Four Wolverine wrestlers qualify for statet

As a result of an impressive showing in the Class 1A District Wrestling Tournament Saturday, the Nodaway Valley/O-M Wolverines have four moving on to the traditional state tournament, which was set to begin 9 a.m. Wednesday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Junior 145-pounder Carmine Shaw and freshman 195-pounder Ashton Honnold advanced as district champions and 113-pound freshman Keyin Steeve and 285-pound sophomore Trenton Warner each advanced as district runners-up in front of a full Adair-Casey/Guthrie Center High School gym.

“We thought we had four who could get through, and they gritted it out and qualified,” NV/O-M co-head coach Brad Honnold said. “We had a couple more we thought we might be able to get through that didn’t, but each member of this team is a piece of the four who have qualified. That’s an important thing to remember.”

Steeve came out of a quarterfinal-round bye at districts to defeat Earlham junior Nathan Hansen by 14-8 decision in the semis. He scored a takedown, reversal and at least two back points in each of the first two periods to build his lead.

Logan-Magnolia junior Gavin Kiger pinned Steeve in 58 seconds in the championship. Steeve then had to wrestle for true second and defeated ACGC freshman Charlie Christensen with a pin in 33 seconds, finishing the job off a quick takedown.

“I had a lot of adrenaline the first match. I was nervous, I’m not going to lie,” Steeve said. “My first match, he was strong and had some technique to him. Kiger got me in the first period. In my wrestleback, I went for throws. I had wrestled him earlier in the season and did the exact same thing. This is really nice to start my high school career with this.”

Shaw quickly racked up the points and ended his match with Noah Driskill of East Union early. He scored a takedown, then 12 nearfall points with another takedown to win a 16-1 technical fall in the quarterfinals. He moved on and pinned ACGC sophomore Jackson Pfrang in the semifinals in 1:46.

In the championship, Shaw took down Logan-Magnolia senior Harley Christensen and pinned him in 1:03.

“My first match I knew would be a fairly easy match. Second match, I didn’t know because I hadn’t ever wrestled him before. I took care of business in that one,” Shaw said. “My finals match, I knew that kid would be tough. I had been studying film on him all week and knew his tendencies, so I took advantage of those in the match and it feels really good to be moving on to state.”

Honnold wrote another chapter to his impressive freshman season by getting a quarterfinal-round bye to start the district meet. He then led 4-2, with a takedown and a reversal into the second period, when he pinned AHSTW junior Logan Heller in 2:40.

In the championship, Honnold used two takedowns and three back points to lead 7-1 following the first period. He kept racking up the points, scoring three more in the second and used two more takedowns and three more back points to lead 17-2, before he was able to pin West Central Valley’s Zach Teague at the 4:56 mark.

“I knew I wanted to prove a point [in the finals] because last week I wrestled him and I might have put up a lot of points, but I don’t think I wrestled my best,” Honnold said. “I wanted to prove I was better than him, so I went out with a vengeance and wanted to destroy him and break him, and that’s what I did.”

Warner overcame a strong 285-pound class to make the state tournament after he was close a year ago as a district qualifier. He won a 3-0 decision against Logan-Magnolia junior Grant Brix in the semifinals.

In the championship, he and ACGC’s Payton Jacobe were tied 1-1 at the end of regulation. Warner escaped him in the second and Jacobe escaped Warner in the third. Jacobe was able to get the takedown in sudden victory to advance as the district champion.

“I’ve wrestled him five times. He just got his second win over me. Every match with him is a really tough match. I was going to stay cautious with my ties and have my hands heavy on his head, try to get slide bys through his legs,” Warner said. “It ended up going to overtime there and he just got me in overtime.”

Coach Honnold said what sticks out to him the most are that three of the four moving on are underclassmen.

“What we’ve preached all year is that we have group of kids who coming into this season, they didn’t have any accolades. Nobody had been any closer than districts. Of the entire group, only one had ever placed at AAU State, so this is a bigger stage for both of them than they’ve ever been in,” the coach said. “Keyin had some nerves and wasn’t feeling well, so I was super proud of him [fighting through that]. When Carmine believes and trusts the coaches, he’s as good as anybody in the state. Ashton wanted to come in and prove a point this week, and I think he did that and really dominated. We’re also super proud of Trent and the way he grinded it out. Jacobe’s a tough kid and we’ve gone back and forth.”

Of those who saw their seasons end at districts, several came away with at least one win on the day, providing a strong motivation and base for their upcoming offseason. These include Dylan Bartles (160) and Ayden Goetz (170). Seniors Colt Slocum (152) and Brandon Raasch (182) also each came away with at least one win at districts.

“Brandon’s been wrestling for us since he was a little kid. He’s going home a senior not qualifying today, but he got two wins on the back side, including a come-from-behind pin, and it’s cool to see that because he didn’t give up. He knew it would be tough to come back but he kept wrestling. Ayden, Colt, Dylan. It’s promising to see because not many guys came in here and went 0-2,” co-head coach Kolby Baier said. “It’s promising for next year, but these guys are still going to be practicing [with our state qualifiers].”

With the state tournament expanded to 32-man brackets for the first time this year, action begins on Wednesday for the first time. The Class 1A session of action is the 9 a.m. session on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Brackets were announced early Sunday.

At 113, Steeve (37-9) is seeded 17th and faces 16-seed Cason Fitch (38-9), a freshman from Colfax Mingo, to start. Also from this area at state in that bracket is 9-seed Max Pollock from Wayne and 5-seed Brayden Maeder of Southwest Valley.

Shaw (33-10) is seeded 10th at 145 and opens with 21-seed Treycen Rollene (17-8), a senior from Northwood-Kensett. Others of note from the area in that bracket are 4-seed Ryan Stortenbecker (52-1) from East Mills and 3-seed Ryan Steinlage (27-1) of Interstate 35.

Honnold (45-4) is seeded sixth at 195. He starts with a first round bye and will get either 11-seed Christopher Waikel (37-9) of Iowa City Regina or 22-seed Corbin HIll (22-14) of Denver in the second round. Other notables from this region at 195 are 16-seed Collin Jacobs of Southwest Valley (32-18), 8-seed Eli Green (26-6) from Interstate 35, 12-seed Jake Cox (30-6) from Lenox and Teague from WCV, who is seeded 19th and 30-16 on the season.

At 285, Warner (40-6) is seeded 11th and opens with 22-seed Vinny Zappia (26-19) of Missouri Valley. Notable from the area are Treynor’s Dan Gregory (37-2), who is seeded fourth, and 21-seed RJ Dishong, a freshman from Griswold (19-11).

Each member of Nodaway Valley/O-M’s coaching staff reached the state tournament when they were in high school. Baier said that for some of this year’s qualifiers, the big stages they’ve already wrestled at in previous levels of wrestling should help them be successful at this state tournament.

“At the state tournament, it goes so fast. Each match is six minutes but it goes by like it’s 30 seconds in your head, it seems like,” Baier said. “We just need to hope we’re ready now. We get two days of practice, then we’re weighing in at 7 a.m. Wednesday. You have to go out and get after it because anybody can get beat in the state tournament.”