Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – For the past two years Gage Marty and Hayden Taylor were the young up and comers in the Solon wrestling room.

After two years following the lead of upperclassmen it is Marty and Taylor that have taken over as leaders for a young Solon squad this season.

“I’ve had great leaders through my first two years, I think that really helped me learn what it takes to be a leader,” Marty said. “I was pushed every practice. It’s been sort of a tradition of ours to have those guys that lead the team and I’m excited to be able to do that.”

Taylor and Marty continued to lead the way for Solon on the mat on Thursday with both juniors picking up bonus point wins in a 45-33 loss to Dyersville Beckman in a WAMAC Conference dual meet in Solon.

As has always been the case at Solon, the leadership starts in the practice room and that is where Marty and Taylor both prefer to make their mark as leaders.

“They are both by nature quiet kids but they both work extremely hard, the working is easy for them, any workout you throw at them it’s no problem,” Solon co-head coach TJ Bevans said. “They have both become more vocal, that’s a big thing for them and they are both doing that.”

Both had the background to become leaders of the program based solely on their past success.

Taylor is already the most decorated wrestler in program history, a two-time state champion that hasn’t lost a match since his freshman season.

A classic leader by example, Taylor has become more vocal this season as an upperclassman but still prefers to let his work ethic do the talking.

“We try to preach how to do things the right way,” Taylor said. “We’re trying to stress you have to go hard all the time even if a coach isn’t looking or something and the best way to do that is to lead by example. If guys see us drilling hard and going hard they are going to want to do that.”

Marty enjoyed a breakthrough campaign last year as a sophomore when he posted a 41-11 record and finished seventh at the Class 2A state meet.

After just one season as a full-time varsity starter Marty found himself a leadership role this winter on a young Spartan roster that features five freshmen in the varsity lineup.

“During practice we made it a goal of ours to always push those guys because they are young and they don’t have a lot of experience,” Marty said. “It’s important for us to keep pushing them and help them along.”

Marty and Taylor haven’t just improved as leaders, both are even better on the mat than ever before.

Taylor is top-ranked in Class 2A at 160 pounds this season and is 15-0 with eight pins and three tech falls this season after downing Conner Grover 19-4 on Thursday.

“I definitely feel like I’ve improved a lot from last year but there are things I can work on,” Taylor said. “I feel like 160 is a good weight for me and I feel good.”
Marty is off to his own strong start.

Coming off a football season in which he earned all-state honors as an offensive lineman, Marty is 13-4 and ranked eighth in Class 2A at 220 pounds.

Marty bumped up to 285 pounds on Thursday and won an 11-0 major decision over Beckman’s Jason Koopman.

All four of the losses for Marty this season have come to top-six opponents including a pair of setbacks to Class 1A top-ranked Cole Clark of Lisbon.

Bevans has been impressed with the leadership from both Taylor and Marty on the mat and in the wrestling room.

“I’ve taken a little bit different approach this year and really stressed accountability, it’s kind of more on them,” Bevans said. “I want them to be accountable for their own program, I want kids to lead each other and they’ve done a good job with that.”

Dyersville Beckman 45, Solon 33

106 – Tyson Wheeler (SOL) won by forfeit

113 – Mason Koelker (DB) pinned Kyler Jessup 2:34

120 – Danil Wall (DB) pinned Lawson Sinnwell 1:00

126 – Nick Schmidt (DB) pinned Milo Ashbacker 1:51

132 – Alex Hageman (DB) pinned Brennan Heesch :29

138 – Kaden Lamm (SOL) pinned Riley White 1:40

145 – Nick Hageman (DB) pinned David Karam 1:13

152 – Mason Recker (DB) pinned Caleb Ebert 3:16

160 – Hayden Taylor (SOL) tech fall Conner Grover 19-4

170 – Lucas Kampman (SOL) pinned Ryan Funke 1:04

182 – Nick Wulfekuhle (DB) dec. Lucas TePoel 3-1

195 – Owen Huehnergarth (DB) pinned Tyler Hancox :47

220 – Erich Karsten (SOL) won by forfeit

285 – Gage Marty (SOL) major dec. Jason Koopman 11-0

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