Area wrestlers advance to State

Clear Lake and Garner-Hayfield-Ventura High Schools will each be represented by two wrestlers at the State Meet, which begins Thursday, Feb. 18, at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.   The first round for Class 2A wrestlers begins at 6 p.m. Thursday. Action continues Friday with sessions at 2:30 and 8:45 p.m.  Saturday wrestling is slated at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Clear Lake

Eric Faught and Ryan Leisure both dominated their weight classes and qualified for the 2016 state wrestling tournament as District champions.

Faught, who remains undefeated in his freshman season, had two pins on his way to the 106 pound district title.

“Eric is 32-0 on the year and ready for State. He looks very good and is ready to go!” said Coach Gary Weber.

Faught pinned his opponents, Max Halstead, from Roland-Story City, and Joe Simon, from Grinnell, on his way to the title.  He put Halstead on his back in just :38 seconds; it took 1:49 to pin Simon.

Leisure (43-1) also looked extremely good with a :12 second pin over Dalton Kies, of Grinnell, in the first round and a 12-1 win in the finals over third ranked Austin Staudt, from Charles City.

“Anytime you can beat the third ranked wrestler by major decision is a big plus,” stated Coach Weber. “These two boys have high goals and they are right on track to reach those goals.”

Leisure will be looking to repeat as a State champion.  He won last year at 126-pounds.  This year he will take on Austin Hazelet (43-6), a junior from Washington.  Faught will be looking to be win his first and hopefully begin a journey toward joining the elite group of Iowa wrestlers to win four state titles. The Clear Lake freshman will face Dylan Robinson, a junior from New Hampton, in the first round.  The two have met before, with Faught getting the win in a dual earlier this year.

Two other Clear Lake grapplers came as close as you can get to making it to State.  Ryan Faught and Kyle Willms both lost in overtime and placed third.

“They both wrestled well, they just had tough weight classes,” said Coach Gary Weber.

Faught, a senior, lost in overtime in the finals at 152 and in overtime in the wrestle back.  In the finals he was defeated by Isaac Judge (39-4), of South Tama County-Tama, in an 8-2 decision.  His wrestle back was against Brock Jennings (41-7), from Osage.  Faught defeated Jennings in overtime at the Sectional meet, but this time the Osage wrestler got the win in an ultimate tie breaker, 5-3.

Willms, a junior, lost his first round match at 285-pounds against eventual District champion Tanner Hoffstetter, from Grinnell, by fall.  He pinned his opponent, Kyle Kucera, from South Tama County-Tama, in 1:33, setting up a wrestle back against Brody Tupy, from Charles City.  Tupy won in sudden victory, 3-1.

Sophomores Jackson Hamlin, wrestling at 113-pounds, and Will Kirshbaum, at 132-pounds, both placed fourth for the Lions.

“Jack and Will are only sophomores and gained valuable experience,” said Coach Weber.  “They all had great years.  It is hard when kids work so hard and come up just a little short.”

GHV

Two Garner-Hayfield-Ventura wrestlers claimed top honors at the IHSAA 2A District 8 wrestling tournament held on Saturday, Feb. 13, in Webster City.  Connor Shaw and Cade Baker will be competing this week in the State Wrestling Tournament held in Des Moines.  It is a return trip to the State Tournament for both Shaw and Baker.

Shaw, a junior who wrestles at 170 pounds, had two pins to claim the title at Districts.  Shaw is ranked number five in the state and has a record of 40-2.  He was also the Top of Iowa Conference and Sectional champion.

“Conner is wrestling great right now.  He hasn’t lost since the first weekend of the season,” said Coach Cory Jenniges.  “He truly believes he can beat anyone and is wrestling full steam ahead in his matches.”

Jenniges said Shaw got a tough draw at State for his first match.  Shaw will face Anthony Sherry, from Glenwood.  Sherry, a sophomore, has a record of 44-7.

“If he wins that match things look really promising for him at State,” said Jenniges.

Baker, a senior who wrestles at 182 pounds, is ranked number six in the State with a record of 39-2.  He was also a Conference and Sectional champion.  Baker had a pin in his first match at Districts and went into overtime to win his second match to claim the title.

“Cade is offensive and confident.  His losses came to a ranked opponent from Iowa and one from Minnesota,” said Jenniges.

Jenniges is happy with Baker’s draw at State.  He will face Kyle Benson, from Sergeant Bluff-Luton.  Benson is a junior and has a record of 36-18.

“The number one and number four wrestlers in Cade’s weight are on the opposite side of the bracket,” said Jenniges.