Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – City High head coach Cory Connell isn’t much for joking around. Especially at the state tournament.

The normally straight-faced Connell had his usual stoic reaction when asked about the Little Hawk’s three-for-three performance in the Class 3A state quarterfinals on Friday morning at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

“Not bad,” Connell said. “Above average.”
The response was Connell was tongue in cheek of course, followed by a wry grin.

City High was much better than average on Friday morning.

Cale Seaton, Kael Kurtz and Ben Kueter all posted bonus-point wins as City High jumped to ninth in the 3A team standings.

Third-ranked Cale Seaton (40-2) advance to the 120-pound semifinals with a 20-5 tech fall of seventh-ranked Nate Bierma (36-9) of West Des Moines Valley.

Seaton defeated Bierma 15-11 at the state tournament last season on his way to a third-place finish at 113 pounds.

On Friday Seaton recorded four of his five takedowns against Bierma in the opening period and led 11-3 after two minutes.

“Lights out,” Connell said of Seaton. “Last year he beat that kid by three or four points and it was an ugly match. We won it but it wasn’t pretty. He looked good. He looks as good as he’s ever looked.”

Seaton will face second-ranked Trever Anderson (34-1) of Ankeny for the third time this season in the semifinals on Friday night.

The defending champion at 120 pounds, Anderson won decisions of 7-2 and 3-2 over Seaton during the regular season.

“He’s looking forward to it, he welcomes a challenge, he loves that he gets to wrestle those guys,” Connell said. “Obviously it’s a tough match but lets go out and have some fun.”

Sophomore Kael Kurtz (37-4) will make his first semifinal appearance after a 13-4 major decision over fifth-ranked Ben Hansen of Ankeny in the 126-pound quarterfinals.

The win avenged an 8-2 loss to Hansen earlier in the season for Kurtz and sends him into a semifinal matchup with top-ranked Nate Jesuroga (41-1) of Southeast Polk.

“When he wrestled him earlier in the year he had just come off having the flu and he wasn’t 100 percent,” Connell said. “We probably shouldn’t have had him wrestle at that tournament but maybe that drove him. That might have driven him to get better and he’s gotten a lot better since then.”

Kueter (35-0) advanced with a 19-3 second-period tech fall of tenth-ranked Colten Teem of Urbandale.

Kueter has outscored opponents 39-8 and collected 12 takedowns in a pair of tech fall wins at the state tournament.

“My biggest thing is just letting it fly in matches,” Kueter said. “I’m not worried about what the score is or what’s going on I’m just worried about wrestling and performing and the rest will take care of itself.

Top-ranked Kueter will face No. 6 Hunter Blomgren of Norwalk in a 220-pound semifinal on Friday evening.

“Wrestling is fun, it’s exciting,” Kueter said. “I enjoy wrestling so if I get two matches today that’s even better. More wrestling.”

West High Hitting Stride at State Again

West High has made a habit of peaking at state tournament over the last two plus decades.

The Trojans appear to be wrestling their best on the final weekend of the year once again.

West High pushed two wrestlers into the semifinals on Friday morning with senior defending state champions Robert Avila (145) and Hunter Garvin (152) each advancing.

“I think it’s just a mindset,” West High coach Nate Moore said. “At the end of the year you switch your mind a little bit. We like to come down here and stay relaxed it’s not like we are doing anything different it’s just guys feeling good mentally and feeling good physically and being relaxed and having fun.”

Second-ranked Avila (13-1) advanced to the semifinals at 145 pounds with a 7-5 decision over sixth-ranked Linn-Mar sophomore Grant Kress.

A three-time state champion, Avila will face third-ranked defending state champion Dustin Bohren (35-5) of Bettendorf in the semifinals.

Top-ranked Garvin matched Avila by returning to the semifinals for the fourth time with a 13-4 major decision over eighth-ranked Brennan Amos of Newton in a 152-pound quarterfinal.
Garvin (46-0) will face fifth-ranked Peyton Westlin (33-5) of North Scott in the semifinals.

“We ease up the last few weeks and are more relaxed and more fine- tuned and it’s just the state tournament,” Moore said. “We try to engrain in their heads to just go out and wrestle, it’s just a wrestling match.”

Class 3A State Wrestling Tournament

At Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines

Quarterfinals (Area wrestlers)

120 – Cale Seaton (City High) tech. fall Nate Bierma (West Des Moines Valley) 20-5

126 – Kael Kurtz (City High) major dec. Ben Hansen (Ankeny) 13-4

138 – Chase Fiser (Bondurant-Farrar) dec. Grant O’Dell (West High) 1-0

145 – Robert Avila (West High) dec. Grant Kress (Linn-Mar) 7-5

152 – Hunter Garvin (West High) major dec. Brennan Amos (Newton) 13-4

160 – Aiden Riggins (Waverly-Shell Rock) tech. fall Kael Scranton (West High) 16-0

220 – Ben Kueter (City High) tech. fall Colten Teem (Urbandale) 19-3

Friday’s Semifinal matches

120 – No. 3 Cale Seaton (40-2), Soph., City High vs. No. 2 Trever Anderson (34-1), Sr., Ankeny

126 – No. 7 Kael Kurtz (37-4), Soph., City High vs. No. 1 Nate Jesuroga (41-1), Jr., Southeast Polk

145 – No. 2 Robert Avila (13-1), Sr., West High vs. No. 3 Dustin Bohren (35-5), Sr., Bettendorf

152 – No. 1 Hunter Garvin (46-0), Sr., West High vs. No. 5 Peyton Westlin (33-5), Sr., North Scott

220 – No. 1 Ben Kueter (35-0), Jr., City High vs. No. 6 Hunter Blomgren (17-4), Sr., Norwalk

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