1A Wrestling State Qualifiers

Class 1A wrestlers battled it out on Saturday, wrestling for a trip to the state tournament.

For the Union area competitors, it was a very successful day as 18 total wrestlers will compete at the state tournament.

Sigourney-Keota led the area with six total athletes punching a ticket. New London had four representing. WACO and Highland each have three. Pekin and Cardinal both have one representation.

For Sigourney-Keota Reanah Utterback will make the trip at 106.

Utterback defeated Van Buren’s Colt Boyles by decision, 6-2 in the semifinals, before falling to Lisbon’s Wesley Sadler in the finals, 4-1.

In the second-place match, Utterback was a winner by no contest to advance to state.

Brady Clark had a dominating performance at 126. Clark won on back-to-back pins before taking the 1st-place match over Iowa City Regina’s Cash Hatfield by decision, 7-4.

At 132, Dan McLaughlin won by fall in back-to-back matches over Louisa-Muscatine’s Ben Coder and Van Buren’s Korbin Camp, before suffering a loss in the 1st-place match to Highland’s Carlos Valenzuela.

McLaughlin took second by no contest over Camp.

Reid Molyneux advances at 152. Molyneux won by fall over Cardinal’s Braden Ballard in 31 seconds in the semifinal and then pinned Lisbon’s Junior Krob in 3:40 to win the class.

Advancing at 160 is Jake Moore. Moore finished second after two back-to-back wins, by decision 6-2 and decision 8-1. In the first-place match, Moore was pinned by WACO’s Louden Huisenga.

Moore took a no contest victory in the final match over Pekin’s Logan Baker to move on.

Jack Clarahan was a first-place finisher at 170. Clarahan won by major decision, 16-3 over Gavyn Brown of Pekin and then defeated Matthias Kohl of Lisbon by decision, 10-4, in the final.

For New London, Gage Burden move on to state at 126. Burden won back-to-back matches by fall before falling in the final to Brody Brisker of Wilton.

Burden took the no contest win over Trey Ramer of Durant for second.

Dom Lopez was a winner at 160. Lopez dominated the competition. He won by tech fall in his first match, 24-9, and followed with a pin in 3:23 in the semifinal. In the final, Lopez was a winner by tech fall over Jordan Buford of Midland, 25-10.

Michael Raines took first as well at 170. After a first-round bye, Raines pinned Jaxson Kaalberg of West Branch and then won by decision, 6-4, over Gatlin Rogers of Wilton.

At 195, Trent Wilkerson moves on. Wilkerson won by fall in back-to-back matches before coming up short in the final to Mediapolis’ Josh Glendening, 6-0. Wilkerson answered back with a pin in the second-place match.

For WACO, Gage Samo heads to state at 113. Samo pinned Gavin Noll of Van Buren County and then was a winner by major decision in the semifinal, 8-0.

In the final, Samo defeated Jackson Knapp of Lisbon by decision 9-3 to take first.

Louden Huisenga was a winner at 160. Huisenga pinned all of his opponents on the day. Winning by fall in nine seconds in match one, 1:05 in the semifinals and then 1:24 in the finals.

Drew Diers also punched his ticket at 195. Diers won his first match by decision, 7-5, but came up short in the finals 5-2.

In the second-place match, Diers was a winner over Ryan Doud of Pekin by medical forfeit.

Highland’s Luke Guseman moves on at 120.

Guseman won back-to-back matches by fall before falling in the finals to Lisbon’s Brandon Paez. Guseman bounced back in the second-place match, winning by fall in 2:39.

Carlos Valenzuela took first overall at 132. Valenzuela had no issues on the day.

Valenzuela won by fall in 57 seconds, by major decision, 8-0, and by fall in 1:14 in the final.

At 138, Jack Peiffer finished second. Peiffer won by fall in two straight matches before falling short in the final to Lisbon’s Tiernan Boots.

Peiffer took the second-place match over Junior Quiroz in 5:03 by fall.

For Cardinal, Isaac Cox advances at 285. Cox won his first match by fall, but was defeated by fall in the final.

In the second-place wrestleback, Cox defeated WACO’s Johnathan Heather by no contest.

Pekin’s Blake Juhl took the top spot at 182. Juhl won all three matches by fall.

Juhl won by fall in 38 seconds, in 1:29 and capped off the day with a 2:26 pin over Ian Udell of Iowa City Regina.