Southwest Iowa represented at state wrestling tournament

DES MOINES — Athletes from all over Southwest Iowa competed last week at the 2025 IHSAA State Wrestling Tournament, three area wrestlers ending on the podium after fighting through consolations.

Medalists

Earning medals in Class 1A competition were three seniors — Mount Ayr’s Brock Shaha (120) and Lenox duo Dylan Stein (144) and Chase England (157).

After placing third at state as a junior, Shaha came in seeded third this tournament. The ranking earned him a first-round bye.

In the second round, Shaha won in a 7-0 decision over Nodaway Valley’s Ty Strode.

On the second day, Shaha had a mishap in the quarterfinals, losing in a 6-2 decision to Owen Henriksen of Alburnett. Henriksen went on to take fourth.

Shaha won his next two consolation bouts, pinning Jase Jones of Sumner-Fredricksburg in 3:31 and winning in a 5-0 decision against Wesley Sadler of Lisbon.

In the consolation semifinals, Shaha had a chance to make it to the third-place match, but a defensive bout went to several overtimes as neither wrestler scored. Ultimately, Cooper Hinz of Jesup won in the ultimate tie breaker.

In the final match, Shaha defeated Gage Samo of WACO, Wayland to place fifth.

Stein and England came in seeded seventh and 10th, respectively, each outperforming his ranking.

Stein won his first two matches, a 9-1 major decision over Cash Hatfield of West Branch and a 4-2 decision over Ryan Groom of North Mahaska, to advance to the semifinals.

In the semis, Stein had a 6-1 lead after the first period and was up 7-5 with under a minute to wrestle, but a late takedown by Steve Brandenburg of Lake Mills saw Stein miss out on the finals.

Stein came back to win the consolation finals, qualifying for the third-place match where he fell 13-5 to Lucas Bose of Underwood, taking fourth place.

England pinned his first two opponents, the latter in the final 30 seconds to advance to the quarterfinals.

In that match, he fell to Ethan Christoffer of Don Bosco.

In the consolations, England pinned Devon Blanchard of Nashua-Plainfield to guarantee a podium spot. He lost in his final two matches to claim eighth place.

Creston

The Panthers sent three juniors to the tournament, two of which have been there before.

Lane Travis, 132, and Brodrick Phelps, 138, returned from last season’s meet while Gunner Martwick, 215, was a first-time qualifier.

Travis made it the farthest, falling in the blood round, just short of placing. Last season, Travis took eighth at 113.

Travis won his first bout in a 13-5 major decision over Dane Owen of Anamosa, but fell to the No. 8 seed, Brett Johnson of Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont, in the second round.

In the consolation bracket, Travis won two in a row via decision: 14-8 over Cael Cotter of North Polk and 4-2 over Wyatt Johnson of Cherokee. In the blood round, Kaiden Parker of Oskaloosa, won in a 14-3 major decision. Parker went on to place fourth.

Martwick won two bouts at 215, before being eliminated in the third consolation round.

His first win was a 4:58 pin over Parker Jordan of Oskaloosa. But in round two, No. 3 Lucas Feuerbach of Solon pinned Martwick in the first period.

Martwick rebounded, winning his next bout in a 4:26 pin over Colton Mouw of Sioux Center to stay alive.

Unfortunately for the Panther, H10 foe Coby Pierce won in a 7-1 decision to eliminate Martwick.

Phelps had a tough bracket, only facing opponents seeded higher than him.

He fell in his first two bouts — one to Nile Benge of Winterset in a 10-2 decision and one to Charlie Karam of Solon in a 5:35 fall.

East Union

East Union sent three wrestlers, each being eliminated on day two.

At 106, Justice Norman won two bouts — one over Josh Nelson of Nodaway Valley in a first-period pin and one over Cooper Frost of Wapsie Valley in a 2:51 pin.

He fell to Conner Marrow of Akron-Westfield and ultimately Mason Knapp of West Bend to be eliminated.

At 113, Ty Tallmon lost two bouts to be eliminated. He was pinned in round one by Cael Stricker of Lisbon and was pinned by Kingston Carrigan of Riverside, Oakland in his second bout.

At 138, Joseph Hayes won his first bout before losing two matches to be eliminated.

He defeated Jariyah Bowles of AGWSR in a 3:44 pin before being pinned in 1:58 by Aidan Timm of Belle Plaine and in 1:00 by Dane DeVault of Underwood.

Lenox

In addition to Stein and England, the Tigers also had Wylie Brokaw wrestling.

Brokaw fell in his first two bouts at 150 to be knocked out of contention.

Chance Hoyt of Iowa Valley and William Lawson of Pocahontas Area each pinned Brokaw.

Southwest Valley

Ian Forsythe of Southwest Valley won two 165-pound bouts before being eliminated in the third consolation round.

Forsythe pinned Treynor Cose of Coon Rapids-Bayard in 3:55 in round one before facing Shenandoah powerhouse Jacob McGargill in round two.

McGargill, who eventually placed second, won the bout in a 3:26 pin.

Forsythe bounced back in the consolation bracket, winning in a 7-3 decision over Jaxon Edwards of Central Springs, but was ultimately eliminated by Easton Beyer of Sibley-Ocheyedan in a 14-2 major decision.