Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – For more than a decade the Udell name has been synonymous with Regina wrestling.

Brothers Cullen, Aiden and Rowan Udell were all state qualifiers for Regina with Aiden and Rowan earning state medals with top-five finishes in a Regina singlet.

There was a time Ian Udell wasn’t sure he would ever add to the Udell family wrestling legacy.

The youngest Udell wrestled in seventh grade but didn’t enjoy it so he walked away from the sport.

Last season as a sophomore Ian Udell returned to wrestling.

On Wednesday he joined his brothers in winning a match at the state meet.

“It feels wonderful,” Udell said. “I only started wrestling when I was a sophomore so to be able to make it to state the very next year is amazing for me.”

Udell made a pair of first-period take downs stand in a 5-3 win over Dyersville Beckman senior Ryan Funke in a Class 1A 182-pound second-round match at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Fifth-seeded Udell (33-11) will face fourth-seed Kolby Scott (43-1) of MVAOCOU in the quarterfinals on Thursday and is one win away from joining his older brothers as a state medalist in his first season back on the mat.

“It really was him having to fall back in love with the sport,” Regina coach Zach Ries said. “It was kind of a forced relationship at first and he took a pause and I respect his family for letting him do that and respecting his wishes and he has come back with a new hunger and he wants to beat all of his brothers.”

Udell had a solid 19-16 season in his return to the sport last winter.

This year Udell has come into his own as a wrestler.

Udell lost to Funke (35-11) 9-4 in the semifinals of the Cascade Tournament on January 14, his second loss of the week to Funke who won a 10-2 major decision over Udell in a Dual on January 10.

Since that loss Udell has won nine of 11 matches with a pair of wins over Funke after his 5-3 state meet victory on Wednesday.

“It felt great, I’ve lost to that kid two times before, I pinned him at conference so I knew I just had to do the same thing,” Udell said. “We respect each other, he has beaten me twice and I’ve beaten him twice, he is very talented at wrestling.”

The late-season success for Udell is no surprise to Ries who has watched him improve since his return to the Regina wrestling room last season.

“He just takes a little bit of coaching, he has the physicality he has the mentality,” Ries said. “We just fixed a little technique stuff a little rust he had from that year off and he’s picked it back up and keeps improving on it.”

Udell can join his older brothers as a state medalist this week but that isn’t what brough him back to wrestling.

It was his teammates and the bond her shares with them that made Udell want to wrestle again.

“It was just the overwhelming positive reinforcement after every time I wrestled if I won or lost,” Udell said. “I just love the bond that wrestlers make with each other.”

Class 1A State Meet

At Wells Fargo Arena Des Moines

Team scores (Top 20 area teams) – 1. Don Bosco 55; 2. Wilton 43; 3. Nashua-Plainfield 38; 4. Alburnett 36; 5. Lisbon 30; 6. Emmetsburg 26; 6. Logan-Magnolia 26; 8. Wapsie Valley 25; 9. Underwood 23; 11. Waterloo Columbus 22; 12. Interstate 35; 13. MFL Mar-Mac 17; 14. Sigourney-Keota 16; 14. Wet Hancock 16; 16. Westwood 14; 17. Hinton 13.5; 17. Lake Mills 13.5; 17. New London 13.5; 20. Ogden 13; 21. West Branch 12; 61. Regina 4

Opening Round (Area athletes)

113 – Cole Frost (Don Bosco) pinned Timmy Hosier (West Branch) :41

120 – Lincoln Edwards (West Branch) dec. Bradyn Burns (East Sac County) 5-2

126 – Keagan Riley (Sioux Central) dec. Cash Hatfield (Regina) 4-2

132 – Logan Christoffel (West Branch) dec. Kai Carritt (Logan-Magnolia) 4-3

145 – Cale Seydel (West Branch) dec. Cody Cox (Lake Mills) 6-2

145 – Gunnar Keeney (Alburnett) dec. Will Aitchison (Regina) 9-6

195 – Corbin Hill (Denver) pinned Christopher Waikel (Regina) 3:51

Second Round (Area athletes)

120 – Dawson Bergan (Edgewood-Colesburg) dec Lincoln Edwards 2-0

132 – Tanner Arjes (North Butler) tech fall Logan Christoffel 17-0

145 – Keaton Moeller (Starmont) pinned Cale Seydel :43

152 – Cooper Gates (West Branch) pinned Blaise Beane (West Central Valley) 5:04

182 – Ian Udell (Regina) dec. Ryan Funke (Dyersville Beckman) 5-3

220 – Henry Lund (AHSTW) pinned Logan Wright 3:59

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