Taking a Quick Look at the Class 1A District Wrestling Meets Featuring Your Prep Sports Area Teams
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
It is win or go home time in the high school wrestling season.
The wrestling postseason gets underway on Saturday with districts in all three classes.
There is a slightly different feel to the postseason this season as the state has done away with sectional meets in Classes 1A and 2A with district meets in all three classes on Saturday opening the start of the postseason.
In Classes 1A and 2A the top two qualifiers from 12 districts around the state advance to the state meet in the first season of 24-person state meet brackets.
As postseason wrestling begins we take a quick look at all six district meets featuring teams from the Your Prep Sports area starting with the three Class 3A districts featuring area teams.
Class 1A District 9
When: Saturday, 10 a.m.
Where: Sigourney High School
Teams: Regina; Cardinal; Highland; Lisbon; Lone Tree; Louisa-Muscatine; Pekin; Sigourney-Keota; Springville; Van Buren; WACO
Ranked teams: No. 2 Lisbon
What to watch: Regina has had three state qualifiers each of the past two seasons and would like to keep that multi-year streak of multiple qualifiers going this season.
The Regals have a lineup capable of sending several wrestlers to Des Moines.
Senior 195-pounder Christopher Waikel (35-9) headlines the list of potential qualifiers for the Regals while 182-pound junior Ian Udell (30-10), 152-pound sophomore Will Aitchison (31-15) and freshman Cash Hatfield will all be in the mix for top-two finishes and spots at the state meet.
Who to watch: Waikel would like nothing more than to keep his season going another week after narrowly missing a state tournament appearance last season as a junior.
A district qualifier at 182 pounds a year ago, Waikel won his first match at the district meet but missed a spot at state with two consecutive losses and a third-place finish.
This season Waikel has been solid from his opening match posting a 35-9 record and is among the favorites in a relatively open 195-pound bracket.
Waikel is coming off a fourth-place finish at the River Valley Conference meet where he lost matches 3-2 and 4-1.
Weight class to watch: Ten of the 14 brackets on Saturday feature at least one ranked wrestler and both 170 and 220 pounds have multiple top-10 ranked competitors.
One of the four brackets without a ranked wrestler, the 126-pound field may just be as wide open as any other at the District 9 meet.
Regina freshman Cash Hatfield should be right in the thick of what should be an entertaining race for a top-two finish at 126 pounds.
Hatfield (24-7) is coming off a runner-up finish at the River Valley Conference meet where he went 3-1 with his lone loss coming in the finals to fifth-ranked Wilton junior Brody Brisker.
There will be plenty of competition for Hatfield with four other wrestlers with at least 25 wins.
WACO junior John McLaughlin (28-18), Highland freshman Brock Thomann (31-20), Van Buren junior T.J. Jirak (27-17) and Sigourney-Keota sophomore Brady Clark (26-14) all should be in the mix here in a bracket that will likely be filled with competitive matches.
Ranked wrestlers
106: No. 4 Wes Sadler (Lisbon) Soph.
113: No. 11 Jackson Knapp (Lisbon) Fr.
120: No. 1 Brandon Paez (Lisbon) Sr.
132: No. 4 Carlos Valenzuela (Highland) Sr.
138: No. 5 Tiernan Boots (Lisbon) Soph.
145: No. 8 Indy Harbaugh (Lisbon) Sr.
160: No. 6 Louden Huisenga (WACO) Soph.
170: No. 7 Jack Clarahan (Sigourney-Keota) Sr.
No. 5 Matthias Kohl (Lisbon) Sr.
No. 10 Kendall Pugh (Louisa-Muscatine) Sr.
220: No. 6 Indy Ferguson (Lisbon) Jr.
No. 8 Spencer Kessel (Louisa-Muscatine) Sr.
285: No. 1 Wyatt Smith (Lisbon) Sr.
Class 1A District 12
When: Saturday, 10 a.m.
Where: Wilton High School
Teams: West Branch; Bellevue; Cascade; Durant; Mediapolis; Midland; New London; North Cedar; Northeast; Wapello; Wilton
Ranked teams: No. 3 Wilton
What to watch: West Branch snapped a bunch of state tournament streaks with a pair of qualifiers last season.
Logan Wright and Lincoln Edwards became the first West Branch state qualifiers since 2016 and the first time the Bears had multiple qualifiers since 2014.
With an eighth-place finish at 220 pounds last season Wright became the first West Branch wrestler to win a medal at state since 20016.
Now the Bears are looking to build on that success starting on Saturday.
Led by Wright and Edwards the Bears have four ranked wrestlers and will try to improve on their two qualifiers from last season.
Edwards (34-5) is fourth-ranked at 120 pounds while Wright (35-3) is ranked fourth at 220 pounds.
Freshman Cooper Gates (31-4) is ranked 12th at 152 and junior Quintyn Rocha (25-6) is ranked sixth at 285 pounds.
Watch freshman Logan Christoffel (30-7) at 132 pounds, another Bear in the middle of a strong season that will attempt to secure a spot at the state meet.
Who to watch: Edwards started the season at 113 pounds where he was a state qualifier last season as a sophomore but made the move up to 120 pounds in January and is 13-3 at his new weight.
Fourth-ranked Edwards is coming off a third-place finish at the River Valley Conference meet at 120 pounds.
The RVC champion, sixth-ranked Wilton freshman Gabriel Brisker (43-4) joins Edwards the favorites in the 120-pound bracket on Saturday.
Weight class to watch: This is an easy pick as the 220-pound bracket on Saturday should be exciting throughout the day.
There are three top-10 ranked wrestlers vying for the top two spots headlined by fourth-ranked Wright who finished eighth at the state meet a year ago.
Wright enters the district meet riding an 11-match winning streak that includes a pair of wins over seventh-ranked Bellevue junior Jack Hiland (42-5).
Hiland won the initial meeting with Wright 3-2 on December 8 and Wright has responded with an 11-4 win in the semifinals of the John Byers Invitational on January 21 and a 3-1 win over Hiland in sudden victory in the finals of the River Valley Conference tournament.
Don’t count out ninth-ranked New London senior Trent Wilkerson (39-7) who has seen plenty of stout competition this season.
Ranked wrestlers
106: No. 2 Mason Shirk (Wilton) Fr.
113: No. 7 Austin Etzel (Wilton) Soph.
120: No. 4 Lincoln Edwards (West Branch) Jr.
No. 6 Gabriel Brisker (Wilton) Fr.
126: No. 5 Brody Brisker (Wilton) Jr.
No. 7 Brock Morris (Cascade) Soph.
132: No. 5 Jordan Dusenberry (Wilton) Soph.
138: No. 7 Trae Hagen (Wilton) Sr.
152: No. 12 Cooper Gates (West Branch) Fr.
160: No. 2 Dominic Lopez (New London) Sr.
No. 7 Owen Milder (Wilton) Soph.
182: No. 4 Kaden Shirk (Wilton) Sr.
No. 7 Caden Ballou (Midland) Sr.
195: No. 2 Josh Glendening (Mediapolis) Sr.
220: No. 4 Logan Wright (West Branch) Jr.
No. 7 Jack Hiland (Bellevue) Jr.
No. 9 Trent Wilkerson (New London) Sr.
285: No. 5 Alexander Kaufmann (Wilton) Sr.
No. 6 Quintyn Rocha (West Branch) Jr.
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