Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – For as long as he can remember Andy Brokaw has had his eye on a trip to the state wrestling meet.

Wells Fargo in Des Moines has never looked as close to Brokaw as it does right now.

Brokaw advanced to the district meet for the first time in his career on Saturday with a first-place finish at the Class 2A, Sectional 3 meet at Solon.

Brokaw (29-19) won a 10-3 decision over Northeast’s Reminington Overstake in the 138-pound title match to move on to the Class 2A, District 2 meet next Saturday at Central DeWitt.

“The state meet has always been a goal, it’s definitely been in my eye sights for a while now,” Brokaw said. “If would be huge if I could do it.”

Brokaw was one of four champions for Solon on Saturday as the Spartans qualified 11 wrestlers for districts and cruised to the sectional team title with 243.5 points.

Zeb Gnida, Mike Hoyle and Tyler Linderbaum all added titles for the defending 2A state champion Spartans.

“I think that 11 is actually a really good number,” Solon coach Blake Williams said. “That semifinal round we had a great round. We were the third seed in a lot of them and beat the second seed in three or four matches. We had a few disappointments in the finals but I think having a strong number like 11 is great for districts.”

Brokaw was part of a big semifinal round for Solon in which the Spartans went 11-2.

The junior pinned Tipton sophomore Brenden Leeper in 1:15 to reach the finals where he secured a spot at districts and his first opportunity for a trip to the state meet in Des Moines.

 “I’m definitely peaking,” Brokaw said. “I feel like I’m wrestling really well right now.”

The path to state for Brokaw is filled with familiar faces.

He joins Overstake as well as WAMAC foes Adam Hansen of Center Point-Urbana and Anamosa sophomore Mitchell Engelbart in the 138-pound District 2 bracket.

“You treat it like any other tournament,” Brokaw said. “It’s all just about working out in the room and getting ready.”

Brokaw is 2-1 against District 2 foes this season, defeating Engelbart 8-2 and falling to ninth-ranked Hansen 6-1 at the WAMAC meet last week.

“He is just a great kid and a hard worker, Williams said of Brokaw. “He is the not the most talented wrestler but just works hard and continues to get better and better and better. He’s got a great shot to move on to state if he wrestles well next week.”

Solon has a lineup loaded with wrestlers heading to the district meet with plans to advance.

At the top of that list are the Spartans’ other three sectional champs.

Seventh-ranked Gnida (36-9) won a 7-4 decision over Mount Vernon senior Jack Streicher in the 120-pound title match.

Hoyle (37-7) continued his recent strong stretch with a title at 182 pounds, stretching his winning streak to eight.

Fifth-ranked Hoyle downed Mount Vernon senior Coy Martin 26-17 in the 182-pound championship.

“I think I keep getting better and better every day,” Hoyle said. “I guess we will see over the next few weeks if the hard work has paid off.”

Tyler Linderbaum stayed unbeaten with a pair of first-period falls on his way to the 285-pound championship.

Linderbaum pinned Mount Vernon Preston Shultz in 1:31 in the heavyweight title match to move to 30-0 on the season.

Aidan Dall (126), Caleb Ebert (145), Seamus Poynton (160) and Jax Flynn (170) all finished runner-up to advance and Christian Haight (132), Zack Bevans (152) and Zach Wegmann (220) won wrestleback matches to secure runner-up finishes and district bids.

“I think we wrestled well,” Williams said. “We had some guys with tough losses in the finals come back and get good wins so we feel good going into next weekend.”

Class 2A Sectional 3

At Solon

Team Scores – 1. Solon 243.5; 2. Mount Vernon 199.5; 3. Central DeWitt 160.5; 4. Camanche 152; 5. Tipton 108.5; 6. Northeast 101

(District Qualifiers; Area Placewinners)

106 – 1. Keaton Zeimet (CD) pinned Ben Vogel (CAM) :36; 5. Gabe Yetley (SOL)

113 – 1. Ryan Clark (MV) dec. Robert Howard (CD) 2-0; 4. Lucas TePoel (SOL)

120 – 1. Zeb Gnida (SOL) dec. Jack Streicher (MV) 7-4

126 – 1. John Crowley (TIP) tech. fall Adian Dall 15-0

132 – 1. Cade Everson (CAM) pinned Christian Haight (SOL) 3:50

138 – 1. Andy Brokaw (SOL) dec. Remington Overstake (NE) 10-3

145 – 1. Eric Campie (CAM) pinned Caleb Ebert (SOL) 5:34

152 – 1. Baylor Crigger (CAM) dec. Zack Bevans (SOL) 7-5 SV-1

160 – 1. Wyatt Schmidt (NE) dec. Seamus Poynton (SOL) 7-1

170 – 1. Paul Ryan (MV) dec. Jax Flynn (SOL) 3-2

182 – 1. Mike Hoyle (SOL) dec. Coy Martin (MV) 11-6

195 – 1. Nick Smith (CD) dec. Camron Woodley (MV) 6-2

220 – 1. Kolby Snodgrass (CAM) dec. Zach Wegmann (SOL) 4-2 SV-1

285 – 1. Tyler Linderbaum (SOL) pinned Preston Schultz (MV) 1:31