Greene County has four wrestlers in action this afternoon in Class 2A District 8 wrestling in Webster City with State Tournament berths on the line. There are four wrestlers in each weight class with the first and second place finishers advancing to State at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines Feb. 19-21.
The Rams have three champions and one runner-up from the Feb. 7 Humboldt Sectional in champions Abe Yoder (132), Jordan Challen (138), and Tommy Bradshaw (145). Hunter Ruth (195) is a sectional runner-up.
Yoder (132) won by fall in 4:40 over Maverick Freerksen of Forest City (24-28) in the opening round to improve to 38-5. Yoder, ranked ninth, meets number eight Carter Barkema of Hampton-Dumont in the finals. Yoder beat Barkema by one point in the regular season at Eldora last month.
Challen (36-2) won a 16-4 major decision over Spencer Orr of Clear Lake (26-20) and the sixth ranked Rams meets number 10 Pierce Gelhaus of Forest City in the finals.
Bradshaw (35-4) suffered a stunning loss by fall in 1:26 to Austin Lewis of Forest City (21-5) and the fourth ranked Bradshaw falls in the consolation bracket and will need help to make a third straight State tournament trip.
Ruth (21-13) was a 4-2 winner over Clear Lake’s Ace Walton (20-15) and is the third Ram in the finals. The sophomore was in a scoreless tie through the first two minutes. He led 2-1 after two periods, and held a 4-1 lead before Walton was awarded an escape just before the final buzzer. His opponent in the finals is Tyler Case of Pocahontas Area, who is 2-0 against the Ram with two falls.
A win in the finals means a District title and trip to State. Even a loss in the finals could mean State qualification, but only if the loser in the finals and the winner of the consolation match met in today’s first round. In the finals loser and consolation winner did not meet in today’s first round, they’ll wrestle for what’s known as a true-second place and State tournament qualification.
Updated results will be posted on raccoonvalleyradio.com as the tournament proceeds.