Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – No state title comes easy.

After what Cale Seaton went through on his way to winning his first state title last season title number two seemed like a breeze.

A year after he won a state title a month after a serious knee injury Seaton added a second state title with a 3-2 win over Jayce Luna of Bettendorf in the 132-pound title match on Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

“It makes everything easy after that,” Seaton said. “It doesn’t get any harder than that.”
Saturday’s second championship may have seemed easy in comparison but Luna made sure title number two for the City High senior was a sweat.

Seaton (34-1) scored the only takedown of the match with 54 seconds remaining to avenge his only loss of the season to third-ranked Luna (44-4).

“I had aversity last year with the injury, this year I had adversity with the loss right before state and that injury prepared me for that adversity,” Seaton said. “I didn’t hang my head on that loss. I took maybe an hour to think about it and I went and worked out and I flushed from my head on Saturday night and I came back to Sunday practice ready to win a state title.”

A four-time state placewinner Seaton finished third at the state meet as a freshman and sophomore before becoming the fifth City High wrestler to win multiple state titles.

Seaton won his final 10 matches at the state tournament and ends his career with a 16-2 record in state tournament matches.

“You want to be on the list that’s the smallest,” Seaton said. “That was four-timers once that goal was knocked out it was three-time and when I couldn’t get that it was right to two-time. It’s crazy to be up there, there are so many good guys on that two-time list.”

Last season adversity hit Seaton in January when he sustained a serious knee injury that required postseason surgery that was less than a year before his title on Saturday.

This season the adversity for Seaton came in the form of an 8-6 loss to Luna in the district title match.

Just like last season it was the adversity that fueled Seaton down the stretch.

“He’s such a positive kid,” City High coach Cory Connell said. “The day after his injury last year, he came in and said, I’m wrestling. After his loss he came back and said, ‘I needed that, it’s going to lock me in to what I really want’. I love that he is such a forward thinker, such a positive thinker.”

Seaton defeated the third, fourth and fifth ranked wrestlers on his way to the title.

The third straight win over a top-five foe was Saturday’s title victory over Luna.

“That loss was hard but it was good, it refocused me,” Seaton said. “It got me back in the check and it got me back to being the focused detailed person that I am.”

After a scoreless first period Seaton needed 10 seconds to an escape and a 1-0 lead in the second period.

Leading 1-0 Seaton elected to start the third period neutral, giving Luna an escape point to even the match.

Seaton then needed a little more than a minute to secure the match-clinching takedown.

“My best wrestling is on my feet and that’s where I wanted to be,” Seaton said. “That’s where I can run my gas tank and I can get these guys tired. That’s what I did, I wore him down and I got my one chance and I took it and I capitalized on it.

Class 3A State Meet

Team scores (Top 20; area teams) – 1. Southeast Polk 221.5; 2. Bettendorf 160; 3. Fort Dodge 119; 4. Ankeny Centennial 110.5; 5. Waverly-Shell Rock 107; 6. Waukee Northwest 105; 7. Indianola 93.5; 8. Carlisle 91; 9. Linn-Mar 90; 10. City High 87; 11. Ames 86; 12. Johnston 75.5; 13. Bondurant-Farrar 74; 14. Ankeny 67.5; 15. West Des Moines Valley 66; 16. West High 64; 17. Dubuque Hempstead 63.5; 18. Council Bluffs Lewis Central 53; 19. Cedar Rapids Prairie 51; 20. Pella 47; 26. Clear Creek Amana 33; 38. Liberty High 15.5

Championship matches (area athletes) 

113 – Tyler Harper (Norwalk) dec. Alexander Pierce (West High) 10-4

132 – Cale Seaton (City High) dec. Jayce Luna (Bettendorf) 3-2

157 – Kael Voinovich (City High) dec. Jaxon Miller (Carlisle) 12-3

Consolation semifinals (area athletes) 

138 – Jabari Hinson (Ames) dec. Kael Kurtz (City High) 2-1 UTB

150 – Lucas Bruhl (Ankeny Centennial) major dec. Justin Avila (West High) 12-4

175 – Kyler Scranton (West High) dec. Dax Clatt (Indianola) 6-3

215 – Evan Franke (Muscatine) dec. Vincenzo Lima (Liberty High) 9-3

Third-place matches (area athletes) 

175 – Maximus Magayna (Waterloo East) tech. fall Kyler Scranton (West High) 15-0

Fifth-place matches (area athletes) 

138 – Kael Kurtz (City High) dec. Wil Oberbroeckling (Southeast Polk) 3-1

150 – Justin Avila (West High) pinned Braylon Griffiths (Ottumwa) 5:10

215 – Vincenzo Lima (Liberty High) dec. Andrew Price (West Des Moines Valley) 6-3

Seventh-place matches (area athletes) 

113 – Caleb Arroyo (Urbandale) pinned Kendall Kurtz (City High) 2:48

120 – Cale Nash (Clear Creek Amana) won by medical forfeit Mitchell Pins (Dubuque Hempstead)

138 – Ty Solverson (Boone) dec. Jake Mitchell (City High) 7-2

138 – Nolan Howell (Clear Creek Amana) major dec. Zane Behrends (Waverly-Shell Rock) 15-5

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