Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – Landon Bell didn’t get the results he wanted in either of his first two trips to the state wrestling tournament.

That doesn’t mean the Liberty High junior  didn’t take something away from his previous two trips to state in which he lost all four of his matches.

On Wednesday Bell used the lessons from the past two seasons to pick up his first state tournament win.

Bell (23-4) pinned Waverly-Shell Rock junior Mekyver Hagarty (27-14) in 2:41 in a 175-pound second-round match on the opening day of the Class 3A state meet at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

“The last two years I learned how to focus in here,” Bell said. “There’s a lot of mats but you are only wrestling on one and it’s a 32-foot circle. Instead of being distracted by all the intercoms and stuff like I always have been, I focused on this mat, this is what I’m doing and I need to get the job done.”

Fourth-ranked Bell led 1-0 in the second period when he saw an opening following a Hagarty takedown attempt.

Bell countered with a takedown and took Hagarty directly to his back for the fall.

“It was just good position and good pace,” Bell said. “He took a bad shot and I re-attack and it was a cradle straight to his back. That’s always a good feeling.”

A three-time qualifier, Bell couldn’t hide his excitement following his first career win on Wednesday that came after four consecutive state-meet setbacks.

Bell smiled and winked at the Liberty High crowd following his second-period fall.

“I had never won here before so it was all fun,” Bell said. “I saw the whole crowd cheering me. I have a lot of friends here and all my family and my grandparents and that was just awesome. It’s starting to pay off and it’s a good way to start a tournament.”

Bell will face eighth-ranked Philip Jacobs (32-4) of Linn-Mar in the quarterfinals on Thursday in a session that begins at 9 a.m.

Jacobs and Bell split a pair of regular season meetings with Bell winning the most recent matchup 21-13 in the semifinals of the Mississippi Valley Conference tournament earlier this month.

“We have big goals here this year,” Bell said. “Obviously that’s a great start and I have to keep the momentum up tomorrow and keep building to the top of the podium.”

Liberty High sophomore 120-pound Benjamin Rosen (25-12) went 1-1 on Wednesday.

Rosen won a 17-2 tech fall over Max Panosh of Cedar Rapids Kennedy in the opening round and fell to fourth-ranked Kendall Kurtz of City High 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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