Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – The first session of the 2024 state wrestling tournament is in the books.

Each bracket is down to eight unbeaten wrestlers and that number will be trimmed to four by the end of action on Thursday.

10 Your Prep Sports area wrestlers advanced to the quarterfinals which will be wrestled in three separate sessions on Thursday.

We take a quick look at all 10 quarterfinal matches featuring area wrestlers broken down by class.

Class 2A starts things off on Thursday at 9 a.m. with Class 3A following at 1:30 and Class 1A closing the second session at 6 p.m.

Here is a quick look at quarterfinal matchups for area wrestlers.

Thursday Quarterfinals

Class 2A

138 – No. 7 Jordan Schmidt (46-6) Jr., Solon vs. No. 5 Kaden Kremer (40-7) Sr., Independence

These two WAMAC Conference rivals meet for the third time this season with the reward the first career semifinal appearance for the winner.

Kremer won each of the first two meetings, 6-0 in a dual meet back on December 14 and 4-2 in sudden victory in the semifinals of WAMAC Conference tournament on January 27.

Schmidt is seeking to secure a second straight state medal after placing seventh at 132 last season.

Class 3A

113 – No. 1 Alexander Pierce (33-1) Soph., West High vs. No. 6 Mat Prine (32-9) Fr., Southeast Polk

Pierce became the third freshman champion in West High history last season winning the 106-pound title and is unbeaten against in-state competition this season with wins over four wrestlers ranked in the top 11 after a 41 second pin over No. 11 Kyler Simons of West Des Moines Dowling in the second round.

The ninth seed, Prince won back-to-back matches on Wednesday over Tayler Kibbee of Waverly-Shell Rock and tenth-ranked Lucas Stearns of Marion.

113 – Kendall Kurtz (30-10) Jr., City High vs. No. 7 Isaac Wignall (18-6) Fr., Ankeny

A pair of wrestlers that entered the tournament seeded outside of the top 10 meet for a spot in the semifinals on Thursday.

The No. 14 seed, Kurtz defeated Garrett Evans 1-0 and pinned third-seed Aiden Serrano of Carlisle in the second round.

Wignall entered as the 11 seed and defeated Max Panosh of Cedar Rapids Kennedy in the opening round and sixth-seeded Ashton Grace of Ottumwa in the second round.

132 – No. 1 Cale Seaton (31-1) Sr., City High vs. No. 5 John King (31-10) Sr., Waukee Northwest

Seaton is seeking a second straight state title after winning the 126-pound title a year ago and continued his dominance this season with a 22-7 tech fall of Carson Crigger of Waukee in the second round.

King finished eighth at 126 a year ago and won a 4-3 thriller in overtime over eighth-ranked Carter Schorsch of Council Bluffs Lewis Central to reach the quarterfinals.

138 – No. 3 Kael Kurtz (25-3) Sr., City High vs. No. 6 Wil Oberbroeckling (27-8) Soph., Southeast Polk

Already a three-time medalist Kurtz is seeking a third consecutive semifinal appearance after back-to-back fourth-place finishes the past two seasons.

Oberbroeckling was a state qualifier last season at 113 pounds and pinned Aidan Ehlinger of Linn-Mar in the second round.

Kurtz brings an 11-match winning streak into the quarterfinals, a streak that includes a 5-2 win over Oberbroeckling in a regional dual match on January 30.

150 – No. 4 Justin Avila (34-3) Jr., West High vs. No. 5 Logan Trenary (32-5) Jr., Southeast Polk

Two wrestlers that each finished fourth as freshman two seasons ago at weight classes 50 pounds apart will seek to get back on the medal stand this season after missing out on hardware a year ago.

Avila was fourth at 170 pounds as a freshman but missed a medal a year ago and has won 24 straight matches after a second-round pin of Clear Creek Amana senior Jack Stevens.

Trenary was fourth at 120 pounds two seasons ago and won an 8-1 decision over eighth-ranked Casey Kelly of Cedar Rapids Prairie in the second round on Wednesday.

157 – No. 1 Kael Voinovich (38-1) Sr., City High vs. No. 5 Isaac Bruhl (20-1) Jr., Ankeny Centennial

A transfer from Okalhoma, Voinovich is seeking to cap a stellar prep career with his first Iowa state title and pinned No. 12 Dominic Tigner of Norwalk in 3:06 on Wednesday to remain unbeaten this season against Iowa competition.

Bruhl finished seventh at 138 pounds last season and opened with a second-period pin of Teagen Peiffer of Ankeny.

215 – No. 3 Vincenzo Lima (30-2) Sr., Liberty High vs. No. 4 Griffin Schultz (31-3) Sr., Linn-Mar

A couple of multi-year qualifiers and Mississippi Valley Conference rivals meet with the winner securing his first career state medal.

Lima is making his second straight state tournament appearance after coming up one win shy of a medal a year ago.

Schultz is a three-time qualifier and advanced with a first-period pin of Kiernan Van Voorst of Pella.

The quarterfinal match is a rematch of the Mississippi Valley Conference final won 9-8 by Lima last month.

Class 1A

106 – No. 12 Ethan Humphrey (32-4) Fr., West Branch vs. No. 1 Hayden Schwab (35-0) Fr., Don Bosco

A couple of standout freshman meet in the 1A 106-pound quarterfinals after impressing early in their state meet debuts.

Humphrey won 7-1 decision over tenth-ranked Connor Morrow of Akron-Westfield to cap a 2-0 day on Wednesday.

Top-ranked Schwab won a 16-0 tech fall over seventh-ranked Kaiden Belinsky of Wapsie Valley in his second-round matchup.

285 – No. 5 Logan Wright (32-3) Sr., West Branch vs. No. 6 Gage Jorgenson (26-4) Sr., Emmetsburg

A pair of wrestlers making their third state meet appearance and each with eighth-place finishes already on their resume meet in what should be one of the best quarterfinals in 1A.

Wright was eighth at 220 pounds in 2022 and Jorgenson finished eight at 285 pounds last season.

Both wrestlers posted pins in their second-round matches on Wednesday.

Jorgenson pinned Jonah Reiling of Lisbon in 5:26 and Wright needed 5:16 to pin Cooper Marvel of Southwest Iowa.

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