By Becky Walz,
As the Northeast Iowa Conference gets set to dissolve later this year, the Decorah boys’ wrestling team edged Crestwood for the team title Saturday in Charles City in a round robin tournament.
Crowning six champions, the Vikings put up 148.5 points while the Cadets garnered 140 with five champions.
Mason Avila claimed his second straight league crown, going 4-0 at 132 pounds. In rounds two and three, the junior earned a pair of 18-2 tech falls over Connor Jenkins of Charles City and Owen Korsmo of Crestwood. In 2:30, Avila put Waukon’s Jaxon Regan on his back and finished the day with a 4-2 decision over Carter Cajthaml of New Hampton/Turkey Valley.
At 138 pounds Class 2A No. 10 Will Larson used a trio of pins to earn the title. He threw Waukon’s Cayden Kruger in 3:50 before pinning Israel Ortiz of NH/TV in 2:59. Larson finished his quest for the crown by turning Crestwood’s Ethan Bergan in 5:06.
Also picking up three falls for the title at 144 pounds was freshman Kasen Tyler. In round one, he threw Lux Smith of Crestwood in 1:19 and needed just a little longer in round two to pin Waukon’s Owen Regan as he got the fall in 1:27. Against Jayden Bucknell of NH/TV in round three, Tyler took 2:33 to get the pin.
Making short work of his three matches at 165 pounds was Class 2A No. 7 William Fullhart. In 47 seconds, the sophomore put Chase Humpal of NH/TV on his back. Fullhart defeated Mason Regan of Crestwood by working his way to a 17-1 tech fall in 4:26 in round two. Waukon’s Jared Snitker was turned by the Viking in 25 seconds in round three to give Fullhart his second NEIC title.
Earning his second conference title at 190 pounds was Class 2A No. 5 Tommy Sexton. It took the junior 2:27 to rack up a 19-3 tech fall over Jackson Kellogg of NH/TV in round one. Moving on to the second round, Sexton threw Micah Thompson of Charles City in 2:53 and finished the day by pinning Cael Lange of Waukon in 1:23.
Freshman Ethan Kuennen won his first title at 215 pounds by going 3-1 in Charles City Saturday. In round one, Kuennen pinned Trevor Carolan of Charles City in 5:42 and survived Roy Barron of NH/TV by a 4-0 decision in the second round. Sparring with McKyan Egan of Waukon in round four, the Vikings fell by a 10-5 decision and bounced back to defeat Crestwood’s Preston McCabe with an 11-6 decision in the final round.
Final preparations
The Vikings will now hit the mats for the last trainings in advance of the district meet set for noon on Saturday, Feb. 15. Decorah will compete at Clear Lake, against the host, Crestwood, Forest City, Garner-Hayfield-Ventura, Hampton-Dumont-CAL, Iowa Falls-Alden and North Butler. The top two place winners at each weight will advance to state.
The traditional (individual) state wrestling meet runs Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 19-22, at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.
NEIC tournament team scores
1. Decorah 148.5; 2. Crestwood 140; 3. New Hampton/Turkey Valley 108; 4. Waukon 100; 5. Charles City 44
Individual results
106 – Meison Tollefson, 2nd place
Rd. 1 – WBF in 1:23 over Raymond Sweeney (Waukon; Rd. 2 – bye; Rd. 3 – LBF in 3:36 to Mitchell Williams (Crest)
113 – Kelton Casterton, 2nd place
Rd. 1 – lost 6-0 dec. to Noah Bergan (Crest); Rd. 2 – lost 11-3 maj. dec. to Bergan (Crest)
126 – Gavin Knutson, 2nd place
Rd. 1 – WBF in 0:54 over Braiden Schaufenbuel (NH/TV); Rd. 2 – won 17-2 tech fall over Brock Stortz (Waukon); Rd. 4 – WBF in 0:21 over Peyton Sargent (CC); Rd. 5 – lost 15-4 maj. dec. to Carter Schmauss (Crest)
132 – Mason Avila, 1st place
Rd. 1 – won 18-2 tech fall over Connor Jenkins (CC); Rd. 3 – won 18-2 tech fall over Owen Korsmo (Crest); Rd. 4 – WBF in 2:30 over Jaxon Regan (Waukon); Rd. 5 – won 4-2 dec. over Carter Cajthaml (NH/TV)
138 – Will Larson, 1st place
Rd. 1 – WBF in 3:50 over Cayden Kruger (Waukon); Rd. 2 – WBF in 2:59 over Israel Ortiz (NH/TV); Rd. 3 – WBF in 5:06 over Ethan Bergan (Crest)
144 – Kasen Tyler, 1st place
Rd. 1 – WBF in 1:19 over Lux Smith (Crest); Rd. 2 – WBF in 1:27 over Owen Regan (Waukon); Rd. 3 – WBF in 2:33 over Jayden Bucknell (NH/TV)
150 – Justin Fortman, 2nd place
Rd. 1 – won 3-1 dec. over Jose Lievano (Crest); Rd. 2 – WBF in 4:38 over Landon Burington (Waukon); Rd. 3 – lost 21-5 tech fall to Jax Shekleton (NH/TV)
157 – Steven Munoz, 4th place
Rd. 1 – LBF in 1:07 to Holten Palmer (Waukon); Rd. 2 – lost 8-3 dec. to Tate Schwickerath (NH/TV); Rd. 3 – lost 10-4 dec. to Logan McCabe (Crest)
165 – William Fullhart, 1st place
Rd. 1 – WBF in 0:47 over Chase Humpal (NH/TV); Rd. 2 – won 17-1 tech fall over Mason Regan (Crest); Rd. 3 – WBF in 0:25 over Jared Snitker (Waukon)
175 – Bradan Darling, 4th place
Rd. 1 – won 9-3 dec. over Carson Linde (CC); LBF in 2:50 to Brock Voyna (Crest); Rd. 3 – LBF in 2:31 to Lohen Tank (NH/TV); Rd. 4 – lost by medical forfeit to Ethan Gibbs (Waukon)
190 – Tommy Sexton, 1st place
Rd. 1 – won 19-3 tech fall over Jackson Kellogg (NH/TV); Rd. 2 – WBF in 2:53 over Micah Thompson (CC); Rd. 3 – WBF in 1:23 over Cael Lange (Waukon)
215 – Ethan Kuennen, 1st place
Rd. 1 – WBF in 5:42 over Trevor Carolan (CC); Rd. 2 – won 4-0 dec. over Roy Barron (NH/TV); Rd. 4 – lost 10-5 dec. to McKyan Egan (Waukon); Rd. 5 – won 11-6 dec. over Preston McCabe (Crest)
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