Cyden Fitch (39-14) came up one match short of matching his older brother. He lost his first match by fall to eighth-ranked Wyatt Crocker of Logan-Magnolia. He won his third-place match 9-3 but came up a bit short in his 126-pound wrestleback.
Cyden Fitch lost 5-2 to Panorama’s Danny Nordquist.
Sophomore Trystin Ross had a similar route as Cyden Fitch at 152 pounds. He lost his first match by fall to fifth-ranked Skeeter Bostwick of Missouri Valley.
In the third-place match, Ross (39-17) avenged a loss at last week’s sectional meet when he pinned I-35’s Brandon Egli.
Ross got a chance to wrestleback, jumped out to a 3-0 lead but ultimately lost 7-5 to 10th-ranked Bo Geise of Logan-Magnolia.
Senior Colton Lourens’ season came to an unexpected end Saturday. Ninth-ranked Lourens was in control of his match early against West Central Valley’s Alex Wells, but he got caught and was pinned in the first period.
Lourens won his third-place match 6-0 against I-35’s Jake Hutton but Wells was defeated in the championship match. The Wells lost finalized the bracket and left Lourens (45-4) on the outside of the state tournament.
The Tigerhawks finished sixth in the 13-team field. Fourth-ranked Missouri Valley ran away with the team title with 103 points. Sixth-ranked Martensdale-St. Marys was second with 85 points, followed by Logan-Magnolia and Panorama, who both scored 75 points.
Tenth-ranked I-35 (61) finished three points better than Colfax-Mingo (58) for fifth.