Seven Rams punch tickets to state wrestling

Seven Glenwood wrestlers will compete in this week’s state tournament after a strong showing at the Class 2A state qualifying meet in Glenwood Saturday.

The Rams’ Brody Black (106 pounds), Vinny Mayberry (120), Matt Beem (132), Briten Maxwell (144), Kellen Scott (165), Mason Koehler (215) and Trent Patton (285) all punched tickets to the Iowa State Wrestling Meet at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

At Saturday’s district qualifier in Glenwood, Carroll led the way with eight total qualifiers – four champions and four runners-up – and 215.6 points. The Rams finished second with 168 points.

“We kind of wrestled right as we expected,” said Glenwood coach Tucker Weber. “We didn’t have anybody pull any upsets and we didn’t have anybody get upset as far as making it to the tournament. We kind of wrestled right where we thought we were.”

The Rams had four district champions in Black, Mayberry, Beem and Patton. All three pinned their way to district titles. For Mayberry it’s a fourth straight district championship and state bid for the senior.

Black pinned Bishop Heelan’s Andy Nuno is his final while Mayberry got the fall over Harlan’s Spencer Frink and Beem did the same to Carroll’s Levi Dirkx.

Maxwell, Scott, Koehler and Patton all finished as runner-ups in their respective weight classes.

“Brody had two quick pins, Vinny had two quick pins and Matt had two quick pins so those three were probably the most dominant in their weight classes,” Weber said. “Trent had two pins but had a close one in the finals. We’re trying to get him to wrestle a little bit smarter and understand it’s alright to just win and stay in position because he’s such a hard kid to take down. Mason didn’t have the match he wanted in the finals, but he bounced back 30 minutes later to beat a state ranked kid.”

Glenwood just missed out on an eighth state qualifier in heartbreaking fashion. Drake Buthe, the Rams’ 190-pounder, lost his semifinal match to Carroll’s Quinten Polking major decision but the freshman battled back to win a third-place match over Bishop Heelan’s James

Clearly by fall to set up a wrestleback for second place. But in that match, Buthe came up short to Clarinda’s Bryson Harris for the second time this season in an 8-4 decision.

“We wrestled that kid once early this year and we went to overtime with him and he kind of opened up a little more this time,” Weber said. “Drake’s a freshman at 190 pounds and that’s a tough weight to come in as a freshman. He’s a kid that works hard. Don’t be surprised to see him at the state tournament next year because he’s going to put the work in.”

The Rams open the state meet Wednesday at Wells Fargo Arena. For six of Glenwood’s seven qualifiers, the state tournament is a familiar sight. Mayberry, Beem, Maxwell, Scott, Koehler and Patton all wrestled at state a year ago.

“That’s a huge advantage,” Weber said. “A lot of times for kids that get there the first time, they’re just happy to get there. Now that we’ve been there, our goals are a little higher. We’re trying to get on the podium. And as a team, I think we can bring a trophy home.”

Weber spent most of Sunday scouting his team’s first round – and in some cases, second round – opponents. There are no rematches among the first matches for the Rams, but Weber has been working his contacts for any insights he can gain to give his wrestlers an upper hand.

“On district Sunday, that’s pretty much what I do,” he said. “I look at the matchups and the brackets and try and figure out what we need to do to get seven guys on the podium, and not just on the podium but a few of them have a chance to win state titles.”

No. 3 ranked Mayberry, No. 3 ranked Beem, No. 4 ranked Koehler and No. 8 ranked Patton all received first round byes at state.

Mayberry (33-3) will wrestle the winner of the first-round match between Clarion-Goldfield’s Ryan Hartwig (27-9) and Mount Vernon’s Jack Haugse (29-15) while Beem (35-0) will meet the winner of North Fayette’s Jaxson Lundgren (39-5) and West Liberty’s Briggs Collins (38-13) in the second round.

Koehler (40-6) will face off against the winner of Fairfield’s Dre Smithburg (27-12) and Lucas Feuerbach (40-8) after his first-round bye and Patton (27-4) will meet the winner of the first found match-up between Williamburg’s Carson Grier (20-1) and Davenport Assumption’s Jordyn Allen (21-14) in the second round.
    

In the other first round matches, Black (30-11) opens against West Delaware’s Lucas Peters (20-20), Briten Maxwell (27-15) matches up against Humboldt freshman Jaxson Kirchhoff (37-12) and Kellen Scott (35-7) meets Independence’s Luke Johnson (33-15).

Class 2A District 4 Qualifiers
106: 1. Brody Black, Glenwood 2. Andy Nuno, Bishop Heelan. 113: 1. Jesse Jens, Harlan 2. Lane Elmquist, Audubon. 120: 1. Vinny Mayberry, Glenwood 2. Spencer Fink, Harlan. 126: 1. Tytan Frohlich, Harlan 2. Beckett Hagen, Carroll. 132: 1. Matt Beem, Glenwood 2. Levi Dirkx, Carroll. 138: 1. Cael Nelson, Carroll 2. Kyler Sandholm, Red Oak. 144: 1. Jackson Kinnetz, Bishop Heelan 2. Briten Maxwell, Glenwood. 150: 1. Cooper Ludwig, Carroll 2. Brody McKinley, Harlan.
157: 1. Sir Brandon Watts, Bishop Heelan 2. Owen Klocke, Carroll. 165: 1. Chase Ragaller, Carroll 2. Kellan Scott, Glenwood. 175: 1. Dominick Polsley, Clarinda 2. Kieran Polking, Carroll. 190: 1. Quinten Polking, Carroll 2. Bryson Harris, Clarinda. 215: 1. Karson Downey, Clarinda 2. Mason Koehler, Glenwood. 285: 1. Trent Patton, Glenwood 2. Mason Nally, Clarinda.
The Rams’ four individual champions – 120-pound Vinny Mayberry, 132-pound Matt Beem, 160-pound our young kids look up to them. They show it on the mat.”