Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – Cale Seaton has been waiting a long time for a chance to wrestle for a state title.

It had been 364 days since an overtime loss kept Seaton out of the 3A title match last season.

The City High junior has been dreaming of his opportunity to compete in the Saturday night spotlight for a lot longer than a year.

“I’ve been thinking about that since kindergarten or first grade the first time I came to the state tournament,” Seaton said. “Looking down and seeing those three mats on Saturday night.”

After all that waiting Seaton will get his shot.

The top-seed at 126 pounds, Seaton secured his first state title appearance on Friday winning an emphatic 14-5 major decision over North Scott senior Ayden Golden in a 3A semifinal at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

“It’s a dream come true to be able to walk out there tomorrow night,” Seaton said.

Seaton (36-4) scored six takedowns, led 4-1 after the opening period and 8-3 after two periods in his semifinal win over 12^th-seeded Golden on Friday.

A two-time third-place finisher, Seaton will face third-seed Jabari Hinson (44-3) of Ames in the 3A title match on Saturday.

“I think it makes this moment of getting there even sweeter just because (the wait) was lengthened even longer than I wanted it to be,” Seaton said. “It just feels awesome to even just be in the position to wrestle tomorrow night.”

An injury in late January sidelined Seaton for the final two weeks of the regular season.

He won his first two matches in his return to the mat to reach the district final and qualify for state before forfeiting his final two matches.

In three matches at the state meet Seaton has been dominant.

Seaton has outscored opponents 32-8 in three state-meet wins, allowing points only on escapes.

“I would say it’s all positives, I haven’t felt this focused and locked into matches as I’ve been  this week,” Seaton said. “I haven’t felt out of position at all and I haven’t felt like there was any point I was going to give up a score. I’ve felt really locked in and really in control of every match I’ve wrestled.”

After going 9-2 in state meet matches in consecutive third-place finishes the past two seasons Seaton gets his long-awaited Saturday night match.

“I love watching him wrestle,” City High coach Cory Connell said. “I can’t believe the things he is able to do right now with watching what happened to him about a month ago. I am just so happy for him that he is able to go out there and wrestle and wrestle at the level he is. It’s just unreal.”

Class 3A State Meet

At Wells Fargo Arena Des Moines

Team scores (Top 20 area teams) – 1. Waverly-Shell Rock 152; 2. Linn-Mar 128; 3. Southeast Polk 112; 4. Bettendorf 111.5; 5. City High 101; 6. Fort Dodge 99.5; 7. Waukee Northwest 92; 8. Johnston 90.5; 9. Carlisle 82.5; 10. Ankeny 81.5; 11. Pleasant Valley 69; 12. Ankeny Centennial 66.5; 13. Norwalk 65; 14. Cedar Rapids Prairie 63; 15. Dubuque Hempstead 62.5; 16. North Scott 62; 17. Bondurant-Farrar 59.5; 18. Ames 57; 19. West Des Moines Valley 46.5; 20. Indianola 44; 23. West High 34.5; 32. Clear Creek Amana 20; 43. Liberty High 8

Semifinals (Area athletes only)

106 – Alexander Pierce (West High) dec. Cale Vandermark (Ankeny Centennial) 11-4

126 – Cale Seaton (City High) major dec. Ayden Golden (North Scott) 14-5

132 – Carter Freeman (Waukee Northwest) dec. Kael Kurtz (City High) 5-2

182 – Gabe Arnold (City High) pinned Chase Hutchinson (West Des Moines Valley) 3:23

220 – Ben Kueter (City High) pinned Ayden Hoag (LeMars) 1:53

Fourth Round Consolation  

113 – Aiden Serrano (Carlisle) dec. Cale Nash (Clear Creek Amana) 6-1

126 – John King (Waukee Northwest) pinned Nolan Howell (Clear Creek Amana) 4:41

138 – Isaac Bruhl (Ankeny Centennial) dec. Jake Mitchell (City High) 3-2

145 – Jordan Rial (Bondurant-Farrar) major dec. Justin Avila (West High) 11-2

152 – Kyler Scranton (West High) major dec. Jack Miller (Pleasant Valley) 11-2

195 – AJ Petersen (North Scott) pinned Vincenzo Lima (Liberty High) 4:28

Fifth Round consolation

152 – Logan Stotts (Waukee Northwest) dec. Kyler Scranton (West High) 10-3

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