By Becky Walz,
Decorah’s Michael Clement works to get into his offense against Ethan Bergan of Crestwood at 126 pounds in Saturday’s NEIC tournament. (Driftless Multimedia photo by Becky Walz)
In the 78th edition of the Northeast Iowa Conference meet Saturday in Waverly, the Decorah boys’ wrestling team came in second with 207.5 points, behind the host Go-Hawks’ 278.5 points.
Decorah had six gapplers advance to the finals with five taking gold.
The first Viking to win a title was 106-pound freshman Gavin Knutson. He first received a bye, then needed just 55 seconds to pin Waukon’s Garner Lange. It was an even easier fall in the finals as the Class 2A No. 12 wrestler threw Owen Korsmo of Crestwood in 22 seconds.
Mason Avila came into the meet ranked sixth in Class 2A and started the day by pinning Adam Wheeler of Waukon in 53 seconds. In the semifinal, Avila threw Kolby Sprole of Waverly-Shell Rock in 1:23 to set up a dual with Class 2A No. 7 Carter Cajthami. It came down to an 11-5 decision for Avila to secure the title at 132 pounds.
At 144 pounds, Class 2A No. 10 William Fullhart climbed to the top of the podium. In 4:50, the freshman threw Hunter Humpal of New Hampton/Turkey Valley in the quarterfinals and earned a 19-4 tech fall in the semifinal over Jacob Vance of Charles City. In the final, Fullhart put Crestwood’s Kaleb Adams on his back in 3:03.
Brody Hanson had the marquee win in the finals at 157 pounds. Having pinned Cade Carpenter of NH/TV in 1:52 in the quarterfinals and defeating Mekyver Hagarty of W-SR by a 13-2 major decision, the Viking defeated Class 2A No. 8 Karson Kolbet of NH/TV by an 8-0 major decision in the championship bout.
Class 2A No. 8 Thomas Sexton started his title quest at 190 pounds with a quarterfinal bye. In the semifinals he pinned Chase Mwangi of W-SR in 2:45 and survived a final match 4-3 against Zander Wedemeier of W-SR, who is ranked No. 10 in Class 3A.
Will Larson was also in the finals at 138 pounds, falling to Class 3A No. 7 Zane Behrends.
The Vikings will be at West Delaware Tuesday, Jan. 30, in the regional dual competition. Ranked No. 23, Decorah will face No. 13 Benton Community at 5 p.m. A win would put them against No. 4 West Delaware later that evening.
NEIC tnmt. team scores
1. Waverly-Shell Rock 278.5; 2. Decorah 207.5; 3. Crestwood 182; 4. New Hampton/Turkey Valley 175.5; 5. Waukon 127; 6. Charles City 94.5
Individual results
106 – Gavin Knutson, 1st place
Quarters – bye; Semis – WBF in 0:55 over Garner Lange (Waukon); Final – WBF in 0:22 over Owen Korsmo (Crestwood)
113 – Kelton Casterton, 6th place
Quarters – lost 10-3 dec. to Luke Hornyak (W-SR); Cons. rd. 1 – bye; Cons. semi – lost 10-0 maj. dec. to Jayden Mara (Waukon); 5th place – LBF in 0:53 to Trent Murphy (Waukon)
126 – Michael Clement, 3rd place
Quarters – lost 4-0 dec. to Ethan Bergan (Crestwood); Cons. rd. 1 – WBF in 1:18 over Cargin Robinson (NH/TV); Cons. semi – WBF in 5:22 over Lucas Byrnes (Waukon); 3rd place – won 6-4 dec. over Ethan Bergan (Crestwood)
132 – Mason Avila, 1st place
Quarters – WBF in 0:53 over Adam Wheeler (Waukon); Semis – WBF in 1:23 over Kolby Sprole (W-SR); Final – won 11-5 dec. over Carter Cajthami (Charles City)
138 – Will Larson, 2nd place
Quarters – bye; Semis – WBF in 3:11 over Cayden Kruger (Waukon); Final – LBF in 4:48 to Zane Behrends (W-SR)
144 – William Fullhart, 1st place
Quarters – WBF in 4:50 over Hunter Humpal (NH/TV); Semis – won 19-4 tech fall over Jacob Vance (Charles City); Final – WBF in 3:03 over Kaleb Adams (Crestwood)
150 – Kollin Henry, 4th place
Quarters – WBF in 1:12 over Mason McKee (Waukon); Semis – lost 8-3 dec. to Talan Weber (Charles City); Cons. semi – WBF in 1:48 over Jace Pedretti (Crestwood); 3rd place – lost 6-5 dec. to Jax Shekleton (NH/TV)
150 – Daniel See, DNP
Quarters – LBF in 0:28 to Bas Diaz (W-SR); Cons. rd. 1 – LBF in 3:24 to Jace Pedretti (Crestwood)
157 – Brody Hanson, 1st place
Quarters – WBF in 1:52 over Cade Carpenter (NH/TV); Semis – won 13-2 maj. dec. over Mekyver Hagarty (W-SR); Final – won 8-0 maj. dec. over Karson Kolbet (NH/TV)
175 – Bradan Darling, 6th place
Quarters – LBF in 2:44 to Ryley Burington (Waukon); Cons. rd. 1 – bye; Cons. semi – LBF in 1:15 to Porter Behreneds (W-SR); 5th place – LBF in 3:23 to Ryley Burington (Waukon)
190 – Thomas Sexton, 1st place
Quarters – bye; Semis – WBF in 2:45 over Chase Mwangi (W-SR); Final – won 4-3 dec. over Zander Wedemeier (W-SR)
220 – Kaiden Youngblood, 3rd place
Quarters – won 8-2 dec. over Preston McCabe (Crestwood); Semis – LBF in 0:31 to Braden McShane (NH/TV); Cons. semi – WBF over Roy Barron (NH/TV); 3rd place – WBF in 2:38 over Preston McCabe (Crestwood)
285 – Anthony Putnam, 6th place
Quarters – WBF in 3:04 over Awnan Skoda (Crestwood); Semis – LBF in 1:25 to Caden Wetherell (W-SR); Cons. semi – LBF in 3:30 to Isaac Ericson (Waukon); 5th place – lost 1-0 dec. to Awnan Skoda (Crestwood)
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