Trio of Rams into semifinals at state wrestling meet

After two days of competition, Glenwood’s Vinny Mayberry, Matthew Beem and C.J. Carter have advanced to the semifinals at the Iowa State Wrestling Meet in Des Moines.

The Rams trio are all 2-0 and targeting top four finishes at state.

The No. 2 seeded, 120-pound Mayberry pinned Vinton-Shellburg’s Aldin Swanson in 1:20 in the second round and then held off No. 7 seeded Carson Less of West Delaware to reach the semifinals.

Beem, the No. 2 seed at 132 pounds, needed just 1:17 to pin Ballard’s Tucker Vitzhum in his opener to set up a match with No. 7 seeded Cadyn Wild of Davenport Assumption. Been battled the sophomore to extra-time, winning 9-7 in sudden victory.

Carter, who entered as the No. 3 seed at 195, picked up a 15-3 major decision victory over Jacques Zomemaand of Sioux Center on Wednesday before knocking off No. 6 seeded Will Ward of West Delaware in the quarterfinals.

All three will wrestle in Friday’s semifinals with a spot in Saturday night’s finals on the line. Carter faces off against No. 2 seed C.J. Hisler of Webster City while Mayberry meets No. 6 seed Gavin Jensen of Williamsburg and Beem faces No. 3 seeded Anders Kittelson of Osage.

Both Beem and Carter finished as runners-up at last year’s state meet.

Mayberry, Beem and Carter aren’t the only Rams still competing for hardware.

Mason Koehler, the Rams’ No. 9 seeded 220-pounder, won his first two matches before running into top seeded Nick Reinicke of Dike-New Hartford in the quarterfinals. Reinicke pinned Koehler in the second period to send the freshman to the consolation bracket where he remains in contention for third place.

Ram heavyweight Trent Patton won his first match before falling to West Delaware’s Cameron Geuther, the top seed, and the consolation bracket. Patton can place as high as third with a strong finish to his state meet.

The Rams’ Briten Maxwell (126), Reese Fauble (145) and Kellen Scott (160) were eliminated on Thursday after going 0-2 at state.

Osage sits atop the 2A team standings after two days with 92.5 points. Glenwood is currently tied at 16th with 44 points.

Wrestling continues in Class 2A on Friday at 1:30 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena.