Columbus/WMU sends 5 to state

WILLIAMSBURG — It was a good day to be a Columbus/Winfield-Mount Union wrestling fan on Saturday, as the Wildcats put five wrestlers into the Top-2 at the Class 2A District 12 meet in Williamsburg.

Columbus/WMU had one first place finish and four second place finishes at the meet. Mid-Prairie sent one through in second.

The lone district champion for the Union area was Daunte Zuniga, who punched his ticket in the 145-pound bracket.

Zuniga won three matches on the day. He got past Tipton’s Wyatt Lashmit on a 3-0 decision and Mid-Prairie’s Landry Gingerich via a 4-1 decision to get into the first place match. In the championship, Zuniga pinned South Tama County’s Jacob Youngbear in just two minutes to finish the day on top of the podium.

Triston Miller is through to state in the 152-pound bracket. Miller won three matches on the day, all in impressive fashion.

Miller’s day started with a pinfall over South Tama’s Anthony Thompson, bating him in 1:17. He made the championship with a 17-0 technical fall over Kael Chapman of Tipton.

After losing 6-3 in the championship, Miller had to win a wrestleback at 152 pounds, and he did so with ease. Miller defeated Levi VanDonsalaar of Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont 16-1 to skate through with his second tech fall of the day.

In the 160-pound bracket, Cole Storm took second with three convincing wins on the day, especially in his first two matches. Storm opened the tournament with a 39-second pin against Oskaloosa’s Brock Beerbower, and then won by tech fall against Tipton’s Braxton Heffernan, 16-0, in the semifinals.

Storm lost the first place match by pinfall, but he had plenty of gas left in the tank, shutting out Cayne Hall of EBF in the second place match to get through to Wells Fargo on a 6-0 decision.

At 220 pounds, Kai Malone picked up two pins in the first two rounds to make state. Malone pinned Tipton’s Cole Kime in 3:43, and followed with a pin against Gavin Vesey of Williamsburg in 5:53.

Malone lost the championship match via an 8-2 decision, but Vesey won the third place match, and Malone was on to state in second place.

Russel Coil needed to win just one match to get through at 285 pounds. It took him just 1:10 to pin Williamsburg’s Trenton Davies in the semifinals.

Coil got caught in the championship match, falling on an early pin, but picked up a no contest for second and became the fifth Wildcat to punch his ticket.

Mid-Prairie’s Terry Bordenave took second place in the 195-pound bracket. Bordenave won just one match on the day, a 16-7 major decision over Williamsburg’s Bryan Riedel.

Bordenave was pinned in the first place match, but didn’t need to wrestleback for second, and he’ll be the Golden Hawks’ lone representative in Des Moines.