Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – A 27-16 season that concluded with 1-2 performance at the state meet wasn’t exactly the sophomore season that Kyler Scranton wanted.

“I didn’t want to feel like I did last year,” Scranton explained on Wednesday at the state meet.

Though it came with a disappointing finish last season may have been exactly what Scranton needed.

After not seeing much varsity action as a freshman Scranton used his sophomore season as a learning experience.

The reward for last season’s lessons came on Wednesday as Scranton edged Waukee Northwest senior Logan Stotts 8-6 in sudden victory in a 152-pound second-round thriller at the Class 3A state wrestling meet at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

“Last year it was pretty tough,” Scranton said. “I was pretty inexperienced and I was still using eighth grade techniques that don’t work in high school since I didn’t really wrestle varsity freshman year and it’s been a lot of progress since last year.”

Scranton has come a long way over the past year.

It showed on Wednesday as he secured a late takedown on the edge of the mat to advance to the quarterfinals in what appears to be a wide-open 152-pound bracket.

Fifth-seeded Scranton (35-11) will face fourth-seeded Elijah Mendoza (31-9) of Bettendorf on Thursday.

“I knew at 152 it’s a toss up for placers right now I was lucky to get the five seed somehow, I had a good match at districts that got me there,” Scranton said. “That was a tough one, I knew it was going to be tough, I’ve seen that kid wrestle before and knew he was good.”

Scranton went 1-2 in his state meet debut last season at 132 pounds, in a lineup that featured placewinners at 138, 145, 152, 160 and 170.

“It was really a building year,” Scranton said. “I had some really good partners by my side that were really inspiring that made me want to do it.”

Scranton opened the season at 170 pounds but made the move down to 152 in early January.

He brings a six-match winning streak into the quarterfinals on Thursday after avenging an earlier loss to Jack Miller of Pleasant Valley in the district title match last week.

Scranton is one of three quarterfinalist for West High, joining second-ranked freshman 106-pound Alexander Pierce and sophomore 145-pounder Justin Avila in the quarters.

Pierce (39-2) was dominant in his state meet debut on Wednesday recording nine takedowns in a 22-7 third-period tech fall of No. 11 Kendal Kurtz of City High.

“It was a good way to start and to get ready for some closer matches,” Pierce said. “It was a good to get the feel out there on the big stage.”

Pierce built an 8-3 lead in the opening quarter against Kurtz while advancing to take on No. 7 seed Dylan Munson (39-7) of Cedar Rapids Prairie in the quarterfinals.

“I just wanted to be dominant this tournament,” Pierce said. “It’s one score at a time and once I get one I get another one and another one. It’s nothing to stress about just have fun out there.”

The lone returning medalist for West High finishing fourth at 170 pounds last season, Avila advanced to the quarterfinals with a first-period pin of Aydan Cary of North Scott.

Avila (39-7) pinned Cary in 36 seconds to improve to 5-2 in state meet matches and will face fifth-seed Lucas Bruhl (41-2) of Ankeny Centennial in the quarterfinals.

Class 3A State Meet

At Wells Fargo Arena Des Moines

Team scores (Top 20 area teams) – 1. Waverly-Shell Rock 55.5; 2. Southeast Polk 54; 3. Bettendorf 43.5; 4. Carlisle 40; 5. Ankeny 39.5; 6. Linn-Mar 39; 7. Ankeny Centennial 36; 8. Johnston 33; 8. Waukee Northwest 33; 10. Cedar Rapids Prairie 32.5; 11. North Scott 30; 12. Dubuque Hempstead 29; 12. City High 29; 14. Fort Dodge 28; 15. Pleasant Valley 27; 16. Bondurant-Farrar 21.5; 17. Norwalk 19; 18. Dallas Center-Grimes 18.5; 19. Ames 18; 20. West Des Moines Valley 17.5; 25. West High 15.5; 31. Clear Creek Amana 11; 40. Liberty High 4

Opening Round (Area athletes)

106 – Kendall Kurtz (City High) pinned Brennan Geers (Cedar Rapids Washington) 5:17

113 – Cody Vandermark (Ankeny Centennial) pinned Chris Davis (City High) 5:23

113 – Cale Nash (Clear Creek Amana) major dec. Shandrel Thompson (Johnston) 18-5

120 – JJ Maihan (Ankeny) tech. fall Jose Mendieta (Clear Creek Amana) 18-3

126 – Nolan Howell (Clear Creek Amana) dec. Kane Shimp (Cedar Falls) 10-4

132 – Cael Wiener (Ankeny Centennial) pinned Jay Halverson (Clear Creek Amana) 3:34

132 – Henry Bagby (Urbandale) pinned Braden Doyle (West High) 5:31

132 – Logan Gard (Dallas Center-Grimes) major dec. Tien Pham (Liberty High) 8-0

138 – Jake Mitchell (City High) dec. Levi Johnson (Spencer) 5-1

145 – Casey Kelley (Cedar Rapids Prairie) dec. Beck Arant (Clear Creek Amana) 6-4

145 – Nolan Riddle (Fort Madison) pinned Zach Fern (City High) 5:27

152 – Ethan Bibler (Waverly-Shell Rock) pinned Landon Bell (Liberty High) 1:17

160 – Hayden Lucas (Carlisle) pinned Ryan Ott (City High) 2:25

170 – Braylon Kammrad (Council Bluffs Lewis Central) major dec. Gavin Benton (Liberty High) 12-1

170 – Kaia Fox (Johnston) major dec. Benjamin Haughey (Clear Creek Amana) 12-3

182 – Kaden Phan (Clear Creek Amana) dec. Wyatt Weter (Newton) 13-7

195 – Ethan Williams (Clear Creek Amana) pinned Derek Hoerner (Western Dubuque) 3:34

195 – Vincenzo Lima (Liberty High) pinned Harrison Tripp (Norwalk) 4:00

Second Round (Area athletes)

106 – Alexander Pierce (West High) tech fall Kendall Kurtz (City High) 22-7

113 – Dru Ayala (Fort Dodge) pinned Cale Nash (Clear Creek Amana) 5:07

126 – Cale Seaton (City High) major dec. Landon Reisen (Dubuque Hempstead) 13-1

126 – Cody Trevino (Bettendorf) dec. Nolan Howell (Clear Creek Amana) 11-5

132 – Kael Kurtz (City High) pinned Henry Bagby (Urbandale) 1:13

138 – Koy Davidson (Fort Dodge) dec. Jake Mitchell (City High) 7-2

145 – Justin Avila (West High) pinned Aydan Cary (North Scott) :36

152 – Kyler Scranton (West High) dec. Logan Stotts (Waukee Northwest) 8-6 SV-1

182 – Gabe Arnold (City High) pinned Kaden Phan (Clear Creek Amana) :44

195 – Dreshaun Ross (Fort Dodge) pinned Ethan Williams (Clear Creek Amana) :52

195 – McCrae Hagarty (Waverly-Shell Rock) pinned Vinny Lima (Liberty High) 3:04

220 – Ben Kueter (City High) pinned Griffin Schultz (Linn-Mar) :14

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