Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – Ben Kueter spent a little more than five total minutes on the mat in his first two state meet matches posting consecutive second-period victories by tech fall.

The City High senior had no intention of his Friday night semifinal taking that long.

Top-ranked Kueter secured a third straight championship appearance with a 66 second pin of sixth-ranked Hunter Blomgren of Norwalk in a Class 3A 220-pound semifinal at Wells Fargo Arena.

“I just wanted to get out there and finish it,” Kueter said. “Some of my club coaches were talking to me and just said why waste all that time just go finish it.”

In a career filled with dominant wins Kueter (36-0) was as thorough and business-like as ever on Friday evening.

Kueter had takedown seven seconds into the match and scored another 40 seconds later before turning Blomgren (17-5) to his back at the one-minute mark.

“That was kind of the plan in my mind,” Kueter said. “I just wanted to get it over with and that’s what I did.”

Kueter will be seeking a third state title in as many tries on Saturday when he faces West Des Moines Dowling junior Ralston Rumley (28-6) in the 220-pound title match in a session that begins at 6 p.m.

Rumley reached the finals with a 5-3 win over eighth-ranked Logan Huckfeldt of Spencer.

“This one is definitely the best one,” Kueter said. “This one is in the now, all that other stuff happened in the past so I’m not really thinking about that I’m just excited to be here.”

Kueter won the 160-pound title during a 24-0 freshman season in 2020 and went 11-0 on his way to the 195-pound title during a Covid-shortened 2021 season.

The semifinal pin was the 20^th of the season for Kueter who has had just two matches go the entire six minutes all season.

“He wants to develop everywhere,” City High coach Cory Connell said. “He wants to develop every position he is in. If he’s on top, he’s on his feet he’s on bottom whatever he is wrestling he is always wanting to get better and always asking how he can get better.”

City High had a pair of wrestlers drop semifinal matches on Friday as sophomores Cale Seaton and Kael Kurtz each came up a win shy of their first state title match appearances.

Seaton fell to second-ranked defending state champion Trever Anderson of Ankeny 3-1 in overtime in the 120-pound semifinals.

Anderson scored the lone takedown of the match 16 seconds into the 60-second sudden victory period to edge season.

Kurtz dropped a 21-10 major decision to top-ranked Nate Jesuroga of Southeast Polk.

“I feel bad for them they put their heart and soul into it, they put so much work and so much effort into it you feel bad for them but they have nothing to hang their heads about,” Connell said. “They did everything they could do to put themselves in position to win a match.”

Seaton (40-3) and Kurtz (37-5) will each wrestle in consolation semifinal matches on Saturday morning that get underway at 10 a.m.

“Cale Seaton lost to that kid 7-2 at the beginning of the year and today it was an overtime flip of the coin match,” Connell said. “Those kids may have lost tonight but they won the year.”

Class 3A State Wrestling Tournament

At Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines

Team scores (Top 10; area teams) – 1. Waukee Northwest 133; 2. Waverly-Shell Rock 127; 3. Southeast Polk 124; 4. West Des Moines Dowling 77; 5. Bettendorf 75; 10. City High 44.5

Semifinals (Area wrestlers)

120 – Trever Anderson (Ankeny) dec. Cale Seaton (City High) 3-1 SV-1

126 – Nate Jesuroga (Southeast Polk) major dec. Kael Kurtz (City High) 21-10

220 – Ben Kueter (City High) pinned Hunter Blomgren (Norwalk) 1:06

Saturday’s Championship Matches Ralston Rumley (28-6)

220 – No. 1 Ben Kueter (36-0), Jr., City High vs. No. 9 Ralston Rumley (28-6), Jr., West Des Moines Dowling

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