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Solon standout sophomore Hayden Taylor picked up the second WAMAC Conference title on his career on Saturday.

Teammate Zeb Gnida made sure Taylor had some company on the top spot of the medal stand at West Delaware High School Saturday.

Gnida followed up Taylor’s title at 145 pounds with a win in the 152-pound championship match as Solon crowned two champs and had three other wrestlers finish in the top three on its way to a fourth-place team finish.

“I thought overall our fight was there today,” Solon coach Blake Williams said. “A lot of good matches. We won some and lost some close ones, but I think it continues to prepare us for next week and the next couple.”

West Delaware rolled to its third consecutive WAMAC team-title racking up 301 points to easily outdistancing runner-up Williamsburg by 125.5.

Competing at home the Hawks put on a show sending eight wrestlers to the finals and crowing three champions.

Independence was third with 173.5 points followed by Solon with 160.5 and Dyersville Beckman with 126.

Clear Creek Amana placed 14th with 28 points.

Solon had two champions for the second consecutive year.

Top-ranked Taylor (44-0) got the Spartans started in the championship round with a 3-2 win over No. 4 Jadyn Peyton of West Delaware in the 145-pound title match.

“Hayden did a good job,” Williams said. “I don’t think he scored as many points as he wanted to, but I still felt he was in control of what he was doing throughout the match.”
Gnida (41-5) concluded a dominant run through the 152-pound bracket with his third tech fall of the tournament, a 16-1 first-period victory over Garrett Arp of South Tama.

Third-ranked Gnida had a 20-4 victory end 20 seconds into the second period in his opening match and reached the finals with an 18-2 win over Kyle Cole of West Delaware in the semifinals.

 “I thought Zeb really wrestled well,” Williams said.

Gage Marty (35-9) added a runner-up for Solon at 195 pounds falling to top-ranked Wyatt Voelker of West Delaware 19-7 in the championship match.

Senior Jax Flynn (41-7) finished third in a loaded 170-pound bracket that featured the number one, two, three and five ranked wrestlers in Class 2A

Flynn fell to Maquoketa senior Abe Michel 10-6 in sudden victory in the semifinals but rebounded with a pair of wins including a second-period pin of top-ranked Cole Davis of Independence in the consolation final.

Fifth-ranked Jared Voss of West Delaware defeated Davis 10-3 in the semifinals and downed Michel 13-1 in the final.

“Jax Flynn had a really gutsy performance,” Williams said. “He had been under the weather. I don’t think he had been in school all week. To come through in that tough bracket – lost a heartbreaker in the semis and then came back and got third over (Independence’s Cole) Davis was real gutsy.”
Seamus Poynton was third for Solon at 182 and Caleb Ebert was fourth for the Spartans at 160.

Kael Scranton led Clear Creek Amana with a third-place finish at 132.

WAMAC Conference Meet

At West Delaware

Team scores – 1. West Delaware 301; 2. Williamsburg 175.5; 3. Independence 173.5; 4. Solon 160.5; 5. Dyersville Beckman 126; 6. Center Point-Urbana 113; 7. Maquoketa 108; 8. South Tama County 104; 9. Mount Vernon 103; 10. Central DeWitt 91; 11. Marion 84.5; 12. Benton Community 55.5; 13. Vinton-Shellsburg 45.5; 14. Clear Creek Amana 28  

Championship matches; area placewinners

106 – 1. Niyo Gady (MAR) pinned Arnie Galvan (MV) 4:54

113 – 1. Cole Whitehead (CP-U) dec. Keaton Zeimet (CD) 6-0

120 – 1. Blake Engel (WD) dec. Kayden Gryp (WIL) 7-2; 8. Jayden Massey (CCA)

126 – 1. Isaiah Weber (IND) dec. Logan Arp (ST) 7-2; 8. Jakobe Lahr (SOL)

132 – 1. Keegan Scheeler (CP-U) pinned Brady Ortner (V-S) 1:36; 3. Kael Scranton (CCA)

138 – 1. Jalen Schropp (WIL) major dec. Logan Peyton (WD); 8. Ethan Swan (SOL)

145 – 1. Hayden Taylor (SOL) dec. Jadyn Peyton (WD) 3-2

152 – 1. Zeb Gnida (SOL) tech. fall Garrett Arp (ST) 16-1

160 – 1. Matthew Doyle (IND) dec. Cael Meyer (WD) 5-3; 4. Caleb Ebert (SOL)

170 – 1. Jared Voss (WD) major dec. Abe Michel (MAQ) 13-1; 3. Jax Flynn (SOL)

182 – 1. Evan Wulfekuhle (DB) dec. Jack Neuhaus (WD) 3-0; 3. Seamus Poynton (SOL)

195 – 1. Wyatt Voelker (WD) major dec. Gage Marty (SOL) 19-7

220 – 1. Christian Kremer (IND) dec. Keean Kamerling (MV) 5-1; 7. Erich Karsten (SOL)

285 – 1. Taven Rich (MAQ) pinned Carson Petlon (WD) 1:34; 6. Nash Altman (SOL)

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