Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – Kael Kurtz learned plenty on his way to a seventh-place finish in his debut performance at the Class 3A state wrestling meet last season.

Lesson 1 for the City High sophomore – how to chill.

“One big thing I learned is to not worry about my matches and just taking it one at a time,” Kurtz said. “I’m a lot more chill. I’m just chilling out instead of freaking out.”

A more chill Kurtz was still plenty impressive on Thursday.

Seventh-ranked Kurtz (36-4) advanced to the 3A quarterfinals for the second year in a row with a second-period pin of Norwalk senior Trent Harper in a 126-pound opener at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

“Last year I was excited, I was trying to watch all the matches and I was worrying too much,” Kurtz said. “This year I’m just more relaxed.”

Kurtz isn’t the only wrestler to get a little excited during their state debut.

City High head coach Cory Connell remembers the feeling of stepping on the state mat for the first time.

“Everybody does that the first time they wrestle in this arena,” Connell said. “A lot of these guys have wrestled in this arena a lot in AAU state or through grade school but it’s a little different when you get to high school. I try to get them to treat it like another match but it’s the state tournament. I know the first time I wrestled in Vets Memorial it was special.”

Connell saw that same anxious energy from Kurtz last season.

That’s no longer the case for Kurtz or classmate Cale Seaton who also advanced to the 3A quarters for the second consecutive season with an opening-round pin.

Seaton (39-2) pinned West High freshman Sterling Warren in 1:42 in his opener at 120 pounds to join Kurtz and top-ranked junior Ben Kueter in the 3A quarterfinals that open on Friday at 9 a.m.

“You can definitely tell that those two are a lot more relaxed this year,” Connell said. “They’ve been here, they’ve done it and now it’s time to take care of business.”
Kurtz, Seaton and Kueter were all impressive in openers on Thursday.

Seaton had six takedowns before pinning Warren with 18 seconds left in the opening period.

Kurtz had three takedowns and added a three-point nearfall before pinning Harper 63 seconds into the second period.

“Every match starts out 0-0 so even if I am favored on paper it may down hill in a hurry,” Kurtz said. “You have to be ready for every match.”

Kueter (34-0) kept his career record perfect with a 20-5, second-period tech fall of Griffin Schultz of Linn-Mar at 220 pounds.

Top-ranked Kueter collected seven takedowns and tacked on five nearfall points before ending the match 31 seconds into the second period.

Already a two-time state champion, Kueter has learned along the way just like his younger teammates.

“I’ve learned just to focus on my next match,” Kueter said. “Obviously you see the bracket a week in advance and you kind of think about things, who you might have later, but you have to take it one match at a time and whatever happens, happens. I’m not looking too far down the road I’m just focused on the next match.”

City High sends four wrestlers into day two as junior 145-pounder Ryan Ott remained alive with a 6-5 decision over Kelton Youngberg of Davenport West in the consolation round.

Class 3A State Wrestling Tournament

At Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines

Team scores (Top 10; area teams) – 1. Southeast Polk 36.5; 2. Waukee Northwest 32; 3. Waverly-Shell Rock 32; 4. Bettendorf 24.5; 5. North Scott 22; 7. West High 19; 13. City High 12.5

Opening round (Area wrestlers)

106 – Carter Pearson (Southeast Polk) pinned Cale Nash (Clear Creek Amana) :32

113 – Steele Diercks (Bettendorf) pinned Braden Doyle (Wet High) 3:50

120 – Cale Seaton (City High) pinned Sterling Warren (West High) 1:42

126 – Kael Kurtz (City High) pinned Trent Harper (Norwalk) 3:03

132 – Donovan Card (Norwalk) dec. Kyler Scranton (West High) 5-4

138 – Grant O’Dell (West High) pinned Jake Mitchell (City High) 4:50

145 – Robert Avila (West High) pinned Kelton Youngberg (Davenport West) 1:32

145 – Grant Kress (Linn-Mar) dec. Ryan Ott (City High) 11-8

152 – Hunter Garvin (West High) pinned Isaac Vollmecke (Waukee Northwest) :58

160 – Kael Scranton (West High) dec. Gabe Carver (Urbandale) 5-3

160 – Jackson Helmkamp (Ankeny Centennial) maj. dec. Elijah Terwilleger (Liberty High) 13-1

170 – Caden McDermott (Pleasant Valley) dec. Justin Avila (West High) 6-4

220 – Ben Kueter (City High) tech. fall Griffin Schultz (Linn-Mar) 20-5

First round consolation

106 – Malik DeBow (Linn-Mar) dec. Cale Nash (Clear Creek Amana) 8-7

113 – Braden Doyle (West High) dec. Jeffrey West (Davenport North) 3-2 TB-1

120 – John King (West Des Moines Dowling) maj. dec. Sterling Warren (West High) 12-4

132 – Kyler Scranton (West High) maj. dec. Cael Straley (North Scott) 13-0

138 – Logan Stotts (Waukee Northwest) dec. Jake Mitchell (City High) 1-0

145 – Ryan Ott (City High) dec. Kelton Youngberg (Davenport West) 6-5

160 – Josiah Schaetzle (Dubuque Hempstead) dec. Elijah Terwilleger (Liberty High) 11-4

170 – Justin Avila (West High) maj. dec. Dylan Pestotnik (Boone) 14-4

Friday’s Quarterfinal Matches

120 – No. 3 Cale Seaton (39-2), Soph., City High vs. No. 7 Nate Bierma (35-8) Jr., West Des Moines Valley

126 – No. 7 Kael Kurtz (36-4) Soph., City High vs. No. 5 Ben Hansen (29-7), Soph., Ankeny

138 – No. 7 Grant O’Dell (40-5) Sr., West High vs. No. 3 Chase Fiser (37-4) Sr., Bondurant-Farrar

145 – No. 2 Robert Avila Jr. (12-1) Sr., West High vs. No. 6 Grant Kress (34-4), Soph., Linn-Mar

152 – No. 1 Hunter Garvin (45-0), Sr., West High vs. No. 8 Brennan Amos (16-1), Sr., Newton

160 – Kael Scranton (28-11), Sr., West High vs. No. 1 Aiden Riggins (40-0), Sr., Waverly-Shell Rock

220 – No. 1 Ben Kueter (34-0), Jr., City High vs. No. 10 Colton Teem (36-5), Sr., Urbandale

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