State wrestling tournament starts Thursday

DES MOINES - It's almost that time. The best wrestlers in the state of Iowa will gather on Thursday for the biggest weekend of the year, the state tournament.

Henry County has nine competitors this year, and if it's like recent years, the County will have plenty to cheer for when the bigger matches happen on Friday and Saturday.

Mt. Pleasant's duo will be the first ones up. Class 3A begins on Thursday morning at 9 a.m., and that means it's go time for seniors Nate Wallace and Zach Beason.

Wallace will enter the tournament as the 10th-ranked wrestler in his weight class. He will open things up with Cedar Rapids Kennedy's Noah Cunningham, who comes into the weekend ranked sixth.

Top-ranked Deville Dentis of Des Moines East will likely be waiting for the winner. He will wrestle Waukee's Jermaine Sammler in the first round on Wallace's side of the bracket.

Beason comes into the 220 lbs. bracket ranked No. 6. He will face unranked Hunter Randall of Clinton. The winner will get either second-ranked Beau Lombardi of West Des Moines Valley or Cedar Falls' Collin Bohnenkamp.

Class 1A will kick off at 1:30 p.m., and that session will feature the most Henry County athletes of the weekend. New London's Marcel Lopez, currently ranked No. 5 at 106 lbs., is one of the area's favorites for a deep run. He will face Hayden Fischer of AHSTW in the first round. The winner will take on either second-ranked Jaymus Wilson of Alburnett, or Ethan Maldonado of South Winneshiek.

Other Henry County wrestlers competing in the afternoon session are WACO's Jonah Clark at 120 lbs. and Jalen Collins at 126 lbs., both unranked. New London will have three more wrestlers going later in the session, with Gabe Carter at 170 lbs., Cameron Raines at 195 lbs., and Jaxon Allen at 220 lbs.

Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union's Jarod Kadel will begin his weekend in the 2A session, which begins at 6 p.m. Kadel will come in as the third-ranked wrestler at 138 lbs., the county's highest-ranked competitor.

Kadel, who comes into the tournament undefeated, will take on Sergeant Bluff-Luton's Isaac Bryan in the first round. Bryan is ranked No. 9. The winner will face off with either Hunter Shaw of Cherokee, or Riley Burke of Iowa Falls. Both Shaw and Burke are unranked.

The quarterfinals and consolation rounds will take place on Friday during the day. Class 3A's semifinals will begin in the evening, with the other two classes going at night. On Saturday, the consolation bracket will wrap up in the morning before the grand finals at 6 p.m.