Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

Class 2A action will kick off the 2024 state wrestling tournament on Wednesday with the first-session of the four-day event getting underway at 9 a.m. at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Solon has four wrestlers in the Class 2A tournament that concludes with finals on Saturday evening.

Before the action gets underway on Wednesday morning Your Prep Sports takes a quick look at the Class 2A tournament with a focus on area wrestlers.

The Wrestlers

Area qualifiers/Opening round opponents

132 – Charlie Karam (31-18) Jr., Solon vs. No. 9 Kaiden Parker (26-8) Soph., Oskaloosa

165 – Jackson Feuerbach (30-20) Jr., Solon vs. Elston Lindner (21-9) Sr., Central DeWitt

215 – Lucas Feuerbach (40-8) Fr., Solon vs. Dre Smithburg (27-12) Jr., Fairfield

Area qualifiers/Second round opponents

138 – No. 7 Jordan Schmidt (45-6) Jr., Solon vs. No. 8 Cael Nelson (31-4) Sr., Carroll/Remington Fry (33-17) Sr., PCM winner

Undefeated Wrestlers

106 – Klayten Perreault (42-0) Sr., Mount Vernon

126 – Carson Doolittle (39-0) Sr., Webster City

132 – Kade Blume (36-0) Sr., Roland-Story

132 – Matt Beem (35-0) Sr., Glenwood

144 – Anders Kittelson (41-0) Sr., Osage

157 – Tucker Stangel (50-0) Sr., Osage

165 – Colin Young (16-0) Sr., Dubuque Wahlert

175 – Austin Scranton (45-0) Jr., Anamosa

175 – Daniel Gorskikh (32-0) Sr., Knoxville

190 – Jarrett Roos (24-0) Sr., Sheldon/South O’Brien

285 – Mac Muller (45-0) Sr., Osage

285 – Paul Ballard (37-0) Sr., Albia

Returning State Champions

Current Weight Class, Wrestler, School, 2023 Championship Weight Class

113 – Brayden Bohnsack, Jr., Union, 106

126 – Jace Hedeman, Jr., Union, 113

138 – Blake Fox, Soph., Osage, 120

157 – Tucker Stangel, Sr., Osage, 145

First Round Matches to Watch

For the second time in less than a week Solon’s Jackson Feuerbach and Central DeWitt senior Elston Lindner meet in a high-stakes showdown this time on the state’s biggest stage at Wells Fargo Arena.

Lindner (21-9) won a 6-2 decision over Feuerbach in the 165-pound title match at the Class 2A, District 8 meet last Saturday in Solon.

The rematch between the two comes on Wednesday in the 165-pound opening round.

Feuerbach (30-20) will be making his state tournament debut on Wednesday while Lindner was a state qualifier last season at 160 pounds.

The first of three takedowns for Lindner in the district final win came in the opening period and Feuerbach will look to get off to a better start on Wednesday as he attempts to avenge last week’s loss.

Wrestler to Watch

For the second consecutive season Solon qualified four wrestlers for the state meet and for the second year in a row junior Jordan Schmidt is a returning state qualifier alongside three first-time qualifiers.

Schmidt returns to the state meet for the third consecutive season after earning the first state medal of his career a year ago when a 5-2 performance at 132 pounds netted him a seventh-place finish.

Seventh-ranked Schmidt (45-6) is the sixth seed in the 138-pound bracket and is wrestling his best entering the state tournament.

Schmidt avenged a pair of losses to second-ranked Jase Jaspers of Mount Vernon with a 6-5 win in the district title match last week.

Six of the last nine matches for Schmidt have been against state qualifiers with Schmidt going 6-3 in those matches.

Schmidt will likely face eighth-ranked Cael Nelson (31-4) of Carroll in the second round and could face fifth-ranked Kaden Kremer of Independence for a third-time in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

Kremer won the first two meetings 6-0 and 4-2 in sudden victory.

Weight Class to Watch

The 215-pound bracket in Class 2A could be one of the most exciting to watch over the next four days in Des Moines.

Of the eight medalists at 220 from last season only three return to Des Moines this week.

Last year’s runner-up Henry Christensen (37-2) of Ballard is the fourth-seed and 2023 third-place finisher Braden McShane (39-1) of New Hampton/Turkey Valley is the top-seed.

Glenwood sophomore Mason Koehler (40-6) was eighth a year ago as a freshman and is seeded third in what expects to be a balanced bracket.

Second-ranked Gavin Bridgewater (41-1) from South Tama is certainly a title contender after placing third at 195 pounds last season and the eight wrestlers currently ranked fifth through 12^th at 215 pounds were all state qualifiers a season ago.

Solon freshman Lucas Feuerbach (40-8) will look to earn a spot on the podium in his state meet debut.

Feuerbach has been impressive this season and is coming off a runner-up finish at the district meet with his lone loss to No. 12 ranked Chris Wrage (38-6) of Central DeWitt.

Feuerbach takes on Fairfield junior Dre Smithburg (27-12) in an opening-round match with the winner earning a second-round matchup with Koehler.

The Teams

District Champions (State Qualifiers)

Creston (11); New Hampton/Turkey Valley (8); Algona (7); Hampton-Dumont-Cal (5); Osage (8); Sergeant Bluff-Luton (9); Anamosa (6); Winterset (5); Albia (5); Carroll (8); Humboldt (5); Mount Vernon (8)

Area Teams (State Qualifiers)

Solon (4)

2023 Top 5 Team Finishers – 1. Osage 175.5; 2. Burlington Notre Dame 106.5; 3. Mount Vernon 99; 4. West Delaware 97.5; 5. Sergeant Bluff-Luton 82.5

Last 5 Team Champs

2023 – Osage

2022 – Burlington Notre Dame

2021 – West Delaware

2020 – Osage

2019 – West Delaware

What to Watch in the Team Race

Osage is attempting to become the first back-to-back champion in Class 2A since Ballard won the second of two titles in 2009 after dominating the 2A field a year ago.

The Green Devils finished 69 points clear of runner-up Burlington Notre Dame last season and the 175.5 points Osage scored last season was the most for a 2A team at state since Ballard put up a 2A state record 220 points in 2009.

Top-ranked Osage has six ranked wrestlers among its eight qualifiers including four wrestlers ranked atop their weight class.

Second-ranked Mount Vernon and last year’s runner-up Burlington Notre Dame will be among the teams fighting for second along with Union which has a pair of top-ranked wrestlers.

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