Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

The Wrestlers

Area Qualifiers/Opening Round Opponents

126 – Jordan Schmidt (37-18) Fr., Solon vs. No. 1 Jaiden Moore (37-0) Sr., Benton Community

220 – Tyler Hancox (23-14) Sr., Solon vs. No. 3 Aiden Morgan (29-4) Sr., Davenport Assumption

285 – No. 1 Gage Marty (45-2) Sr., Solon vs. Kaden Clark (23-17) Fr., PCM

Returning State Champions

Current Weight, Wrestler, School, 2021 Championship Weight

113 – Kade Blume, Roland-Story, Soph., 106

120 – Kale Petersen, Greene County, Jr., 113 (Class 1A)

120 – Camron Phetxoumphone, Webster City, Sr., 113

132 – McKinley Robbins, Greene County, Jr., 120

138 – Carter Fousek, Crestwood, Sr., 126

145 – Isiah Weber, Independence, Sr., 138

195 – Wyatt Voelker, West Delaware, Sr., 195

Undefeated Wrestlers

106 – Kaden Weber (36-0) Nevada, Soph.

106 – Jace Hedeman (42-0) Union, Fr.

113 – Kade Blume (32-0) Roland-Story, Soph.

120 – Camron Phetxoumphone (38-0) Webster City, Sr.

120 – Lane Scorpil (42-0) Columbus, Sr.

120 – Kale Petersen (9-0) Greene County, Jr.

126 – Jaiden Moore (37-0) Benton Community, Sr.

132 – Anders Kittelson (27-0) Osage, Soph.

132 – Blaine Frazier (49-0) West Burlington Notre Dame, Sr.

145 – Christian Eslick (44-0) Roland-Story, Jr.

152 – Gabe Sanders (21-0) Vinton-Shellsburg, Sr.

182 – CJ Walrath (51-0) West Burlington Notre Dame, Jr.

195 – Wyatt Voelker (40-0) West Delaware, Sr.

First Round Match to Watch

Solon senior Tyler Hancox had to battle back from losses at both the sectional and district meets to make his state meet debut.

Hancox (23-14) will have his hands full in his 220-pound opener on Thursday but could provide a huge boost to his hopes of hanging around for the entire weekend with an upset of third-ranked Aiden Morgan (29-4) of Davenport Assumption.

Morgan is a tough customer with his three in-state losses coming to fifth-ranked Mitchell Howard of Central DeWitt, 3A second-ranked 195-pounder Bradley Hill of Bettendorf and 1A third-ranked Jared Thiry of Don Bosco.

Who to Watch

Solon senior Gage Marty is picked the right time to be doing the best wrestling of his career.

The top-ranked 285-pound in Class 2A, Marty has won 14 consecutive matches entering the state meet with nine pins and a tech fall in that stretch.

Already a two-time state medalist, Marty is looking to finish his career with four more wins and a state title.

The lone two losses this season for Marty have each come to top-ranked wrestlers in Mount Vernon 220-pounder Clark Younggreen and Class 3A top-ranked 285-pounder Jake Walker of Waverly-Shell Rock.

During his current 14-match winning streak Marty has a win over second-ranked Easton Fleshman of West Lyon who enters as the No. 2 seed.

Top-seeded Marty could face No. 10 Skyler Young (32-6) of Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont in the quarterfinals and has a potential semifinal matchup with fourth-ranked Ethan Hooyer (40-7) of Sioux Center.

Weight Class to Watch

With a trio of unbeaten wrestlers that includes a pair of returning state champions the 2A 120-pound bracket will be one to watch from Thursday morning to Saturday night’s finals.

Two-time defending champion Camron Phetxoumphone (38-0) is top-ranked and the top seed with good reason.

Phetxoumphone won 2A titles 106 pounds and 113 pounds the past two seasons and is a combined 115-1 over the past three seasons.

He will have competition this weekend.

Defending 1A state champion Kale Petersen (9-0) of Greene County is unbeaten as is third-ranked Columbus senior Lane Scorpil (42-0) who was third a year ago at 113 pounds.

The Teams

District Champions (State Qualifiers)

Winterset (6); Atlantic (6); Albia (7); West Delaware (9); Union (6); Sergeant Bluff-Luton (8); Osage (7); West Burlington/Notre Dame (9)

2021 Top-5 Team Finishers – 1. West Delaware 150; 2. Osage 96; 3. Independence 81; 4. Crestwood 79; 5. Centerville 51.5

Last 5 Team Champs

2021 – West Delaware

2020 – Osage

2019 – West Delaware

2018 – Dubuque Wahlert

2017 – Solon

What to Watch in the Team Race

Another defending state champion looking to repeat, West Delaware is seeking a third class 2A title in the past three seasons.

The Hawks won 2A last season with 150 points, 44 more than runner-up Osage and the most for a 2A champion since the West Delaware scored 151 in 2013.

Led by top-ranked seniors Jadyn Peyton (160) and Wyatt Voelker (195) West Delaware is attempting the first back-to-back champion in Class 2A since Ballard won consecutive crowns in 2008 and 2009.

The top challengers for West Delaware will likely be second-ranked West Burlington/Notre Dame and third-ranked Osage.

West Burlington/Notre Dame matched West Delaware with nine state qualifiers and has two top-ranked wrestlers in Blaine Frazier at 132 pounds and unbeaten CJ Walrath at 182.

2020 champion Osage and last year’s runner-up Osage has seven qualifiers and figures to be in the mix for hardware again.

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