Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

Class 1A District 5

When: Saturday, Noon

Where: Montezuma

Teams (Number of Qualifiers): Regina (1); Pleasantville (6); North Mahaska (4); Montezuma (2); Martensdale St. Marys (7); Lynnville-Sully (3); Lisbon (9); Iowa Valley (5); HLV (3); English Valleys (7); Colfax-Mingo (5); BGM (2); Belle Plaine (1); Baxter (1)

Ranked Teams: No. 3 Lisbon

Area Qualifiers

182:     Nick Milder (Regina) Sr.

What to Watch

There is star power up and down the District 5 brackets with four top-ranked wrestlers and four undefeated wrestlers looking continue impressive seasons with district titles.

Among the members of a loaded district from top to bottom is Regina senior Nick Milder.

The Regals’ lone qualifier will be seeking a third consecutive state meet appearance where he hopes to earn the first state hardware of his career. 

Who to Watch

If you enjoy watching talented individuals this is the 1A district for you.

There are four top-ranked wrestlers in the field including a trio from Lisbon in junior Cael Happel (132), freshman Robert Avila Jr. (126) and senior Cobe Siebrecht (138).

Iowa Valley senior Garet Sims (44-0) is top-ranked at 220 pounds and joins Siebrecht (43-0) and Happel (43-0) as undefeated top-ranked wrestlers at the meet.

There will be one less undefeated wrestler when the meet ends.

Martensdale St. Marys senior 132 pounder Joshua Tibbits (36-0) joins Happel in the 132-pound bracket.

Weight Class to Watch

Milder took the hard route to Wells Fargo Arena and the state meet each of the past two seasons coming to districts as a sectional runner-up.

That changed this season as Milder defeated No. 10 Cole Clark of Lisbon 5-3 to win the 182-pound sectional title.

Milder hopes to use that momentum to notch his first district title this week.

Each of the last two seasons Milder dropped the district title match to Bryce Werderman of Lisbon, the same wrestler he lost to in the sectional championship match.

A sectional rematch against a Lisbon wrestler again appears to be likely.

Milder (31-2) opens with Baxter senior Ben Huff (9-14) while Clark (32-11) will face Lynnville-Sully freshman Miles Mintle (11-15) in the other semifinal.

A second consecutive win over Clark in the championship would send Milder to the state meet riding a 12-match winning streak.

Ranked Wrestlers

113:     No. 9 Quincy Happel (Lisbon) Fr.

120:     No. 6 Cauy Fitch (Colfax-Mingo) Sr.

126:     No. 1 Robert Avila Jr. (Lisbon) Fr.  

           No. 3 Cole Cassady (Martensdale St. Marys) Jr.

132:     No. 1 Cael Happel (Lisbon) Jr.

           No. 3 Joshua Tibbits (Martensdale St. Marys) Sr.

138:     No. 1 Cobe Siebrecht (Lisbon) Sr.

           No. 9 Dominck DiCesare (Martensdale St. Marys) Jr.

145:     No. 7 Ryne Mohrfield (Lisbon) Sr.

152:     No. 8 Ben Smith (Iowa Valley) Jr.

           No. 10 Cooper Andreassen (English Valleys) Sr.

182:     No. 5 Nick Milder (Regina) Sr.

           No. 10 Cole Clark (Lisbon) Soph.

195:     No. 6 Ethan Allie (Belle Plaine) Jr.

           No. 9 John Fisher (English Valleys) Sr.

220:     No. 1 Garet Sims (Iowa Valley) Sr.

Class 1A, District 8

When: Saturday, Noon

Where: Wilton High School

Teams (Number of Qualifiers): Wilton (5); West Branch (2); Wapello (5); WACO (4); Van Buren (4); Sigourney-Keota (2); Pekin (5); Northeast (3); North Cedar (4); New London (4); Mediapolis (6); Lone Tree (2); Highland (6); Durant (1); Cardinal (3)

Ranked Teams: None

Area Qualifiers

120:     Tyler Siemen (West Branch) Sr.        26-14

220:     Drake Bloem (West Branch) Jr.         16-16

What to Watch

West Branch will attempt to snap its state meet qualifier drought on Saturday as it brings a pair of qualifiers to the District 8 meet.

Tyler Siemen (26-14) and Drake Bloem (16-16) both used sectional runner-up finishes to earn trips to the district meet and will attempt to become the first state qualifier for the Bears since Drew Finnegan in 2016.

Who to Watch

Siemen will look to end his career with a bang in his final shot at the state meet.

The lone senior in the 120-pound bracket Siemen faces WACO freshman Jonah Clark (32-8) in the semifinals.

Wapello junior Mitchell Moore (20-8) faces Bruce Claman (11-18) of Van Buren in the other semifinal.

Moore pinned Siemen in the sectional title match last week.

Weight Class to Watch

There is always the opportunity for fireworks at the upper weights and Bloem is hoping to be the one to provide them.

He opens against Mediapolis junior Keegan Akers (27-14) in a 220-pound bracket without a ranked wrestler.

Jaxon Allen (31-12) of New London and sectional champion Calib Lilly (26-15) of Wilton face off in the other semifinal.

Ranked Wrestlers

106:     No. 5 Marcel Lopez (New London) Fr.

           No. 6 Kael Brisker (Wilton) Soph.

113:     No. 5 Mason Dye (Sigourney-Keota) Jr.

           No. 10 Colton Meeker (Wapello) Sr.

126:     No. 4 Daniel Meeker (Wapello) Jr.

138:     No. 10 Zach Hammes (Pekin) Sr.

160:     No. 6 Caleb LaLonde (Mediapolis) Sr.

170:     No. 10 Caleb Stoltz (Van Buren) Sr.

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