By Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

Postseason wrestling is here.

Sure, the state tournament is still a couple of weeks away but the first step in the journey to Wells Fargo arena for wrestlers in Class 1A and 2A comes with sectional tournaments on Saturday.

Solon and Clear Creek Amana each head to the Class 2A, Sectional 3 tournament at Williamsburg with the top two wrestlers advancing to the District 2 meet at Fairfield.

In Class 1A, West Branch and Regina head to Section 15 at Lisbon with spots at the District 8 meet in Wilton on the line.

Here are five things to watch Saturday as the road to the state tournament begins.

Keeping It Going

It was an impressive regular season for 2A second-ranked Solon under second-year head coach Blake Williams.

Making it a season to remember comes down to what the Spartans can do during the win-or-go-home portion of the season beginning on Saturday.

Solon won its share of tournaments this season including a WAMAC conference title last weekend.

With the postseason approaching Williams has seen a renewed freshness from his team as Solon attempts to close the season with a run at the state meet.

“They don’t want their season to be over,” Williams said. “I tell them a lot of wrestlers that you will see the next couple of weeks can’t wait for the season to be done because it’s a long grind and I say don’t let that be you and they don’t want that. We’ve had a great year so far but we want to finish it on a positive note.”

Conference Confidence Boost

The postseason officially begins when losses can mean the end of the season.

However, many coaches and programs recognize conference tournaments as the start of the championship season.

If that’s the case, Regina and Solon got off to strong postseason starts last week.

Any way you view it both teams should enter sectional competition full of confidence after strong showings at conference meets last Saturday.

Regina got top six performances from seven of its eight wrestlers on its way to a third-place finish at the River Valley Conference tournament last week.

Jared Brinkman (285), Nick Milder (170) and Ryan Schott (160) all won conference titles and were among four RVC finalists for Regina.

“I think we have been peaking at the right time,” Regina coach Adam Martensen said. “We got some really good draws at sectionals and if all goes well we should be able to get a good chunk of our team through to districts.”

Solon had its own strong conference showing, winning the WAMAC title by 49 points.

The Spartans had two champions in seniors Bryce (44-1) and Drew (44-1) West and three finalists at the WAMAC meet, with six wrestlers finishing in the top three.

Both Regina and Solon are competing at sectionals with a distinct conference feel to them.

Solon is among four WAMAC teams at the six-team Section 3 meet while Regina is one of five RVC teams at Section 15 in Lisbon.

Breaking Through

West Branch doesn’t have a wrestler on its roster with district experience from last season.

That doesn’t mean the Bears don’t have wrestlers capable of making a run at the district meet.

Senior Cale Donovan (27-9) is the top candidate to move on to districts but will need to navigate a tough 170-pound bracket that includes RVC champion Nick Milder of Regina and sixth-ranked Bryce Werderman of Lisbon.

A third of the losses this season for Donovan have come to Milder but he has closed the gap each in each of the first three meetings going from a second-period fall, to a major decision to a decision at the RVC meet.

A fourth meeting on Saturday could be for a district tournament bid.

Redemption Time

Speaking of Milder, you can bet the Regina sophomore has had Saturday circled on his calendar for the last year.

Milder had a strong freshman season end at the sectional meet, falling to Wilton’s Cameron Reddick one week after defeating him in the River Valley Conference title match.

This season Milder finds himself in the same spot.

Milder (33-2) won his second straight RVC title last week with an 8-3 win over Donovan and has won 14 straight matches entering sectionals.

You Again?

Clear Creek Amana and Solon have gotten plenty familiar with each other throughout the course of the season.

The two WAMAC rivals will rub shoulders again on Saturday along with conference foes Benton Community and host Williamsburg.

For several Clear Creek Amana wrestlers it could be a rematch with Solon from last week’s WAMAC meet that stands in the way of moving on.

One weight to watch is 138 where Clear Creek Amana senior Quinn Murphy (34-11) could meet Solon’s ninth-ranked Ben Carr for a third time in less than a month.

Each of the first two meets between the two defending district qualifiers went to Carr but came down to the wire including a 5-4 win for Carr in the third-place match at the WAMAC tournament last week.

Senior heavyweight Ethan Taylor (22-10) could meet fourth-ranked Solon junior Tyler Linderbaum (42-7) in a wide open 285-pound bracket.