Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

The wrestling postseason got underway last week with sectional meets in Class 1A and 2A.

Now things really take off with spots at the state tournament on the line on Saturday.

Solon travels to Williamsburg for the Class 2A, District 8 meet where the Spartans have six wrestlers seeking to secure spots at the state meet that runs February 17-19 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Here is as quick glance at the District 8 meet.

Class 2A, District 8 Meet

When: Saturday, 11 a.m.

Where: Williamsburg

Ranked teams: No. 2 West Burlington Notre Dame; No. 12 West Liberty

What to watch: Solon is tied for the fourth most qualifiers among District 8 teams with six trailing only West Burlington Notre Dame with 10 and West Liberty and Mount Vernon with eight each.

Now the task for the Spartans is pushing as many of those wrestlers as possible through to state.

The lone ranked wrestler for the Spartans is top-ranked heavyweight Gage Marty but two of the other big boys in the Solon lineup are ones to watch on Saturday.

Senior 220-pound Tyler Hancox (21-13) and junior 195-pound Braydon Hoffmann (21-19) can both push for top-two finishes and trips to state.

Hancox has a bear of an opener against top-ranked Mount Vernon junior Clark Younggreen (42-2) but a trip to state may come down to a rematch with Washington junior Colley Billingsley (27-20) who Hancox led 11-0 when he was pinned in the sectional title match.

Who to watch: Gage Marty has been on an absolute mission over the last month.

Marty (43-2) brings a 12-match winning streak into the district meet and has had just two matches go the distance during that stretch.

Both of the losses for Marty this season have come to top-ranked opponents in 3A top-ranked 285 pounder Jake Walker of Waverly-Shell Rock and Younggreen.

Marty faces Columbus sophomore Russel Coil (27-10) in his district opener and would get the winner of West Liberty sophomore Quintyn Rocha or Mid-Prairie senior Gannon Callahan (21-2) in the title match.

Weight class to watch: Top-ranked Benton Community senior Jaiden Moore (35-0) is the odds on favorite to win the 126-pound bracket but it could come down to a meeting of two talented freshman for the second spot at state.

Moore has been impressive this season and enters as the favorite leaving Solon freshman Jordan Schmidt (36-17), West Liberty freshman Ryker Dengler (23-27) and Fairfield junior Zach Westerkamp (16-10) battling for the second spot.

Schmidt faces Westerkamp in the opening-round and posted a 15-0 tech fall over Dengler in the sectional final.

Ranked wrestlers

106:     No. 2 Carter West (West Burlington Notre Dame) Soph.

No. 3 Colin Cassady (West Liberty) Jr.

113:     No. 3 Gavin Jensen (Williamsburg) Jr.

No. 4 Kaiden Dietzenbach (West Burlington Notre Dame) Fr.

No. 5 Aaron Boone (Washington) Fr.

120:     No. 3 Lane Scorpil (Columbus) Sr.

126:     No. 1 Jaiden Moore (Benton Community) Sr.

132:     No. 1 Blaine Frazier (West Burlington Notre Dame) Sr.      

138:     No. 4 Jackson Jaspers (Mount Vernon) Soph.

145:     No. 7 Brenden Heying (Benton Community) Fr.

152:     No. 7 Isiah Fenton (West Burlington Notre Dame) Jr.

No. 11 Henry Ryan (Mount Vernon) Jr.

160:     No. 7 Sam West (West Burlington Notre Dame) Sr.

No. 10 Kam Royster (Williamsburg) Jr.

170:     No. 3 Drake Collins (West Liberty) Jr.

No. 7 River Belger (West Burlington Notre Dame) Sr.

182:     No. 1 CJ Walrath (West Burlington Notre Dame) Jr.

No. 10 Gable Dayton (Williamsburg) Jr.

195:     No. 3 Cael Garvey (Mid-Prairie) Sr.

No. 6 Jahsiah Galvan (West Liberty) Sr.

220:     No. 1 Clark Younggreen (Mount Vernon) Jr.

285:     No. 1 Gage Marty (Solon) Sr.

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