Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – There isn’t much that is missing from the prep wrestling resume for Hayden Taylor.

The Solon junior standout added one of the few achievements missing from his personal career collection on Saturday.

Taylor claimed his first title at his own home tournament on Saturday winning the 160-pound title at the Ed Hadenfeldt Invitational with a second-period pin of Pella senior Ryan Van Donselaar.

“It feels really good to finally win our home tournament,” Taylor said. “It’s something I hadn’t done yet so it’s definitely special to be able to win this.”

A two-time state champion, the Hadenfeldt Invite title was a surprising piece missing from Taylor’s personal hardware collection.

Taylor won WAMAC Conference, section and district titles as a freshman and sophomore before capping each of his first two seasons with Class 2A state titles.

Yet one of the state’s most decorated wrestlers had never won gold at a home tournament.

A 3-1 loss to Lisbon two-time state champion Robert Avila in the 2019 Hadenfeldt finals accounts for half of Taylor’s career loss total.

Last season the Spartans’ home meet was cancelled due to weather.

Taylor made sure the wait for a home title ended on Saturday posting three consecutive second-period pins while improving to 22-0 on the season and pushing his career record to 125-2.

“I told people I had never won the Ed Hadenfeldt and every would say ‘are you sure’ or ‘you haven’t’?” Taylor said. “It was nice to be able to win a championship here.”

Taylor pinned Dylan Marti of North Scott in 2:42 in the quarterfinals and needed 3:46 to pin Lake Newton of West Liberty in the semifinals.

The anticipated finals match for Taylor was a meeting with Class 3A third-ranked Devin Streif of North Scott but instead met Van Donselaar (17-4) in the finals after Streif was forced to injury default in the semifinals.

Taylor was in attack mode from the outset against Van Donselaar recording his first of four takedowns just 22 seconds into the match.

“Hayden has always had a different level and now you are starting to see it more and more,” Solon coach TJ Bevans said. “When he gets to his leg attacks and gets to his offense you aren’t stopping him.”

Taylor added a second takedown with 24 seconds left in the first period and after an early escape in the second posted two more takedowns.

“I felt like my cardio was way better today than it has been in the past,” Taylor said. “I was getting tired but I was pushing through that just keeps getting better every time I wrestle.”

The most excitement of the day in a Taylor match came in the second period when a tangle between the two wrestlers at the edge of the mat ended with Van Donselar being flung beyond the coaches in the Pella corner and off the mat.

Once action was restarted Taylor needed less than 30 seconds to record his final two takedowns and the pin.

“He is a physical wrestler, he’s in your face, he is going to be on you the whole time,” Bevans said. “He isn’t going to give you any room to breath, he’s just going to smother you.”

The title from Taylor was one of four top-three finishes for Solon as the Spartans finished sixth with 137 points.

Class 1A second-ranked Lisbon won the team title with 288.5 points followed by 3A No. 8 North Scott with 259.5.

Cedar Rapids Prairie was third with 177.5, Pella was fourth and West Liberty was fifth.

Caleb Ebert (17-7) was runner-up at 152 pounds for the Spartans, falling to 1A No. 10 Lincoln Holub of Lisbon 10-7 in the title match.

“He goes to beat of his own drum, he’s a great kid, he’s a character but when he goes, he goes and he’s tough,” Bevans said of Ebert. “You don’t know what Caleb you are going to get every match and if we he was a little more consistent he’d be hard to beat.”

Gage Marty and David Karam each added third-place finishes for Solon.

Karam was third at 145 pounds while Marty won back-to-back matches after a 6-3 loss to 2A second-ranked Kobe Simon in the semifinals to finish third at 220 pounds.

“The first time we wrestled that kid last year we got pinned by him so we are gaining but that’s not enough, we want to win the match,” Bevans said. “He was up 4-3 with 15 seconds left but he’s going to keep working. Right after that match he was up in the room running and getting ready for his next match.”

West Branch finished 11^th with 29 points and was led by a fifth-place finish from Morgan Hartz at 195 pounds and sixth-place performances from Logan Wright at 220, Lincoln Edwards at 106 and Dylan Olson at 120.

Ed Hadenfeldt Invitational

At Solon

Team scores – 1. Lisbon 288.5; 2. North Scott 259.5; 3. Cedar Rapids Prairie 177.5; 4. Pella 160.5; 5. West Liberty 156.5; 6. Solon 137; 7. Vinton-Shellsburg 95; 8. Iowa Valley 73; 9. Center Point-Urbana 62; 10. North Scott JV 48; 11. West Branch 29; 12. Solon JV 24.5; 13. North Cedar 13

Individual champions; area placewinners

106 – 1. Blake Gioimo (CRP) tech. fall Hunter Kegley (CRP) 15-0; 6. Lincoln Edwards (WB)

113 – 1. Trace Gephart (NS) dec. Hunter Kalous (CRP) 5-0

120 – 1. Brandon Paez (LIS) dec. Cole Whitehead (CPU) 5-1; 4. Lawson Sinnwell (SOL); 6. Dylan Olson (WB)

126 – 1. Cade Siebrecht (LIS) pinned Ryan Hancock (PEL) 3:58; 6. Milo Ashbacker (SOL)

132 – 1. Quincy Happel (LIS) pinned Chase Porter (NS) 3:04

148 – 1. Josh Connor (NS) tech. fall Brady Ortner (V-S) 19-0

145 – 1. Robert Avila (LIS) pinned Peyton Westlin (NS) 3:09; 3. David Karam (SOL)

152 – 1. Lincoln Holub (LIS) dec. Caleb Ebert (SOL) 10-7

160 – 1. Hayden Taylor (SOL) pinned Ryan Van Donselaar (PEL) 3:23

170 – 1. Max Kohl (LIS) dec. Seth Madden (NS) 4-1; 4. Lucas Kampman (SOL)

182 – 1. Jamien Moore (LIS) dec. AJ Petersen (NS) 6-4; 6. Lucas TePoel (SOL)

195 – 1. Truman Krob (LIS) dec. Felipe Molina (WL) 8-5; 5. Morgan Hartz (WB); 6. Erich Karsten (SOL)

220 – 1. Cole Clark (LIS) dec. Kobe Simon (WL) 5-0; 3. Gage Marty (SOL); 6. Logan Wright (WB)

285 – 1. Brant Baltes (LIS) pinned Kody Huisman (PEL) 1:25; 5. Nash Altman (SOL)

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