December 04, 2024

BOYS WRESTLING: Excitement spreading for NV/OM’s season

All but one state qualifier from last season returns

By Ryan Stonebraker
Wolverine sophomore Ashton Honnold hoists Maquoketa Valley's Brady Davis into the air for a mat return during the state title match in Class 1A at 215 pounds.

Wolverine sophomore Ashton Honnold hoists Maquoketa Valley's Brady Davis into the air for a mat return during the 2024 state title match in Class 1A at 215 pounds. (Caleb Nelson)

The Nodaway Valley/OM boys wrestling team had quite the season a year ago with five state qualifiers and four of them are back for 2024-25. That’s only part of the story.

Returning state qualifiers are senior Trent Warner and juniors Ty Strode, Ashton Honnold and Keyin Steeve. Carmine Shaw, a senior last year, also qualified for state.

Honnold won the state title in the 215-pound weight class and Warner was third at 285 pounds.

Add in a good mix of 11 other returners and a few newcomers and it is easy to see why excitement is spreading across the area for this team.

“We put together a solid dual team last year. We may have a hole or two there, which is odd, but more importantly, we are going to be a very good tournament team this year, and we are ranked in the preseason for that,” said NV/OM head coach Brad Honnold.

Honnold added that wrestling is such that you can’t blame anyone else for what happens on the mat but yourself.

“You toe the line and whoever comes out is the winner,” he said. “We had a great season last year, one for the ages. We are excited for the team we have coming back and to see what we can do this year.”

Warner and Honnold have each garnered interest from colleges and universities in both football and wrestling. They look to be in a position to make runs at state titles again this season. In his state championship run, Honnold went 49-2 last season and Warner 50-3. Honnold began the season four wins away from his 100th win while Warner already hit that mark last season and enters this year with 128.

Steeve (33-14) and Strode (30-18) are joined by Caleb Christensen (31-19), Kasen Hansen (27-19) and Eli Harris (25-23) as wrestlers who come back having racked up at least 25 wins last season. Steeve, Christensen and Strode are all well on pace for 100 wins before graduating.

Honnold thinks that this year his squad can take even more than the five state qualifiers that made the trip to Wells Fargo Arena last year.

“We have had a lot of kids work hard and get in the wrestling room here his fall and everyone has worked hard in the weight room,” he said. “Success is contagious and there are a lot of kids that want to join the ones that went last year (in going to state). We feel that we have six or seven guys that have a realistic chance to qualify for the state tournament this year, and that has a certain buzz to it. We also want to qualify for the regional dual tournament again this year.”

The Wolverines not only qualified for the regional duals tournament last year, they won the Pride of Iowa Conference, finishing 20-4 overall and 12-0 in conference duals. Along the way, the Wolverines won three tournaments, including the conference meet, Tri-Center and Lenox.

Breaking down the lineup, Charles Rudolf, Hansen and Harris are seniors with Warner. Other juniors with Honnold and Strode are Matthew Rudolph, Ayden Goetz and Matthew Nelson. Sophomores are Lawson Jackson, Derek Raasch, Bram Dahl, Caleb Christensen and Jett Christensen.

NV/OM was eager to open the season this week with a Tuesday home meet in Fontanelle. Nostalgic wrestling fans were expected to like the atmosphere. The meet brought Panorama and Coon Rapids-Bayard to town.

This Saturday, the Wolverines host the Coach Riley Invitational. The meet gets started at 10 a.m. with Wayne, AHSTW, CAM, Central Decatur, Creston JV, Mount Ayr, Southwest Valley, Knoxville, Clarinda, Pleasantville, Clarke and Bedford participating.