District Wrestling Preview

We're one step closer to the state wrestling tournament as the district tournament takes place Saturday all across Iowa.

As of now, three wrestlers are scheduled to compete for Red Oak.

Tanner Mertz (106-lbs.), Geoff Sellers (126-lbs.) and Jon Sands (160-lbs.) will be competing for the Tigers at the 2A District 5 meet in Harlan Saturday.

Mertz will enter as the second seed in the 106-lbs. bracket as he faces OA-BCIG's Jake Wulf in the semifinals. The other semifinal match-up will be Devil Phaly of Sergeant Bluff-Luton versus Nick Rounds of Missouri Valley.

All four wrestlers in this bracket have at least 30 wins. Also, two of the wrestlers are freshmen, while Mertz and Phaly are both sophomores.

Sellers is the No. 2 seed in the 126-lbs. bracket as he takes on Dylan Forkner of Greene County. The other semifinal match will be Chase Goodman of South Central Calhoun against Cole Race of Clarinda.

There is the possibility of Sellers facing Goodman in the district championship match. It would be a rematch from 2011 when Goodman won in overtime to win second place in the district tournament.

Sellers has had close calls, but this is his final chance to make the trip to Des Moines. Three of the four wrestlers in the 126-lbs. bracket are seniors. Only Forkner is a junior.

Sands enters the district tournament as the fourth seed as he takes on Tyler Kutz of South Central Calhoun. The other semifinal match will be Adam Zaccone of Harlan against Dylon French of Bedford/Lenox.

With his success last week at sectionals and a couple weeks ago at the Hawkeye Ten Tournament, Sands hopes to keep the momentum rolling to get to the state tournament.

Class 1A District 7

Griswold and East Mills will be well-represented when they compete in the District 7 tournament in Corning. Both teams have five wrestlers competing.

Competing for Griswold will be Zach Vance (126), Austin Dollen (132), Tanner Potter (138), Josh Metheny (145) and Jacob Steinbeck (285).

Competing for East Mills will be Lane Stortenbecker (138), Josh Hopkins  (152), Colby Jennings (170), Colton Story (195) and David Howell (285).

In the 285 bracket, Howell will face Panorama's Garret Johnson, while Steinbeck takes on Guthrie Center's Dillon Suhr.

Meanwhile at 138, Stortenbecker will face Panorama's Hunter Grunsted, while Potter faces Nodaway Valley's Jared Thompson.

For Griswold, Vance enters as a four seed as he faces Mount Ayr's Grant Staats. The other semifinal at 126 will be Tucker Patrick of Guthrie Center versus Andrew Foutch of Underwood.

Dollen's match at 132 will be against Mount Ayr's Erik Freed. The other semifinal will be Guthrie Center's Kyle Chalfant against Riverside's Clay Harris.

Metheny will take on Ryan Joint of West Central Valley in the 145 semifinals. The other match in that class will be Nodaway Valley's Jayden Erlandson against Underwood's Cody Kingery.

For East Mills at 152, Hopkins will face Guthrie Center's Gavin Laughery. The other semifinal match is Kain Queck of Nodaway Valley against Nate Dunning of St. Albert.

Jennings will face Bryson Kinyon of East Union in the first 170 semifinal. The other semifinal will feature Austin Laabs of Guthrie Center against Payton Housman of Riverside.

The 195 bracket will feature Story taking on top seeded Taylor Hein of Panorama. Cale Crowder of Guthrie Center and Sean O'Neill of St. Albert will be the other semifinal.

The top two wrestlers from each bracket in the district meet will advance to the state tournament. The starting time for all the district meets will take place at noon.

Editor's Note: The district brackets are up to date as of Friday 9:15 a.m.