City High Senior Hefley Gets Long Awaited State Meet Win
Photo by Jeff Yoder / Click here to view the 3A state wrestling photo gallery.
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
DES MOINES – The wait for a state meet victory was a little longer than Kyle Hefley would have preferred.
Truthfully, Hefley said, waiting for a win at the state wrestling meet had been wearing on him for the better part of his prep career.
The City High senior shrugged that weight off his broad shoulders in a big way on Thursday.
Hefley (36-6) earned the first state meet victory of his career with a 4-0 decision over Julius Boimah of Waterloo West in a Class 3A 152-pound opening round match at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.
“It’s great getting that first one out of the way, it’s a huge weight off my shoulders,” Hefley said. “Honestly, that first one is the one I was most worried about.”
It appeared that Hefley would get win number one out of the at last year’s state meet.
He entered the state meet ranked seventh with a 41-2 record but had his season loss total doubled in a matter of hours with back-to-back day-one losses to ranked opponents.
Hefley made sure his wait for a state meet win ended early in his final trip to state.
“I felt like I should have gotten that first win a year before,” Hefley said. “It’s the first round, my last time here so this one kind of means everything right from the get go.”
Hefley led 1-0 entering the third period after the first four minutes produced just an escape for Hefley.
Sixth-ranked Hefley secured the win with a takedown off a Boimah shot with 28 seconds left.
“I was just trying to keep wearing down the guy and eventually something was going to open up,” Hefley said. “The first two periods nothing opened up but I just kept wearing down on him and eventually he slipped up and made a mistake and that was my chance to go.”
The win sends Hefley into the 3A quarterfinals where he will face North Scott fifth-ranked North Scott junior Jake Matthaidess (33-6) on Friday morning.
“Now that I got that weight off my shoulders lets go,” Hefley said. “It’s a huge weight off my shoulders, I don’t have to worry about another match. I can just start worrying about the next day now.”
The first state meet win for Hefley was part of a strong opening day performance for City High.
Junior 106-pounder Ethan Wood-Finley and 285-pound senior Jacob Murry both returned to the quarterfinals with first-period pins.
Wood-Finley (33-3) scored a takedown 29 seconds into the match and put Ankeny Centennial freshman Jackson Helmkamp on his back 20 seconds later on his way to a pin with 38 seconds left in the first period.
“I just wanted to start how I started last year, get to my offense and take him down,” Wood-Finley said. “You want to get the match done as quickly as you can and try to preserve as much energy as you can because there will be some tough matches tomorrow and Saturday.”
A state semifinalist a year ago, Wood-Finley settled for a fifth-place finish in his state meet debut.
Wood-Finley returns to the state meet more experienced and top-seeded in the 106-pound bracket.
Third-ranked Wood-Finley will take on fifth-ranked Mason City freshman Jace Rhodes (13-3) in the quarterfinals.
“It’s a great experience to be here and I found out what it was like last year,” Wood-Finley said. “I learned that you have to go out and fight as hard as you can every match and I didn’t take a back seat to anyone last year. That’s how I’m approaching it this season.”
Murry needed less than a minute to return to the quarterfinals for the second consecutive season, pinning Storm Lake’s Kail Shannon in 58 seconds.
Fourth-ranked Murry (30-4) will face No. 5 Griffin Liddle (39-5) in a 285-pound quarterfinal on Friday in a rematch of a regular season match won by Murry 4-3.
Class 3A State Meet
Team scores (Top 10; Area Teams) – 1. Waverly-Shell Rock 31.5; 2. Southeast Polk 25; 3. Fort Dodge 23; 4. Cedar Rapids Prairie 22; 5. Johnston 21; 6. Bettendorf 20.5; 7. North Scott 19; 7. Waukee 19; 9. Ankeny Centennial 17; 10. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 16; 18. West High 11.5; 19. City High 10.
Opening Round (Area Athletes Only)
106 – No. 3 Ethan Wood-Finley (City High) pinned Jackson Helmkamp (Ankeny Centennial) 1:23
152 – No. 6 Kyle Hefley (City High) dec. Julius Boimah (Waterloo West) 4-0
170 – No. 3 Blake Underwood (West Des Moines Valley) pinned Joe Ring (City High) :56
285 – No. 4 Jacob Murry (City High) pinned Kail Shannon (Storm Lake) :58
First Round Consolation
170 – No. 10 Brennan Meacham (Indianola) pinned Joe Ring (City High) 1:08
Friday’s Quarterfinal Matches
106 – No. 3 Ethan Wood-Finley (33-3) Jr., City High vs. No. 5 Jace Rhodes (13-3) Fr., Mason City
152 – No. 6 Kyle Hefley (36-6) Sr., City High vs. No. 5 Jake Matthaidess (33-6) Jr., North Scott
285 – No. 4 Jacob Murry (30-4) Sr., City High vs. No 5 Griffin Liddle (39-5) Soph., Bettendorf
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