Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – While becoming a two-time Montana state champion Cole Krutzfeldt kept an eye on the Iowa state tournament from a distance.

On Wednesday Krutzfeldt got the chance to experience the Iowa state meet for the first time and made quite a first impression.

Fourth-ranked Krutzfeldt (41-4) posted a second-period pin of Des Moines East’s Camron Bennett in a 138-pound second-round match on the opening day of the Class 3A state meet at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

“It’s crazy, it’s definitely something special,” Krutzfeldt said. “It’s definitely what you hear on the news or see on Instagram. Coming from Montana I watched it every year it’s definitely cool to be a participant instead of a spectator.”

Krutzfeldt was one of four West High wrestlers to advance to the Class 3A quarterfinals on an impressive opening day for the Trojans.

Junior 113 pounder Alex Pierce, sophomore 120 pounder, Matthew Tran and senior 150-pounder Justin Avila all secured spots in the 3A quarterfinals with second-round wins on Wednesday.

Krutzfeldt, who won a pair of Montana state titles before joining the West High program over the summer, led the charge on Wednesday in his state meet debut.

He built a 9-0 lead before his pin of Bennett in 3:26 and will face fifth-ranked Ryan Rider (39-5) of Carlisle in the 138-pound semifinals on Thursday in a session that begins at 9 a.m.

“I just stayed calm, cool and collected,” Krutzfeldt said. “I’ve got some big matches coming up tomorrow and the next day and the next day after that so you just have to take it one match at a time and that was a good challenge. Get the heart rate up, get the nerves out it’s a big stage and I just used that match to get ready for tomorrow and get all the jitters out.”

Pierce (45-2) advanced to the 113-pound quarterfinals with a first-period pin of Elliott Gnewuch of Cedar Rapids Xavier.

A two-time finalist, Pierce will face seventh-ranked Waverly-Shell Rock freshman Kipton Lewis (38-8) in the 113-pound quarterfinals on Thursday.

Pierce won a 12-4 major decision over Lewis in the district title match last Saturday.

Tran (41-12) earned his first quarterfinal appearance with a 17-5 major decision win over Sylvester Kotoe of Waterloo West in the 120-pound second round.

Tran racked up five takedowns in the first two periods of the 17-5 win.

“It feels really good,” Tran said. “I had to push the pace, wrestle my match and get to my ties and the scores will just come.”

Tran will face second-ranked Cale Vandermark (39-2) of Ankeny Centennial in the 120-pound quarterfinals on Thursday.

“It feels good,” Tran said. “Last year I came here and I didn’t really get what I wanted so it feels good to be in this position again and I want to make the most of it.”

Third-ranked Avila (46-3) advanced to the 150-pound quarterfinals with a second-period pin of Cole Hemmingsen of Dallas Center-Grimes.

Avila will face sixth-ranked Elijah Blewitt (34-6) of Indianola in the quarterfinals.

Senior 285-pound Randale Kelly went 1-1 for West High on Wednesday.

Kelly defeated Jaxen Hoag of LeMars 3-1 in the opening round and fell to third-ranked Brady Hagan of West Des Moines Dowling in the second round.

Class 3A State Tournament

At Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines

Team scores (Top 10; area teams) – 1. Southeast Polk 72.5; 2. Indianola 46; 3. Waukee Northwest 42; 4. Johnston 41.5; 5. Waverly-Shell Rock 39; 6. West Des Moines Dowling 37.5; 7. Ankeny Centennial 32.5; 8. Bettendorf 32; 9. Carlisle 30; 9. Fort Dodge 30; 14. West High 25; 27. Clear Creek Amana 13; 30. City High 12.5; 33. Liberty High 9.5

Individual Results

Opening Round (area athletes)

106 – Braydon Tranmer (Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln) major dec. Cole Kasparek (Clear Creek Amana) 10-0

106 – Kent Montgomery (Newton) dec. Connor McGonegle (Liberty High) 12-6

120 – Karson Pulver (Pleasant Valley) dec. Jose Mendiata (Clear Creek Amana) 10-9

120 – Benjamin Rosen (Liberty High) tech. fall Max Panosh (Cedar Rapids Kennedy) 17-2

126 – Stoney Wood (Indianola) tech. fall Malachi Clement (Clear Creek Amana) 15-0

126 – Elijah Hyet (Dubuque Hempstead) tech. fall Chase Williams (City High) 18-2

132 – Jack Foster (Cedar Rapids Xavier) dec. Rex Edmonds (Liberty High) 3-1

138 – Collin Frost (Davenport Central) tech. fall Jay Halverson (Clear Creek Amana) 17-2

138 – Isaiah Madison (Johnston) pinned Donovan Gipson (City High) 1:35

150 – Trace Robertson (Clear Creek Amana) pinned Trent Eckard (Boone) 2:48

150 – Wyatt Heying (Spencer) dec. Laith Alawneh (City High) 7-2

157 – Rylee Brown (Fort Dodge) pinned Ben Haughey (Clear Creek Amana) 1:41

165 – Marek McNamara (Cedar Rapids Xavier) pinned Aidan Schrock (Clear Creek Amana) 2:41

165 – AJ Pontier (Indianola) major dec. Marshall Sheldon (City High) 12-1

175 – Jesse Egli (Fort Dodge) tech. fall Clayton Isham (Clear Creek Amana) 17-1

175 – Mason Tilley (City High) dec. David Theisen (Western Dubuque) 12-7

190 – Victor Esparza (Norwalk) major dec. Dylan Schrock (Clear Creek Amana) 14-4

190 – Brayton Gipple (Bondurant-Farrar) pinned Blaine Heick (City High) 2:49

285 – Randale Kelly (West High) dec. Jaxen Hoag (LeMars) 3-1

Second Round  

113 – Alexander Pierce (West High) pinned Elliott Gnewuch (Cedar Rapids Xavier) 1:03

120 – Kendall Kurtz (City High) tech. fall Benjamin Rosen (Liberty High) 19-2

120 – Matthew Tran (West High) major dec. Sylvester Kotoe (Waterloo West) 17-5

132 – Cale Nash (Clear Creek Amana) dec. Hayden Hutt (Waukee Northwest) 5-1

138 – Cole Krutzfeldt (West High) pinned Camron Bennett (Des Moines East) 3:26

144 – Nolan Howell (Clear Creek Amana) major dec. Trenton Byers (Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln) 16-4

150 – Justin Avila (West High) pinned Cole Hemmingsen (Dallas Center-Grimes) 2:36

150 – Parker Casey (Johnston) pinned Trace Robertson (Clear Creek Amana) 2:48

175 – Jacob Helgeson (Johnston) tech. fall Mason Tilley (City High) 16-1

175 – Landon Bell (Liberty High) pinned Mekyver Hagarty (Waverly-Shell Rock) 2:41

215 – Raphael Etuma (City High) major dec. Kade Krause (West Des Moines Dowling) 14-3

285 – Nick Darling (Johnston) dec. Kane Willey (City High) 7-3

285 – Brady Hagan (West Des Moines Dowling) pinned Randale Kelly (West High) 1:10

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