The Class 1A first round and first consolation round  of the high school state wrestling tournament were held Thursday night at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. The crowd size was smaller than usual because of the inclement weather, but the action inside the arena was just as exciting as usual. Twelve wrestlers from Raccoon Valley Radio area schools were in action and three of the 12 advanced the quarterfinal round Friday afternoon. Another four went 1-1 on the day and are alive on the consolation side of the bracket and five area wrestlers went 0-2 Thursday night and have been eliminated from further competition.

Ogden had Austin Flynn (106), Shawn Heaning (120), Austin Lentz (152), and Henry Haglund (160). Flynn opened  with Joel Becerra of AHST (Avoca) and the young Bulldog led 7-1 before losing 11-8. In the first consolation round Flynn met  Tanner Greenwald of Wilton and Flynn lost 8-0 to end his season at 29-11. Heaning wrestled Mitch Van Beek of Central Lyon (Rock Rapids) and needed just 1:47 to win by fall and he moves into the quarterfinals at 21-6 on the season. Heaning’s Friday quarterfinals opponent is Lisbon sophomore Nick Williams, who is 46-5. Lentz took on highly rated Cody Kingery of Underwood and lost 5-0, but he came back to win by fall in 3:30 over Logan Nelson of Clarion-Goldfield to go into the second consolation round with a 3-7 record.  Haglund faced Marcus Siegwarth of Central, Elkader and the Bulldog lost 5-3, but his tournament continues as he won by injury default without taking the mat due to a prior injury to Daniel Bishop of Hinton. Haglund is now 34-7.

Guthrie Center had a trio in action that included Lane Rumelhart (138), Austin Laabs (182), and Cale Crowder (220). Rumelhart and Clarion-Goldfield’s Taylor Lehman were first round opponents with Lehman winning 5-1. Rumelhart lost his consolation match  11-4 to Kerik Bailey of MVAO (Maple Valley) and the season ends for the Tiger at 43-12. Laabs and Derek Kohlmeyer squared off in the first round with Laabs laboring after suffering an ankle injury and losing 16-4. Laabs came back to win by fall in the consolation bracket in 3:22 over James Walter of Alta-Aurelia.  Crowder met Cody Schoop of South Central Calhoun (Lake City) and lost by fall pin 3:33. Crowder won the consolation round match in a fall in 3:12 over Sean O’Neill of Council Bluffs St. Albert.

Panorama also had three wrestlers in Wilson Solorzano (195), Marcus Boldy (220), and Garrett Johnston (285). Solorzano and Matt Montgomery of Lisbon were first round opponents with Montgomery winning 6-0. Wilson’s season ended at 41-15 when he lost to Tyler Larson of Nashua-Plainfield by a 6-1 final. Boldy lost to second rated and undefeated Vinnie Harvey of Ft. Dodge St. Edmond in the opening round by fall in 4:40. Boldy fell in the consolation round by fall in 3:27 vs. Robbie Carrothers of Alburnett to finish 34-24. Johnston and Bryce Brown of Sigourney-Keota squared off with Johnston winning by a 55 second fall to advance to the quarterfinals with a 47-3 record. Johnston takes on #2 and undefeated Landon Paulsen (31-0) in the quarterfinals.

Brett Carstens (132) and Spencer Winnett (170) represented Coon Rapids-Bayard. Carstens dropped his first match to  top ranked and undefeated Carter Happel of Lisbson by fall in 3:12, then lost 5-3 to Nick Mangrich of Don Bosco, GIlbertville to end his season 25-13. Winnett’s first round opponent was Brandon Thompson of Lawton-Bronson and Spencer won by fall in 2:54 to improve to 29-12. Winnett next meets #1 Dylan Windfield of Alburnett in the quarterfinals.

Coverage from the state tournament on the Raccoon Valley Radio stations and on www.raccoonvalleyradio.com resumes with the 2A quarterfinals at 9 a.m. Friday, followed by the 2A second consolation round. The 1A quarterfinals are at 3:30 p.m. with the second round of consolation matches to follow. Semifinals in 2A begin after the 1A quarterfinals. Consolation rounds in both classes will also be held late in the afternoon and early in the evening on Friday. The 1A semifinals are scheduled for 9:35 p.m. followed by third round consolation matches.