Beason, Lopez, Kadel to quarterfinals

DDES MOINES - One day of state wrestling has come and gone and three Henry County wrestlers are on to today's quarterfinal round. Mt. Pleasant's Zach Beason (3A 220 lbs.), New London's Marcel Lopez (1A 106 lbs.) and Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union's Jarod Kadel (2A 138 lbs.) all moved one step closer to the podium.

Beason was the first area athlete to advance on Thursday morning. Beason outlasted Clinton's Hunter Randall 4-2 in his first round matchup. Beason, who entered the state tournament ranked No. 6, will have a marquee match with West Des Moine Valley's Beau Lombardi, ranked No. 2 in the weight class, in the quarterfinals.

Lopez, the fifth ranked 106 lbs. wrestler in Class 1A, didn't mess around in his first round match. Lopez advanced by technical fall, defeating fellow freshman Hayden Fischer of AHSTW 17-2 in 3:14. He'll show down with second-ranked Jaymus Wilson of Alburnette for a shot at the semifinals.

Kadel only had to wrestle for a minute and five seconds on day one. That's how long it took him to pin ninth-ranked Sergeant Bluff-Luton's Isaac Bryan. Kadel, the third-ranked wrestler in his weight class, will go at Iowa Falls' Riley Burke for a shot to get back in the semifinal round.

Mt. Pleasant's Nate Wallace went 1-1 on the day. He lost on a 10-2 major decision to sixth-ranked Cedar Rapids Kennedy's Noah Cunningham in the first round but bounced right back in the consolation round with a second-period pin over Waukee's Jermaine Sammler. Wallace, who came in ranked No. 10 in the weight class, pinned Sammler in 2:37, and will wrestle either Kody Cook of Ft. Dodge or third-ranked Caleb Corbin of West Des Moines Valley in the next round.

Three New London wrestlers fell in the first round. Gabe Carter (170 lbs.) lost by 10-3 decision to Missouri Valley's Nick Haynes (ranked fourth), but stayed alive in the consolation bracket with an 8-4 decision over Caleb Peach of English Valleys. Cameron Raines (195 lbs.), was pinned by Alburnett's Kanan Morris (ranked eighth) in 3:48, and then got eliminated by John Fisher of English Valleys, 10-5, in the consolation round. Jaxon Allen lost on a 15-0 technical fall in the third period against fifth-ranked Dylan Obermeier of Audubon, and was then eliminated via pinfall by Isaac Steffans of Postville.

WACO's Jalen Collins still is alive in the 126 lbs. consolation round. He was pinned by top-ranked Lisbon's Robert Avila in the first round, but then pinned Carter Pals of Central Springs in 2:21 to move on in the consolation bracket. Jonah Clark lost both of his matches at 120 lbs., falling to Denver's Jacob Moore (ranked fourth) on a pin in 1:56, and then dropping his consolation match on to seventh-ranked Weston Allen of Underwood via a 10-1 major decision.