The only freshman in the Class 2A field of 16 at 195 lbs. in Class 2A is Cody Fisher of Woodward-Granger. He’s already a rarity for that weight class as ninth graders almost never make it to State, but to get to the State Championship match at 195? Almost unheard of, but Fisher did just that on Friday night by defeating Mount Vernon senior Sam Moore 8-5 to reach the Saturday night final vs. top ranked Bryce Esmoil of West Liberty, who is 41-2. Fisher owns a 46-5 record and is unranked. Fisher trailed 3-1 in the middle of the match, then controlled the last 90 seconds and continued a roll that most ninth graders in the upper weights only dream of.

Fisher is the Raccoon Valley Radio network’s lone finalist, but nine others will place in the top eight.

Class 2A area wrestlers Andrew Flora of ADM at 106 and Zachary Thompson of Perry at 120 were also in the semifinals. Flora lost to top ranked Grayson Kesterson of Williamsburg 7-0. Thompson lost to top rated Bryce West of Solon 8-3.

The area 2A wrestlers that will be place winners, but were not in the semifinals are Bryce Hatten of Winterset at 106, Kaleb Olejniczak of Perry at 113, and Tanner Vermaas of Woodward-Granger at 182. Hatten lost 3-1 via sudden overtime to Brock Beck of Grinnell and will go for seventh place on Saturday. Olejniczak won a 14-6  major decision over Hunter Pfantz of West Marshall (State Center) and he’ll be in the consolation semifinals tomorrow and still could finish as high as third. Vermaas has yet to take the mat.

In 1A, there are no semifinalists from the Raccoon Valley Radio area, but four wrestlers are going to place in the third to eighth place range. Panorama has three State place winners for the first time in George Appleseth (132), Tyler Van Houten (152), and Gunnar Grunted (170). Appleseth won 4-3 over Mason Wickman of Alburnett and will be in the consolation semifinals tomorrow. Joining Appleseth in that round is Gunnar Grunted of Panorama, who won 9-2 over Dakota Vance of Rockford. Van Houton lost 6-0 to Kaden Kilburg of Lisbon and will wrestle Saturday for seventh place. Joining those three as a top eight finisher is Logan Sheuermann of ACGC, who lost 5-0 to Austin Eilers of Lawton-Bronson and Scheuermann will wrestle for seventh.