Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

It’s state wrestling week.

The state wrestling tournament opens on Wednesday with Class 3A action kicking off the four-day tournament at Casey’s Center in Des Moines with Classes 2A and 1A getting underway on Thursday.

The Your Prep Sports will have 39 total wrestlers from all seven schools competing at the state meet.

Solon has seven qualifiers and West Branch has four qualifiers in the Class 2A tournament that begins Thursday at 2:30 p.m.

Before the action gets underway in Des Moines here is a quick look at the Class 2A state tournament with a focus on Your Prep Sports area athletes.

The Wrestlers

Area qualifiers/opening round opponents

113 – Evan Gleason (14-18) Jr., Solon vs. Sebastian Brooks (34-5) Sr., Winterset

126 – Jayden Steapp (36-15) Sr., Solon vs. Garett Bruner (40-9) Soph., BCLUW

144 – Cash Hatfield (44-7) Sr., West Branch vs. Gable Underbakke (36-16) Jr., West Liberty

157 – Carson Kidwell (36-14) Sr., Solon vs. Brooxton Lundgren (42-5) Fr., North Fayette Valley

165 – Teague Williams (31-15) Sr., Solon vs. Taevyn Zinnel (30-6) Sr., Algona

165 – Cooper Gates (44-7) Sr., West Branch vs. Keagan Schultz (31-12) Soph., North Fayette Valley

215 – Kyler Jensen (18-11) Sr., Solon vs. Tayten Rummel (34-9) Soph., Algona

Area qualifiers/second round opponents

106 – Anderson Osgood (42-3) Soph., Solon vs. Hayden Shear (37-11) Jr., Clear Lake/Weston Drahos (26-14) Fr., Williamsburg winner

113 – Ethan Humphrey (41-2) Jr., West Branch vs. Roman Kile (33-6) Sr., Saydel/Carver Butikofer (35-12) Fr., Crestwood winner

150 – Keaton Gates (39-9) Jr., West Branch vs. Alex Peiffer (35-21) Sr., Grinnell/Grant Knutson (37-9) Fr., Decorah winner

285 – Lucas Feuerbach (43-2) Jr., Solon vs. Ryker Henderson (32-13) Sr., Maquoketa/Trayvahn Williams (31-13) Jr., Iowa Falls winner

Undefeated Wrestlers

113 – Kaden Dietzenbach (36-0) Soph., Burlington Notre Dame

120 – Dylan Williamson (43-0) Soph., Van Meter

132 – Gage Spurgeon (48-0) Jr., Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont

138 – Gavin Landers (54-0) Jr., Denver

144 – Landen Davis (37-0) Sr., Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont

150 – Blake Fox (46-0) Sr., Osage

157 – Mikey Ryan (44-0) Sr., Mount Vernon

165 – Jacob McGargill (53-0) Sr., Shenandoah

165 – Boden White (52-0) Sr., Denver

215 – Gaitlin Rogers (32-0) Sr., Wilton

215 – Gavin Muller (25-0) Jr., Osage

Returning State Champions

Current weight class, Wrestler, School, 2025 Championship weight

120 – Dylan Williamson, Van Meter, 106

120 – Urijah Courter, West Marshall, 113

138 – Gavin Landers, Denver, 126 (Class 1A)

150 – Blake Fox, Osage, 144 (Class 1A)

165 – Boden White, Denver, 157 (Class 1A)

215 – Mason Koehler, Glenwood, 215

First Round Match to Watch

West Branch senior Cash Hatfield will open the state tournament against a familiar River Valley Conference foe on Thursday.

Fifth-ranked Hatfield (44-7) will face West Liberty junior Gable Underbakke (36-15) in an opening-round match at 144 pounds.

Hatfield won the only regular season meeting between the two this season 9-5 in the finals of Ed Hadenfeldt Invitational in Solon on January 17.

A four-time state qualifier, Hatfield is seeking his first career state medal after going 3-2 at 144 pounds last season.

An opening-round win would be a significant step in the medal hunt for Hatfield who has three losses this season to second-ranked Owen Henriksen of Alburnett who is the third seed in the 2A, 144-pound bracket.

The winner of the opening-round match between Hatfield and Underbakke with face eighth-ranked Jaxson Lundgren of North Fayette Valley in the second round.

Second Round Match to Watch

One of the better second-round matches in 2A has the potential to come at 150 pounds where West Branch junior Keaton Gates could face a top-10 showdown in his opening match.

No. 10 ranked Gates (39-9) is the seventh seed and earned a bye to the second round where he will face the winner of Grinnell senior Alex Peiffer (35-21) and seventh-ranked Decorah freshman Grant Knutson (37-9).

Gates enters the state tournament coming off a district title last week and doing his best wrestling of the season.

Gates has won 14 of his last 15 matches with his only loss during that stretch coming to fourth-ranked Gabriel Brisker of Wilton.

Of the eight in-state losses for Gates this season seven have come against ranked opponents including three to Brisker.

Wrestler to Watch

Solon junior Lucas Feuerbach has emerged as one of the state’s most dominant wrestlers.

This week the Solon 285-pound Feuerbach will look to secure his first state title.

Feuerbach (43-2) has been impressive all season, racking up 33 wins via first-period pin.

Last year’s 2A runner-up at 215 pounds, Feuerbach has excelled in his first season at heavyweight and enters the state tournament second-ranked and coming off an impressive district title performance.

Feuerbach pinned No. 11 Regan Roberts of Knoxville in 12 seconds in the district title match and has wins this season against the number three, number four, number five and number eight ranked wrestlers in Class 2A.

Both losses for Feuerbach this season have come to top-ranked Alburnett sophomore Eaghan Fleshman.

Fleshman won a 5-3 decision on December 6 and edged Feuerbach 4-1 in sudden victory on February 3.

A third-meeting for Feuerbach with top-seeded Fleshman (51-2) would come in the state title match.

Weight Class to Watch

The 106-pound bracket in Class 2A appears to be setting up as a collision course for a pair of WAMAC rivals to meet for the fourth time in the state title match.

Solon sophomore Anderson Osgood (42-3) is the second seed in the 106-pound bracket while Vinton-Shellsburg sophomore Jackson Parmater (30-2) is the top seed.

The Osgood/Parmater series heated up last month when Osgood avenged a pair of early-season losses with a 3-1 win over Parmater in the finals of the WAMAC tournament on January 31.

Parmater won 19-1 on January 8 and 9-1 on January 17 before Osgood scored the only takedown in a 3-1 win in the WAMAC Conference finals.

Osgood is making his state meet debut and will face the winner of Clear Lake junior Hayden Shear (37-11) and Williamsburg freshman Weston Drahos (26-14) in the second round.

Top-ranked Parmater was fourth last season at 106 pounds and only has losses to 1A top-ranked Ty Martin of Don Bosco and Osgood this season.

The Teams

District Champions (state qualifiers)

Alburnett (8); Wilton (9); Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont (11); Davenport Assumption (7); Glenwood (7); Independence (10); Decorah (11); Sergeant Bluff-Luton (9); Algona (6); Clarion-Goldfield-Dows (10); West Delaware (9); Williamsburg (7)

Area Teams (State qualifiers)

Solon (7); West Branch (4)

2025 Top Five Team Finishers – 1. Burlington Notre Dame 129; 2. Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont 107.5; 3. Union 103.5; 4. Davenport Assumption 99.5; 5. Sergeant Bluff-Luton 98

Last Five Team Champs

2025 – Burlington Notre Dame

2024 – Osage

2023 – Osage

2022 – Burlington Notre Dame

2021 – West Delaware

What to Watch in the Team Race

Defending Class 2A runner-up Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont enters top-ranked and seeking to ascend to the top of the Class 2A standings after finishing 21.5 points behind defending champ Burlington Notre Dame last season.

The Rockets and second-ranked Decorah have a 2A-best 11 qualifiers each and expect to battle for the 2A title.

Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont has five top-five ranked wrestlers among its 11 qualifiers while Decorah also has five wrestlers ranked in the top five.

Third-ranked Clarion-Goldfield-Dows has 10 qualifiers while fourth-ranked Wilton has nine qualifiers including three ranked in the top four.

Solon scored 34 points last season and should improve on that number this week while West Branch will look to make an impact in its move up to Class 2A after placing 15^th in Class 1A with 55.5 points last season.

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