Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – The coaches in the Solon wrestling room have talked to the young wrestlers within the program often about what it takes to have a complete championship-caliber team.

On Saturday the Spartans got an up close peak at precisely what a championship style squad looks like.

Defending Class 3A state champion Waverly Shell-Rock was a late addition to the field at the 51^st Ed Hadenfeldt Invitational on Saturday at Solon High School and promptly put on a display.

The Go-Hawks crowned nine champions and had two other finalists while winning the team title on Saturday with 324 points.

“Being a younger team it is good for our young guys to see what it is supposed to look like up and down the lineup,” Solon coach Aaron Hadenfeldt said. “We have some guys in our lineup that work hard and wrestler hard but when you look at a team that’s how it is supposed to look.”

Class 3A second-ranked Waverly-Shell Rock was originally headed to Ankeny for a tournament on Saturday.

A winter storm switched those plans as the Go-Hawks joined Dike-New Hartford and Durant as last-minute additions to the 14-team field.

Waverly-Shell Rock got titles from four top-ranked wrestlers in Ryder Block at 138, Aiden Riggins at 160, McCrae Hagarty at 195 and Jake Walker at 220.

Walker won a 9-1 major decision over Solon senior Gage Marty in the 220-pound final.

“Knowing that they were coming I knew I had a good match coming up and nobody I see is going to be better than that this year,” Marty said. “I was just excited to get that match in and learn from it and get better from here on out and now I have a goal to work toward.”

Solon, West Branch and Liberty High all had finalists on Saturday and all three lost to a Waverly-Shell Rock wrestler in the finals.

West Branch sophomore Logan Wright lost to seventh-ranked Layne McDonald 3-0 in the 220-pound finals.

Liberty High’s Gavin Benton was pinned by ninth-ranked Cayden Lanreck of Waverly-Shell Rock at 152 pounds.

“They reached out to us last night and we had open spots so why not,” Hadenfeldt said of Waverly-Shell Rock. “For us to have a chance to compete against the best and for them to have a chance to wrestle today why not?”

Solon had seven wrestlers finish in the top five at its home meet on Saturday.

Freshman Jordan Schmidt (27-11) was fourth at 126 pounds after falling to 1A third-ranked Quincy Happel of Lisbon in the semifinals.

Dade Altman was fourth at 182 pounds and Tyler Hancox was fourth at 220.

Kyler Jessup was fifth at 113 pounds, David Karam was fifth at 152 and Lucas Kampman was fifth in a strong bracket at 170 pounds.

“We aren’t backing down from anybody that’s for sure,” Hadenfeldt said. “We have a way to go and we know that but at the same time we aren’t faulting the effort that we are putting out on the mat.”

Marty squared off with 3A top-ranked Walker in one of the best matches of the meet.

Walker broke a scoreless tie with a takedown in the final 30 seconds of the opening period after Marty was in deep on a shot and added a takedown in the second and two in the third in a 9-1 win.

“I know the score was 9-1 but Gage was close to a lot more points and he’ll learn from that,” Hadenfeldt said. “He’ll go home and watch that match 10 times because that is the type of kid he is. Win or lose we are going to learn from that match against a kid like that.”

Marty, who is ranked second in 2A at 220 pounds dropped to 31-1 on the season while Walker improved to 22-2.

“I can take away that nobody is going to be better than that,” Marty said. “I’m just going to keep working hard trying to get to that.”

Ed Hadenfeldt Invitational

At Solon High School

Team scores – 1. Waverly-Shell Rock 324; 2. North Scott 207; 3. Lisbon 184.5; 4. West Liberty 129.5; 5. Solon 115; 6. Dike-New Hartford 97; 7. Liberty High 91; 8. Center Point-Urbana 82; 9. West Branch 70; 10. Durant 64; 11. Clear Creek Amana 54; 12. Cedar Rapids Prairie 43; 13. Iowa Valley 40; 14. North Cedar 9

Championship matches; area placewinners

106 – 1. Colin Cassady (WL) pinned Cael Steinkamp (CP-U) :32; 5. Timmy Hosier (WB); Christos Panos (ICL)

113 – 1. Zane Behrends (W-SR) pinned Lucas Ragsdale (D-NH) :48; 4. Nolan Howell (CCA); 5. Kyler Jessup (SOL)

120 – 1. Trace Gephart (NS) tech. fall Braxten Westendorf (W-SR) 15-0; 3. Gabe Avalos (ICL); 6. Lawson Sinnwell (SOL); 7. Dylan Olson (WB)

126 – 1. Quincy Happel (LIS) pinned Ethan Gast (DUR) 1:50; 4. Jordan Schmidt (SOL); 6. Luke Guseman (WB); 8. Jay Halverson (CCA)

132 – 1. Carter Fecht (W-SR) dec. Tiernan Boots (LIS) 9-3; 6. Tien Pham (ICL); 8. Charlie Karam (SOL)

138 – 1. Ryder Block (W-SR) dec. Cade Siebrecht (LIS) 11-7; 7. Max Carlson (CCA); 8. Logan Keeler (WB)

145 – 1. Bas Diaz (W-SR) pinned Indy Harbaugh (LIS) 1:43; 7. Benjamin Haughey (CCA); 8. Cale Seydel (WB) 7-0

152 – 1. Cayden Lanreck (W-SR) pinned Gavin Benton (ICL) 2:48; 5. David Karam (SOL); 6. Samuel Schneider (CCA); 7. Auron Marsh (WB)

160 – 1. Aiden Riggins (W-SR) won by medical forfeit Robert Poyner (W-SR); 3. Elijah Terwilleger (ICL); 5. Ethan Williams (CCA); 6. Fischer Harrison (SOL)

170 – 1. Max Kohl (LIS) dec. Seth Madden (NS) 2-1; 5. Lucas Kampman (SOL)

182 – 1. Nick Reinicke (D-NH) pinned Collin Hoskins (CP-U) 1:19; 4. Dade Altman (SOL)

195 – 1. McCrae Hagarty (W-SR) dec. AJ Petersen (NS) 10-5; 6. Vinny Lima (ICL)

220 – 1. Layne McDonald (W-SR) dec. Logan Wright (WB) 3-0; 4. Tyler Hancox (SOL); 7. Brendon Benton (ICL)

285 – 1. Jake Walker (W-SR) major dec. Gage Marty (SOL) 9-1

Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by donating.