By Becky Walz,
By a thin 10-point margin the South Winn wrestling team came out on top of the Upper Iowa Conference meet over host MFL MarMac Friday night. The Warriors posted a score of 230, over the Bulldogs’ 220. Finishing third was North Fayette Valley with 147. This marks the first title for the Warriors since 2018.
By a thin 10-point margin the South Winn wrestling team came out on top of the Upper Iowa Conference meet over host MFL MarMac Friday night. The Warriors posted a score of 230, over the Bulldogs’ 220. Finishing third was North Fayette Valley with 147. This marks the first title for the Warriors since 2018.
In addition, six local grapplers earned a conference title, including senior Ethan Maldonado who claimed became just the second wrestler in SW history to win four UIC titles. Fellow senior Logan Hageman also picked up his second consecutive conference crown.
“I am very proud of the entire team for the effort and focus they had during the week and throughout the tournament. It is fun winning as an individual but it’s so much better when you are winning as a team as well,” said SW coach Jake Elsbernd. “We came up short last year after leading most of the tournament. We knew this year would be similar and that it would take a total team effort.”
Atop the podium
Of the 14 wrestlers competing for South Winn, nine made the finals as the Warriors crowned six champions and had 12 of the 14 finished in the top three of their weight class.
After a bye and fall in the semifinal over Postville’s Mohamed Hashi in 32 seconds, Warrior matman Aiden Feickert started the finals with a 6-4 decision over No. 7 Erik Flores of Clayton Ridge at 106 pounds for the title.
Eighth-ranked Ethan Maldonado made his way to the top of the podium at 132 pounds following a quarterfinal round bye and with a throw of Central Elkader’s Nick Deitchler in 40 seconds. It was an 8-4 decision win over Holden Mathis of MFL MarMac in the finals for Maldonado for his fourth conference title.
Collin Holm followed suit in the 138-pound bracket with a bye in the quarterfinal round. The grappler threw Kooper Tweite of Riceville in 2:34 in the semifinal and turned Braeden Ellis of North Fayette Valley in 4:50 for the title.
Earning his 100th win at the conference tournament, senior Lane Quandahl was also crowned the 182-pound champion. A quarterfinal round bye put No. 12 Quandahl in the semifinal versus Riceville’s Anthony Houser who the SW wrestler pinned in 38 seconds. Quandahl needed little more time to put Austin Schlee of MFL MarMac on his back in the finals, throwing Schlee in 1:04.
Logan Hageman and Tony Greve each had round robin brackets en route to their titles. Hageman utilized a trio of falls to win the 195-pound crown, throwing Matthew Praska of Riceville in 1:23; Michael Baumler of North Fayette Valley in 19 seconds; and Taylor Herzman of MFL MarMac in 44 seconds.
At 220 pounds, Greve had a first-round bye, before putting the shoulders of MFL MarMac’s Nolan Lerch on the mat in 1:50. He later pinned his way past Sam Acevedo of Postville in 4:51.
Sectionals
The road to state starts Saturday, Feb. 5.
South Winn is at the North Butler sectional in Clarksville, beginning at noon. Other teams at North Butler are the Bearcats, Columbus Catholic, Denver, Hudson, Nashua-Plainfield, Riceville and Saint Ansgar. The top two teams move on to the team regional meet Tuesday, Feb. 8, at 6 p.m.
The top two grapplers at each weight from sectionals advance to the district meet Saturday, Feb. 12, at Denver at 11 a.m. Teams from the other side of the bracket are AGWSR, Central Springs, Lake Mills, Newman Catholic, Northwood-Kensett, Rockford and West Fork.
The top two place winners from each district move on to state, which is Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 17-19, at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.
UIC team scores
1. South Winn 230; 2. MFL MarMac 220; 3. North Fayette Valley 147; 4. Riceville 96.5; 5. Postville 85; 6. Central Elkader 50; 7. Clayton Ridge 30; 8. Tripoli 22
Individual results
106 – Aiden Feickert, 1st place
Quarters – bye; semifinal – WBF 0:32 over Mohamed Hashi (Postville); final – won 6-4 dec. over Erik Flores (CR)
113 – Bo Wangsness, 2nd place
Quarters – bye; WBF 0:58 over Reese Berns (Central Elkader); final – LBF 1:00 to Keith Anderson (MFL MM)
120 – John Donovan, 4th place
Quarters – won 9-7 dec. over Will Felper (Riceville); semifinal – LBF 0:49 to Tate Germann (NFV); cons. semi – bye; 3rd place – lost 6-3 dec. to Luis Ixen (Postville)
126 – Kaydn Meyer, 3rd place
Rd. 1 – LBF 0:09 to Andrew Heins (MFL MM); Rd. 2 – LBF 0:26 to Nick Koch (NFV); Rd. 3 – WBF 3:33 over Abdi Ali (Postville)
132 – Ethan Maldonado, 1st place
Quarters – bye; semifinal – WBF 0:40 over Nick Deitchler (Central Elkader); final – won 8-4 dec. over Holden Mathis (MFL MM)
138 – Collin Holm, 1st place
Quarters – bye; semifinal – WBF 2:34 over Kooper Tweite (Riceville); final – WBF 4:50 over Braeden Ellis (NFV)
145 – Chance Adam, 3rd place
Rd. 1 – lost 15-5 maj. dec. to Jesse Grimes (NFV); Rd. 2 – LBF 3:03 to Tristan Koehn (MFL MM); Rd. 3 – WBF 3:30 over Isaac Hernandez (Postville)
152 – Kaden Bullerman, 2nd place
Quarters – bye; semifinal – WBF 2:24 over Kenny Kerr (NFV); final – LBF 1:38 to Gabe McGeough (MFL MM)
160 – Levi Lennon, 5th place
Quarters – LBF 1:35 to Dillon Sparrgrove (NFV); cons. rd. 1 – bye; cons. semi – LBF 1:03 to Quinn McGeough (MFL MM); 5th place – won med. Forfeit over Levi Waschkat (Tripoli_
170 – Sam Conway, 3rd place
Quarters – WBF 1:41 over Andrew Pridgen (Riceville); semifinal – lost 7-0 dec. to Giles Cowell (Tripoli); cons. semi – WBF 0:56 over Brendan Wander (NFV); 3rd place – WBF 1:37 over Sean Wilwert (Central Elkader)
182 – Lane Quandahl, 1st place
Quarters – bye; semifinal – WBF 0:38 over Anthony Houser (Riceville); final – WBF 1:04 over Austin Schlee (MFL MM)
195 – Logan Hageman, 1st place
Rd. 1 – WBF 1:23 over Matthew Praska (Riceville); Rd. 2 – WBF 0:19 over Michael Baumler (NFV); Rd. 3 – WBF 0:44 over Taylor Herzman (MFL MM)
220 – Tony Greve, 1st place
Rd. 1 – bye; Rd. 2 – WBF 1:50 over Nolan Lerch (MFL MM); Rd. 3 – WBF 4:51 over Sam Acevedo (Postville)
285 – Ethan Timp, 2nd place
Rd. 1 – won 3-1 sudden victory over Colton Schupbach (NFV); Rd. 2 – WBF 0:43 over Collin Henkles (MFL MM); Rd. 3 – lost 8-5 dec. to Mitchel Marr (Riceville)
Submit A Comment
Fill out the form to submit a comment. All comments require approval by our staff before it is displayed on the website.