Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – After two days brackets that started with 24 wrestlers are down to four.

Semifinal rounds are scheduled for all three classes throughout the day on Friday with five Your Prep Sports area athletes earning spots in the semifinals.

All five area semifinalists are in Class 3A which gets underway to 6 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Before the matches begin on Friday evening we take a look at the five semifinals feature area wrestlers.

Alexander Pierce (West High) vs. Cale Vandermark (Ankeny Centennial)

A couple of standout freshman square off for a spot in the Saturday night spotlight in a 106-pound semifinal.

Pierce has been perfect in 2023 with his last loss, and only loss to in-state competition, coming to top-ranked Carter Pearson of Southeast Polk on December 17.

The 23-match win streak for Pierce includes a 9-4 win over Vandermark back on January 7 in Iowa City.

Pierce (40-2) advanced to the finals with a pair of wins over familiar foes, a tech fall of No. 11 ranked City High sophomore Kendall Kurtz and a 10-8 quarterfinal win over seventh-seeded Cedar Rapids Prairie sophomore Dylan Munson.

Vandermark (42-6) has wrestled his best at the right time, avenging a 3-2 loss to third-ranked Mitchell Pins with a 6-4 win over the Dubuque Hempstead sophomore in sudden victory in the quarterfinals.

The only other losses to 3A competition this season for sixth-seeded Vandermark came to semifinalist Tyler Harper of Norwalk and 113-pound qualifier Aiden Serrano of Carlisle.

Cale Seaton (City High) vs. Ayden Golden (North Scott)

Seaton has been among the best stories at the state meet this week as the junior has battled back from an injury that sidelined him for more than two weeks to reach the semifinals for the second consecutive season.

A two-time third-place finisher, Seaton (35-4) is seeking his first trip to the state title match.

Top-ranked Seaton advanced to the semifinals with a pair of impressive wins, downing LandoN Reisen of Dubuque Hempstead 13-1 in the opening round and posting a 5-2 win over Jashua Anglo of Johnston in the quarterfinals.

The No. 12 seed, Golden (31-19) is one of only four double digit seeds to reach the semifinals and has been of the Cinderellas of the 3A field.

Golden pinned Dayne Rew of Urbandale in the opening round before back-to-back upsets of fifth-seeded Kane Butrick of Fort Dodge and fourth-seed Nate Bierma of West Des Moines.

The 13-7 win for Golden over Bierma avenged a 40-second pin by Bierma over Golden back on December 3.

Kael Kurtz (City High) vs. Carter Freeman (Waukee Northwest)

Another City High junior seeking his first career title match appearance, Kurtz is part of an exciting set of semifinal matches in a loaded 132-pound bracket.

A two-time medalist that was fourth at 126 pounds a year ago, Kurtz (36-5) has been dominant in a pair of state meet wins including a 7-1 decision over No. 13 Seed Tyer Lee of Cedar Rapids Prairie in the quarterfinals.

All four losses to in-state competition for Kurtz this season have come to 132-pound semifinalists in Freeman, Bettendorf junior Jayce Luna and Linn-Mar senior Brayden Parke.

Freeman won the regular season meeting with Kurtz 3-1 in the finals of the J-Hawk Invite on January 14.

Already a two-time champ, Freeman won titles at 106 pounds as a freshman and 120 pounds a year ago and is 104-4 in his career.

Three of those losses for Freeman (30-3) have come this season including a loss to Luna and to 1A 132-pound finalist Gable Porter of Underwood.

Top-seeded Freeman won a 10-3 decision over No. 8 Duncan Harn of Pleasant Valley in the quarterfinals.

Gabe Arnold (City High) vs. Chase Hutchinson (West Des Moines Valley)

Arnold is new to the Iowa state tournament but the transfer from Wyoming Seminary isn’t new to winning and has continue that trend in his only season in a City High singlet.

The Iowa recruit has continued a dominant season with a pair of impressive wins at the state meet to reach the 182-pound semifinals.

Arnold (39-0) won by fall in 44 seconds in the second round and needed 4:25 to post a 21-6 tech fall of eighth-seeded Holden Hansen of Southeast Polk in the quarters.

Hutchinson (33-7) was eighth a year ago at 182 pounds and advanced to the semifinals with a 5-0 win over fifth-seed Logan Massey of Western Dubuque.

Ben Kueter (City High) vs. Ayden Hoag (LeMars)

Kueter is two wins away from becoming just the 32^nd four-time state champion in state history.

The dual sport Iowa recruit boasts a spotless 109-0 career record with 73 pins and hasn’t had a match at the state meet last into the third period since his sophomore season.

With consecutive pins in a 14 and 12 seconds in his first two state tournament matches this week Kueter (37-0) has now won four straight state-meet matches via first-period fall dating back to last season an has needed a total of two minutes and 54 seconds to record those four pins.

Fifth-seeded Ayden Hoag (43-1) advanced to the semifinals for the first time with 6-1 win over fourth-seeded Jaxson Hildebrand of Denison-Schleswig on Thursday.

Hoag brings a 26-match winning streak into the semifinals and has 18 pins in that stretch.

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