The Iowa High School State Wrestling Tournament wraps up with finals matches tonight, but action gets underway this morning with consolation semifinals in all three classes at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. All three Raccoon Valley Radio stations will broadcast play-by-play starting at 9 a.m. with Class 1A first, then 2A, followed by 3A. The matches determine who wrestles for third/fourth and fifth/sixth. Immediately following those matches will be the placing matches for 7/8, 5/6, and 3/4.
Area wrestlers in seventh/eighth place matches include Ashton Honnold of Nodaway Valley at 195 in 1A, Brent Dennhardt (145) of Greene County, Aiden Flora (152) from ADM, Eduardo Garcia (160) of Winterset, and Carter Smuck (195) of Winterset, all in 2A, plus 3A wrestlers John King (126), Dom Rubino (145), Logan Stotts (152), and Cale Winter (220), all of Waukee Northwest.
Those in the consolation semifinals with a chance to place as high as third are Teagan Slaybaugh (120) of ACGC, Kolton Munson (126) from Ogden, Ryan Stiles (170) of Earlham, and David Hammer (285) from Ogden in 1A; Keegan Jensen (138) from Winterset and Jackson Boese (182) of Van Meter in 2A. In 3A, Waukee’s Wesley Anderson (145), Logan Stotts of Waukee Northwest at 152, and Jacob Fistler (170) of Dallas Center-Grimes ,could still be as high as third place.
The finals begin at 5:50 p.m. and four area wrestlers will be in action and all have won titles before. In class 2A, Kale Petersen at 132 lbs. and McKinley Robbins at 138, both of Greene County, will be in action. Petersen is seeking title number three while Robbins, a four-time finalist, is seeking his second title. Waukee Northwest’s duo of Koufax Christensen and Carter Freeman will be in the finals in 3A at 120 and 132 lbs., respectively. Both are juniors and both are in finals matches for the third straight year. Christensen is going after his second title while Freeman seeks his third.