The high school wrestling postseason began on Feb. 6 for Greene County, and although the outcome at the Class 2A Sectional tournament in Perry wasn’t what the Rams had hoped for, they did advance three sectional runners up to the 2A District tournament in Webster City on Saturday, Feb. 13 at 12 p.m. The first and second place finishers at the district qualify for the State meet in Des Moines at Wells Fargo Arena Feb. 18-20.
Senior Tommy Bradshaw lost for the first time this season when he was pinned in 4:39 by Weoodward-Granger senior Race Brant in the 152 lbs. title. Both are two-time State qualifiers that had met earlier this season. Bradshaw (37-1) won the first meeting by technical fall in December and he led 3-1 Saturday before being reversed and pinned. Bradshaw had to wrestle-back for second place and won by a quick fall in 34 seconds over Gilbert’s Russell Gennett for his 146th career victory.
Sophomore Kane Borgeson (17-10) battled an injury the last month of the season, but he finished second on Saturday at 113 lbs. to W-G’s Ty Turner without having to wrestle more than twice. After a 6-2 win in the semi-finals over Eric Davis of Gilbert, Borgeson lost a 13-5 major decision in the finals to Turner. Davis won the consolation match and since Borgeson already had a win over the Gilbert Tiger, no further action was needed.
Junior Isaiah Yoder (160) joins Borgeson and Bradshaw as district qualifiers. He was second to Southeast Valley (Gowrie) freshman Kyler Jondle on Saturday and is 36-15 this season. Yoder won 8-3 in the semifinals before losing a 10-1 major decision to Jondle in the finals. A second place wrestle back match saw Yoder win 7-4 over Jared Rotert of Kuemper Catholic to advance to Webster City.
2015 State qualifier Hunter Ruth came up a bit short in his bid to return to Des Moines. The junior at 195 lbs. was the top seed Saturday despite entering the day with a 13-14 record. He won by a 14 second fall in the semifinals before losing consecutive close matches to finish in third place. Chris McGuire of Gilbert scored a late takedown to win 3-1 over Ruth in the finals, then the Rams lost 6-5 in the second place wrestle back match vs. Issack Anderson of Kuemper Catholic.
Three other Rams wrestled on Saturday. Sophomore Cayden Gerdes (132) and senior Mark Kendall (170) were both fifth, while sophomore Isaac Ireland (138) was sixth.
Perry won the Sectional with 228 points and Gilbert was second with 205. Woodward-Granger scored 176 with Kuemper Catholic (Carroll) at 163.5, Southeast Valley (Gowrie) 138, and 83 for the Rams.