By Becky Walz,
Decorah freshman Mason Avila was named as one of the wrestlers to watch for in Class 2A by the Cedar Rapids Gazette Wednesday after the first two rounds wrapped up at the 2023 individual wrestling tournament in Des Moines.
Due to President’s Day, the Driftless Journal was printed prior to the completion of the state tournament and final results will be available in the Thursday, Feb. 23, Public Opinion and online.
Opening days for SW
Class 1A kicked off the tournament Tuesday with the South Winn quartet of Collin Holm (138), Kyle Kuboushek (152), Kaden Bullerman (170) and Parker Timp (195) taking the mats at Wells Fargo Arena. After the first two days, just one of the four are still alive in the medal hunt.
Kuboushek, a freshman, was first on the mat, defeating Kile Bucknell (34-12) by a 3-1 decision to start his quest to the podium. In round two, the Warrior was rolled to his back by No. 3 Carson Klostermann (48-1) in 1:46, falling into the consolation bracket. Day two began with a match with Wapsie Valley’s Garrett Miller with the Warrior trailing 6-4 in the third period, Miller gave up a stalling penalty point followed by a late Kuboushek take down to keep the Warrior’s season alive. In his second match of the day in the consolation bracket, he faced Blaise Beane (35-9) of West Central Valley, who ended Kuboushek’s season by a fall in 2:22. The SW freshman concludes his season with a 37-13 record.
After his first round bye, Holm picked up a 5-3 decision over Hudson’s Ben Holton (40-10) to remain in the championship bracket. In Thursday’s quarterfinal round, Holm defeated Trae Hagen of Wilton (48-5) by a 5-2 decision. Guaranteed at least sixth place, Holm was set to square off with Alburnett’s Body Neighbor (45-4) Friday morning.
Senior Kaden Bullerman opened his state debut with a 5-2 decision over Logan Wearmouth of Martensdale-St. Mary’s. Bullerman fell later in round two in 3:35 to 11th-ranked Jacob Thiry (31-11) of Don Bosco to move into the consolation rounds. Despite his best efforts Bullerman’s season came to an end at the hands of Kaden Stites (37-14) of Alta/Aurelia by fall in 2:51 Thursday morning. He ends the season with a 36-14 record.
Rounding out the Warriors was Timp at 195 pounds who launched his tournament with a fall in 3:41 over Colin Jacobs of Southwest Valley. Unfortunately, the grappler was then pinned by top-ranked Jackson Dewald of Westwood in 1:00. Thursday, Timp picked up the fall over Hinton’s Brooks Binneboese in 5:55 to advance. Down 2-0 to start his second consolation bracket match, Timp fell to Aiden Sullivan (43-12) of Nashua-Plainfield in 2:58 to end his season. The junior wraps up his season with a 20-12 record.
“Collin has been on a mission this season and to see him continue on that path is a pretty exciting thing to watch,” said Coach Jacob Elsbernd after the first two days in Des Moines. “It has also been a privilege to coach Kaden Bullerman for the last four years. The Bullerman family means a lot to our wrestling program and to have Kaden qualify for the state tournament and win a match is a great accomplishment for him. He wrestled well down here and this was an exciting week for Kaden,” said SW coach Jacob Elsbernd.
Viking trio
The afternoon session was filled with Class 2A wrestlers, including Decorah’s trio of Will Larson (120), Mason Avila (126) and Brady Stille (145).
While Will Larson was the initial Viking on the mat at 120 pounds in the afternoon Class 2A session, it wasn’t the start to his tournament he was looking for. The freshman held a point lead entering the third period before falling to Aldin Swanson of Vinton-Shellsburg at the 4:33 mark. Larson moved into the consolation bracket with a first round bye there to live another day. Unfortunately, the Viking finished his season on a 17-2 tech fall to Landen Davis (31-3) to start day two, ending his freshman season with a 22-17 record.
Seeded 17th entering the meet, Avila threw junior Andon Barrick of Iowa Falls-Alden in 1:10 before upending top-seeded sophomore Kaiden Dietzenbach of Notre Dame by a 4-2 decision. Thursday, Avila dropped his quarterfinal match to Jerren Gille (38-4) of Dubuque Wahlert by a 7-6 decision.
Fourth-ranked Brady Stille began his quest for another podium finish with a first-round bye Wednesday before defeating Hudson Scranton of Anamosa by a 6-2 decision. In the quarterfinal, the senior Viking picked up his second win and second decision of the tournament, defeating Caleb Olson (26-3) of Union, 5-2.