Twelve area wrestlers came to Wilton Feb. 15 with dreams of making the state wrestling tournament — 10 from Wilton and two from Durant. When the dust settled, four grapplers will be taking their talents to Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines Feb. 20-22, representing the top 16 in their weight classes.
Wilton senior Coy Baker led the charge for the Beavers. He’s been carrying the torch all season and it continued Saturday as he picked up two first-period pins in his final matches on home mats. He defeated Lisbon’s Truman Krob in the 182-pound semis before pinning Luke Giesemann of Bellevue in the finals. His tie up and throw maneuver was working well on his trek to state.
“It’s been good for me. The tosses worked today but next week I’ll have to work more,” Baker said.
At 37-1, Baker has had a career season, including eclipsing the 100-career win mark. “This season has gone great for me. I didn’t imagine it at the beginning of the year but I worked hard and it paid off,” he said.
“He’s put together one heck of a season,” said Wilton coach Gabe Boorn of Baker. “He just needs to keep wrestling with confidence, believe in his technique and conditioning. He’s come a long way. He put in the extra time and effort, and he’s earning it.”
At 126 pounds, Wilton junior Kael Brisker (34-4) finished runner-up and punched another ticket to the state tournament. He won a hard-fought 7-2 match over Lisbon’s Lincoln Holub in the semis before losing to eventual District champ Aidan Noonan (34-0) of Cascade 7-0 in the finals, his second loss to Noonan in as many weeks.
Brisker said he was more focused on winning his semifinal match to ensure his state trip. “He’s good, he made state last year,” said Brisker of Holub. “We’ve wrestled when we were little. We know each other. I’ve been watching him all week and was more focused on that than the finals.”
“There’s a couple things we’ll work on but we’re ready to roll into state,” said Boorn of Brisker.
Brisker said he worried more about a potential second round match at state last year as opposed to focusing on his first match. “I need to take it one match at a time. Last year I did not do that, I thought I’d walk through that match. The first match sets the tone,” he said.
Last year as a freshman, Briggs Hartley sat in tears after losing a wrestle back. This year the sophomore was on the opposite end of the emotional spectrum after gaining a huge win in the 285-pound semifinals over Lisbon’s Brant Baltes (38-7) to help secure his first ever state appearance. Hartley (21-6) got down early 2-0 but was able to get Baltes to his back and pin him in the fist period in such quick fashion, he didn’t even know he had won.
“I got the tie up I wanted, he went straight to his back. I thought the ref blew the whistle because we were out of bounds. Then I got up and everyone was cheering, then I knew it was a pin,” said Hartley. “It’s weird. I cried for a week last year. This year I get to run with the big dogs at the state tournament.”
Durant’s lone state qualifier is freshman Noah Grage (23-8) at 113 pounds, who had to make his first state trip the hard way, by losing in the District semis. He was pinned by eventual champion Cade Siebrecht (37-8) of Lisbon and fell into consolation, where he first defeated Wilton’s Dalton Snider by fall, avenging a loss to Snider in Sectionals. In a wrestle back for second place, Grage found himself behind 3-2 to North Cedar’s Kole Murray (23-12) before getting the final two takedowns of the match to secure a 7-3 win and spot at the state tournament.
“It was pretty hard but I got through it. Ethan Gast has really helped me in the wrestling room this year. In the wrestle back I knew what he wanted to do, I just took it slow and was prepared for everything,” Grage said.
At 106 pounds, Wilton sophomore Gage Oien (27-11) lost a heartbreaker in the semifinals 8-5 to Brody Neighbor (26-9) of Alburnett. He got up early with a takedown and back points to lead 5-0, but never scored again the rest of the match as Neighbor gained reversals and back points the rest of the way to win 8-5. “I’ll take the blame for that one. I never should have let him choose to go down,” said Boorn.
At 170, Wilton senior Cameron Keith (23-10) finished third. Wilton senior Dalton Snider (21-20) finished fourth at 113. Durant sophomore Ethan Gast (26-10) finished fourth at 120. Wilton freshman Trae Hagen (10-9) finished fourth at 132. Wilton junior Colton Cruse (23-11) finished fourth at 145. Wilton freshman Kaden Shirk (28-12) finished fourth at 152. Wilton junior Johnathan Lilly (24-20) finished fourth at 195.
Wilton falls in Regional Dual semis
After several years of having to go to Lisbon for Regional Duals, the Beavers were sent to Don Bosco for Regional Duals this season.
Head coach Gabe Boorn said his top priority was to keep his 10 wrestlers who had qualified for Districts healthy.
The only District qualifiers who saw mat time were Colton Cruse at 145 and Kaden Shirk at 152. They were the only Beavers to get wins, other than a forfeit collected by Briggs Hartley at 285 in a 60-17 loss to Alburnett in a Class 1A Regional semifinal.
“The main goal was 10 healthy guys for this weekend,” said Boorn of the performance at Alburnett, which sent its wrestlers to Districts in Wilton Feb. 15. “So we had some other wrestlers step up and it was going to be what it was going to be.”
Don Bosco cruised to the Regional Dual title by blanking both Highland in the semis 84-0 and Alburnett in the finals 73-0.