The 2022 Iowa High School Wrestling Championships descended upon Des Moines last weekend for its annual Thursday through Saturday run, and 12 KQ-area athletes found themselves competing in the best high school state tournament in the country.
Webster City saw the most successful run of the 4 area schools, with all 4 athletes wrestling in some fashion on Saturday. Senior Cam Phetxoumphone wrestled for his 3rd state title on Saturday night, but was ultimately upset by Greene County’s Kale Petersen to deny Phextoumphone of a 3-peat. Sophomore Carson Doolittle and Junior CJ Hisler would pick up 3rd place finishes, as Doolittle defeated Notre Dame, Burlington’s Kade Dietzenbach in the 113 3rd place match, while CJ Hisler defeated Carter Smuck of Winterset in the 195 3rd place match. Sophomore Jaxon Cherry finished 4th at 220, falling in his 3rd place match to Aiden Morgan of Davenport Assumption.
Clarion-Goldfield-Dows also sent 4 wrestlers to Wells Fargo Arena in head coach Dan Gabrielson’s final state tournament at the helm of the program. Garrett Seaba was the top finisher, finishing 2nd at 152, falling to Vinton-Shellsburg’s Gabe Sanders in the title match. Mack Seaba and Daniel Chavez would place 8th, with both wrestlers falling in their 7th place match. Junior Cale Kirstein did not place at 145, but still managed to pull one of the biggest upsets of the tournament, when he defeated 44-0 Christian Eslick of Roland-Story in the opening round.
Eagle Grove saw 3 wrestlers qualify for the state tournament in Class 1A. Mack Morgan was the top placer for the Eagles, as he finished 5th at 106 pounds. Morgan capped off his tournament with a pin over North Tama’s Case Monat in the 5th place match. Dustin Dawson managed to win his first round match, but fell to eventual state champion Gable Porter of Underwood, before bowing in the 2nd round of consolations. Isaac Olson fell in back-to-back matches in the 220 bracket to end his season.
South Hamilton saw just one wrestler qualify in senior Brent Greenfield at 182 pounds. Greenfield would win his opening match before falling to eventual state champion in Hudson’s Tate Entriken in the quarterfinals. Greenfield would go 1-1 in the consolation bracket, before pinning Lisbon’s Jamien Moore in the 7th place match to claim a podium finish.