Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

The Class 2A state tournament begins on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena and four area athletes will be competing in the 2A field.

Solon qualified four wrestlers in 2A, including a trio of first-time state qualifiers in freshman Hunter Campion, junior Kyler Jessup and senior Braydon Hoffman.

Before the wrestling gets going on Wednesday here is a quick look at the Class 2A field with a focus on Your Prep Sports area athletes.

The Wrestlers

Area qualifiers/Opening round opponents

106 – Hunter Campion (16-20) Fr., Solon vs. Jayce Curry (39-10) Fr., Sergeant Bluff-Luton

120 – Kyler Jessup (23-22) Jr. Solon vs. Shane Hanford (20-1) Soph., West Marshall

132 – Jordan Schmidt (30-9) Soph., Solon vs. Gabe Johnson (36-11) Jr., Southwest Iowa

195 – Braydon Hoffman (36-18) Sr., Solon vs. Terry Bordenave (26-6) Sr., Mid-Prairie

Undefeated wrestlers

113 – Jace Hedeman (44-0) Soph., Union

113 – Kaden Weber (27-0) Jr., Nevada

132 – Kale Petersen (38-0) Sr., Greene County

138 – McKinley Robbins (44-0) Sr., Greene County

145 – Tucker Stangel (36-0) Jr., Osage

145 – Kale Hansen (50-0) Sr., Monticello

152 – Isaiah Fenton (35-0) Sr., Burlington Notre Dame

160 – Jack Wajda (12-0) Sr., Spirit Lake Park

170 – Kellen Moore (41-0) Sr., Forest City

170 – Ethan DeLeon (41-0) Sr., Sioux City Heelan

182 – CJ Walrath (52-0) Sr., Burlington Notre Dame

182 – Jarrett Roos (40-0) Jr., Sheldon/South O’Brien

195 – KJ Fry (38-0) Sr., Clarke

220 – Nick Reinicke (41-0) Sr., Dike-New Hartford

Returning State Champions

Current Weight Class, Wrestler, School, 2022 Championship Weight Class

113 – Jace Hedeman, Soph., Union, 106

132 – Kale Petersen, Sr., Greene County, 120

170 – Nicholas Fox, Sr., Osage, 160

182 – CJ Walrath, Sr., Burlington Notre Dame, 182

220 – Barrett Muller, Sr., Osage, 220

First Round Match to Watch

Solon senior 195-pounder Braydon Hoffman (36-18) has picked the perfect time to be doing the best wrestling of his career.

Hoffman has won 13 of his last 16 matches entering the state meet after a 4-1 district performance in which he rattled of three consecutive consolation wins to secure a spot at state.

All three of the losses for Hoffman during his recent strong stretch are to 2A state qualifiers including losses to top-six seeds Will Ward of West Delaware and Gavin Bridgewater of South Tama County.

Hoffman started the season at 220 pounds and is 24-11 since dropping to 195 in January with nine losses to state qualifiers.

Hoffman will make his state meet debut on Wednesday against Mid-Prairie senior Terry Bordenave (26-6).

With an opening-round win Hoffman would get a rematch with top-seeded Bridgewater (35-1) of South Tama.

Wrestler to Watch

Solon sophomore Jordan Schmidt returns to the state meet for the second consecutive season, an older, smarter and better wrestler than a year ago when he lost both matches in his state meet debut.

Schmidt (30-9) has won 13 of his last 17 matches entering the state meet with all four of those losses coming to 132-pound 2A state qualifiers.

The more Schmidt wrestles the better he seems to get.

He lost a 1-0 decision to fourth-seed Bo Koedam (43-6) of Sergeant Bluff-Luton in January and dropped to 4-3 decision to sixth-seeded Royce Butt (32-5) of Central DeWitt in the district title match.

Schmidt faces Southwest Iowa junior Gabe Johnson (36-11) in the 132-pound opening round with the winner advancing to take on fifth-seed Nick Koch (33-3) of North Fayette Valley.

Weight Class to Watch

How good should the title chase at 170 pounds in Class 2A?

The top four seeds at 170 pounds are a defending champ, a pair of unbeaten 41-0 wrestlers and last year’s fifth-place finisher.

The conversation starts with Osage senior and top-seed Nicholas Fox (45-2) who’s lone in-state loss this season came to 1A top-seed Maximus Magayna of Waterloo Columbus.

There is no shortage of challengers including last year’s 170-pound runner-up Ethan DeLeon (41-0) of Sioux City Heelan who joins third-seeded Kellen Moore (41-0) of Forest City as the lone two unbeatens in the bracket.

Toss in West Liberty senior Drake Collins (44-4) who was fifth at 170 a year ago, fifth-seeded Anamosa sophomore Austin Scranton (45-2) and Mount Vernon senior Henry Ryan (42-3) and this bracket will be a battle for every spot on the podium.

The Teams

Regional Champions (State Qualifiers)

Creston (8); Ballard (7); Crestwood (7); Algona (7); Atlantic (7); Mount Vernon (9); Osage (10); Sergeant Bluff-Luton (9); Davenport Assumption (8); Webster City (5); West Delaware (10); Williamsburg (7)

2022 Top-5 Team Finishers – 1. Burlington Notre Dame 109; 2. Osage 108.5; 3. West Delaware 80.5; 4. Sergeant Bluff-Luton 79; 5. Vinton-Shellsburg 75

Last 5 Team Champs

2022 – Burlington Notre Dame

2021 – West Delaware

2020 – Osage

2019 – West Delaware

2018 – Dubuque Wahlert

What to Watch in the Team Race

At a tournament where the Class 3A and Class 1A races have been dominated by the same teams for the better part of the last decade Class 2A has featured plenty of parity at the top in recent years.

Not have multiple teams competed for titles in 2A but many of those team races have been razor tight and come down to the final session.

Last season Burlington Notre Dame edged Osage by half a point, West Delaware ran away with the 2A title in 2021 but Osage won with 85 points in 2020 and the Hawks needed just 76.5 to reign in another balanced field in 2019.

Top-ranked Osage enters this season as the clear cut favorite with nine ranked wrestlers and a 2A-best matching 10 qualifiers but there is a long list of teams capable of competing for hardware.

Defending champion Burlington Notre Dame is among those teams chasing Osage which should notch a fourth consecutive top-two finish.

WAMAC heavyweights West Delaware and Mount Vernon both won district titles and are sending 10 and nine wrestlers to state respectively and seventh-ranked Sergeant Bluff-Luton has nine qualifiers.

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