By Becky Walz,
There was excitement on the mats last week for the 100th Annual boys state wrestling tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines as nine area wrestlers competed for titles.
Representing Decorah, six grapplers faced the fierce competition with a trio climbing the podium while South Winn had one matman on the stand Saturday night.
Finishing 15th in the Class 2A portion of the individual tournament, Decorah claimed 62 points, while the Warriors finished the Class 1A tournament with 22.5 points in 34th place.
Trio of Viking medalists
When the final match was wrestled, three Vikings stood on the podium. Sophomore William Fullhart took third, while Tommy Sexton finished sixth and Mason Avila took seventh.
At 165 pounds, Ethan Prior of Williamsburg proved to be no obstacle for No. 7 Viking William Fullhart who advanced to the quarterfinal round with a 19-4 tech fall to open his quest for a medal last Wednesday. Taking on Blake Wilson (44-7) of Burlington Notre Dame in the quarterfinal, Fullhart came away with a 17-4 major decision win before Bo Koedam (53-2) of Sergeant Bluff-Luton stopped the Viking sophomore’s trip to the top of the podium in the semifinal round by a 17-2 tech fall.
Moving directly into the consolation semifinals, Fullhart rebounded against Ryker Dengler (42-7) of West Liberty. The Viking led 3-2 after the first period and extended his lead to 5-2 in the second with a reversal. After a pair of takedowns by Fullhart in the third, he turned Dengler to pick up the fall in 5:26 to advance to the third-place match.
For the second time in the tournament, Fullhart squared off with Wilson of Burlington Notre Dame with the same result – an overwhelming 16-10 major decision to win bronze and finish the season with a 43-8 record.
Decorah junior Tommy Sexton, ranked fifth, not only received the first-round bye and second round win – which was also his 100th career win. Trailing 3-1 after the opening two minutes, Sexton stepped up his game with a pair of takedowns
in the second to lead 7-5. He put an exclamation point on the match with an escape and takedown in the third to win 11-5 over Drew Wheater (39-6) of East Marshall/GMG and advance in the championship bracket.
In the quarterfinal round Sexton saw the score tied 4-4 after the first period against Broedy Hendricks (45-5) of Humboldt. Trailing 5-4 entering the third period, the Viking chose the bottom and picked up an escape to tie the match and sent it into sudden victory. Hendricks managed the takedown and pushed Sexton into the consolation bracket by an 8-5 decision.
Moving into the fourth round of the consolation bracket, Sexton secured a 4-2 win over Brian Snyder (46-7) of Centerville. It was an overtime battle with Ballard’s Rhett Hedrick (38-6) that secured a medal for Sexton and fell in the Viking’s favor 16-13. However, an injury forced the Decorah grappler to medically forfeit his next two matches to finish sixth. Sexton finished the season with a 41-6 mark.
Mason Avila’s trip to the medal stand at 132 pounds began with a bye before facing Algona’s CJ McGregor (25-11) in round two, winning by fall in 5:20.
The junior’s quarterfinal match didn’t go his way as he trailed 5-6 after the first period, tying the match 6-6 with an escape in the second against Cyler Cirks (34-11) of Humboldt. In the third, Cirks picked up another five points to defeat Avila 11-8 to drop the Viking into the back side of the bracket.
In the fourth round of consolations, the Decorah grappler topped Tanner Paustian (38-13) of Woodward-Granger by a 17-2 tech fall before dropping a 15-0 tech fall match to Washington’s Aaron Boone (50-4). Left to battle in the match for seventh, Avila dominated Cain Rodgers (42-9) of North Fayette Valley to win the 16-6 major decision and finish seventh. Avila’s short season compiled a 14-4 record.
More Vikings compete
Three other Decorah grapplers took the mats in Des Moines coming up short of a medal position.
Wrestling at 126 pounds, 10th-ranked Gavin Knutson had no trouble in his first match defeating Owen Nepple of Kuemper Catholic 11-2. It was just the reverse in round two against No. 5 Adrian Phetxoumphone of Clarion-Goldfield-Dow) who sent the Viking to the consolation bracket with a 17-2 tech fall.
Knutson won his next two matches over Brody Olson (37-13) of Estherville Lincoln Central by fall in 2:52 and secured an 11-5 decision over Carter Liston of AP-GC. On the fourth round of the consolations, Knutson got his offense going late to fall 10-6, just short of the medal rounds. Knutson knocked off a 29-19 record this season.
Opening his inaugural state meet, 144-pound Kasen Tyler, ranked No. 12, overwhelmed Winterset’s Gavin Day (29-18) by a 21-9 major decision, picking up four takedowns in the first period alone. Tyler struggled to get control of his second-round match against Aiden Smith (47-4) of Atlantic, dropping to the backside of the brackets on a 16-6 decision.
Day two of the tournament on the mat began with a fall over Jaymes Stevens (25-20) of Hampton-Dumont-CAL in 3:49, followed by the Viking throwing Andrew Tjaden (30-18) of Anamosa in 58 seconds. Ben Walsh (48-12) bounced Tyler from the medal round in the fourth round of the consolations by a 12-8 decision. Tyler finished his first high school season with a 37-14 mark.
Junior Will Larson also had a first-round bye before stepping up to battle No. 9 Jacob Harrison (40-9) of Ballard. Trailing 3-2 after the first period, the eighth-ranked Viking battle back in the second to lead 5-4 heading into the third but gave up a nearfall to drop the match 8-5.
In 3:25, Larson threw Jordan Meling (30-15) of East Marshall/GMG Thursday in the consolation second round and picked up a 12-3 major decision over Charlie Karam (39-19) of Solon before falling by an 11-5 decision to Cadyn Wild (33-6) of Davenport Assumption to finish the tournament. Larson finished the season 32-15.
Kuboushek finishes third
After sitting for the first round of the 165-pound bracket, fifth-ranked Kuboushek dominated Mason Allen (50-11) of Central Decatur in the 17-2 tech fall to advance to the quarterfinal.
It was a battle between two of the best wrestlers in the Upper Iowa Conference in the Class 1A quarterfinal at 165 pounds between fifth-ranked Kyle Kuboushek and No. 4 Quinn McGeough (42-5) of MFL MarMac Thursday afternoon. The Bulldog held the advantage throughout as the Warrior junior picked up a pair of escapes in the second period and a takedown in the third, coming up short 8-5.
That put Kuboushek in the consolation bracket Friday, where he needed to win in order to medal. He faced Cody Cox (27-7) of Lake Mills. Scoreless after the first two periods, the SW junior took bottom to start the third, earning an escape and a late take down to win 4-0. Next up was Cooper Gates (38-6) of West Branch. With no score after one period, Kuboushek scored first on escape in the second. He took Gates down with just under a minute remaining but Gates got the escape with 30 seconds remaining as Kuboushek led 4-1 into the third period. Giving up an escape to Gates early, the Warrior finished the match with a takedown, winning 7-2.
Kuboushek entered the consolation semifinals facing Clay Wilgenbusch (34-7) of East Buchanan and got his offense going in the second period with an early escape and take down as time was about expire to lead 4-0. In the third period, Wilgenbusch even the score 4-4 with an escape and take down of his own; however, a reversal by Kuboushek with 10 seconds left in the match handed the Warrior the 6-4 victory to put him in the match for third.
It was a high-scoring affair for the bronze Saturday between Kuboushek and Jackson Kounkel (42-5) of Hinton. The SW grappler led throughout the match that began with a take down, nearfall and escape 8-2 in the first period. Kounkel outscored Kuboushek in the second period 4-3 leaving the Warrior with an 11-6 cushion. A five-point third period led to Kuboushek earning bronze 16-10 and revenge on last year’s match that knocked the Warrior off the medal stand. He ends his season 47-3 overall.
“Kyle has been one of the top kids at his weight all year and our conversations have always revolved around him being at the top of the podium. He didn’t reach his ultimate goal of being a state champion, but he was very close and had some unbelievable matches throughout the week. Three weeks ago, Kyle broke his hand, and for him to battle through that injury and still wrestle and beat some of the best kids in the state shows how tough of a kid he is,” said SW coach Jake Elsbernd.
SW’s other wrestlers
In his second trip to the state tournament, Landen Schnuelle’s first action of the tournament ended with a 1-0 decision over Leren Fernandez (39-9) of Iowa City Regina with a second period escape. Fight as he may in the quarterfinal versus No. 2 Creighton Kelly (26-2) of West Hancock, Schnuelle couldn’t get points on the board, falling into the consolation bracket by a 13-0 major decision.
After dropping his second-round match Wednesday, Landen Schnuelle battled his way through the back side of the bracket Thursday, winning an 11-0 major decision over Jackson Pfrang (25-12) of AC/GC in the second round of consolations. Later in Thursday’s session, the junior trailed No. 11 A.C. Roller (39-10) of Riverside (Oakland) 5-3 into the third period and got a takedown in the final 45 seconds to skid by Roller 6-5 and keep his season alive and earning his 100th career win.
Zach Robins (45-6) of Treynor ended Schnuelle’s season on Friday by a 14-3 major decision. Schnuelle finished his season 45-17 overall.
“Last year Landen came up short of winning any matches, but this year he wouldn’t be denied and ended up winning three matches,” said coach Elsbernd. Landen had some incredibly gutsy performances to win some big matches. He was one win shy of earning a medal as he got beat out of the tournament in what we call the blood round.”
First time state qualifier Ray Lienau had a rematch of the district final in his first round against 214-pound Donavon Farrell (34-12) of Denver with the same result – a loss. Lienau earned his four points on a trio of escapes and a stalling call against Farrell, falling 15-4.
Finishing his junior campaign with more victories than his freshman and sophomore seasons combined at 36-18 and a state berth, Ray Lienau saw his season end in the second round of the consolation bracket Thursday with a 16-0 tech fall to seventh-ranked Carson Edney (26-2) of Logan-Magnolia.
“What makes this special is the fact that Ray just started the sport of wrestling as a freshman and has made some incredible progress in the last few years,” said coach Elsbernd. “The best part of the entire week was seeing three kids who are best friends with each other on and off the mat get to be with each other through the ups and downs of this tournament. They made a lot of great memories together and it was a lot of fun. We can’t wait to have all three of them back for their senior season.”
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