Schulte, Swart, and McCormick advance to Saturday's district meet

Last chance to get state finals wrestling tickets
Tickets for the 2005 state wrestling championships will be available at the Waukon Senior High office through this Friday, Feb. 18. Tickets are $7 each. Orders will only be accepted with payment. Tickets will be distributed at the Saturday, Feb. 19 district tournament or can be picked up at the high school office beginning Monday, Feb. 21. All tickets sales are final.

Runner-up effort...
Waukon junior 189-pounder Stephen Swart battles Sumner-Fredricksburg's Blake Suckow during the finals of Saturday's sectional meet. Suckow won a narrow 8-6 decision, but Swart survived to advance to district action this Saturday at Upper Iowa University in Fayette. TEAM SCORES 1. New Hampton 243.5, 2. Osage 209, 3. Crestwood 156.5, 4. Charles City 135.5, 5. Sumner-Fredricksburg 114.5, 6. WAUKON 113.5. As a whole, Waukon coach Greg Adams was pleased with the effort of his charges. "I thought our team competed especially tough on Saturday. They really prepared well, and that included the whole week in practice as well as the day of the meet. They were as intense as I've seen them wrestle. They wrestled hard every round and gave an all-out effort." Waukon was one point out of a fifth place team finish, which can be attributed to the five weight classes the Indians left open Saturday. The 103-pound slot had been open for the Tribe all winter while a trio of other classes - 112, 125, and 160 - were left empty after a handful of freshman finished the season with the junior varsity. Junior Nathan Jones did not compete at 140 due to health reasons. "We had three freshmen that competed on JV for the last two weeks," said Adams. "I'm sure they would've liked to get some sectional experience, but it was necessary to get them some junior varsity matches at the end of the season." Of the nine wrestlers that did hit the mat, six were seeded either second or third. "We had several guys put themselves into position to advance by earning those two and three seeds," the coach added. "In all, eight guys wrestled to their seed or above." Andrew Schulte was one of those Indian matmen to finish above their seed. The 119-pound junior placed second after earning a No. 3 seed. Schulte wasted little time in first round action, scoring a 16-1 technical fall over Matt Manning of Charles City. His 5-1 semifinal win over Crestwood's Johnny Roberts was critical. "Andrew knew he needed to win in the semis against Roberts. Roberts had beaten him by four points in our dual earlier. This was a big win, the one he needed to win," the coach stated, adding that Schulte's offensive minded effort was the key for the win. Schulte later fell 5-2 to New Hampton's Russell Evans in the finals, but he still advanced to district action with a runner-up standing. Junior Stephen Swart also finished second at 189 to stay alive for another week. He won a 7-1 decision over New Hampton's James Schilling in the semifinals before falling 8-6 to seventh-rated Blake Suckow of Sumner-Fredricksburg. "Stephen was seeded second and held his seed in convincing fashion. He dropped a narrow decision to Suckow, who only has two losses for the year," Adams mentioned. At 215, Kale McCormick grabbed a district berth, finishing second to sixth-rated Kyle Slifka of Crestwood. The junior pinned Brad Evans of Osage in the semifinals and then suffered a loss by technical fall to Slifka in the finals. McCormick then pinned New Hampton's Marcus Roths in a wrestle-back to claim second. "Kale was a number two seed, too. He had some big wins," the coach added. "In his first match, he had to battle off his back for a pin. Later he had to beat Roths in a wrestle-back situation." A trio of Indians were just short of advancing to district action. Juniors Ryan Berns, Mason Berns, and Derek Wicks all finished third. Ryan Berns suffered a pin in the 135-pound semifinal and then needed only :57 to down Sumner-Fredricksburg's Justin Schick and finish third without the chance to wrestle back. "We were looking for a chance for Ryan to wrestle back, but that chance narrowly escaped him," Adams said. Mason Berns had a disappointing day with his third place finish at 145, however not all was negative for the junior. He pinned Sumner-Fredricksburg's Bill Ganske in 3:33, but lost a 7-6 decision to New Hampton's Jaydon Mitchell in the finals. Moving through the consolation bracket, Berns pinned Charles City's Pete Kloberdanz in 1:33 before losing a 14-0 major decision to Ryan Ketelson of Osage. "Mason had an exciting match with Mitchell in the finals, but it was pretty emotionally and physically draining," Adams pointed out. "In my mind, that match was the district final." The coach also observed that three of the wrestlers in the 145-pound division had state experience. Berns, Kloberdanz, and Ketelson all advanced last winter, however Ketelson was the only qualifier to advance to the district event. "There were three state qualifiers in this bracket and only one advanced. These guys were basically battling for a chance to go to state a week earlier than everybody else," the Indian coach stated. "I know it's tough for Mason to not return to state, but fortunately he's got another year to achieve his goals. I'm sure this will motivate him." Wicks was a third place finisher at 152, posting a first round pin over Nathan Etgeton of Sumner-Fredricksburg before falling to the consolation bracket with a semifinal loss to Kody Koster of Osage. Wicks did pin Mitch Kriener of Crestwood, but was forced to finish third. "I'm sure Derek's goals were higher, too. I think this will motivate him for next year," the coach said. Sophomore Luke Jones took fourth at 130, finishing above his seed and beating Northeast Iowa Conference runner-up Tom Parcher in the process. "Luke has really progressed and developed from where he was a year ago," Adams noted. The sophomore tandem of Matt Tobin (171) and Sean Rea (275) posted sixth place finishes. "Matt's been a real team player. He's also developed a lot in the past year," Adams said. "And Sean has also improved tremendously since last year. He was in a tough class. All five guys seeded ahead of him had 20 wins this year and Sean finished with 19. He did real well for our team, especially when you consider how light he is while wrestling at heavyweight." Complete sectional results are listed below. District qualifiers are also listed. 103 - Open. (1st: No. 3 Lowen Reams, CC; 2nd: Ian Mitchell, NH) 112 - Open. (1st: Randy Evans, NH; 2nd: Tannor Burke, Cre) 119 - Junior Andrew Schulte won by 16-1 technical fall over Matt Manning (CC), won a 5-1 decision over Johnny Roberts (Cre), and lost a 5-2 decision to Russell Evans (NH) to finish second and advance to districts. (1st: Evans, NH) 125 - Open. (1st: No. 7 Brady Schmauss, Cre; 2nd: Theran Goodale, O) 130 - Sophomore Luke Jones won a 13-9 decision over Tom Parcher (CC), was pinned by seventh-rated Casey Mai (NH), and lost a 6-2 decision to Justin Boltz (SF) to finish fourth. (1st: Mai, NH; 2nd: Nolan Hammel, O) 135 - Junior Ryan Berns was pinned by Dustin Balsley (O), and pinned Jacob Schick (SF) in :57 to finish third. (1st: Paul Schuchhardt, NH; 2nd: Balsley, O) 140 - Open. (1st: David Fuller, NH; 2nd: Andy Johnson, O) 145 - Tenth-rated junior Mason Berns pinned Bill Ganske (SF) in 3:33, pinned Pete Kloberdanz (CC) in 1:33, lost a 7-6 decision to ninth-rated Jaydon Mitchell (NH), and lost a 14-0 major decision to Ryan Ketelson (O) to finish third. (1st: Mitchell, NH; 2nd: Ketelson, O) 152 - Junior Derek Wicks pinned Nathan Etgeton (SF) in 2:42, lost by 16-0 technical fall to Kody Koster (O), and pinned Mitch Kriener (O) in 5:45 to finish third. (1st: No. 6 Seth Utterback, NH; 2nd: Koster, O) 160 - Open. (1st: No. 10 Ryan Roths, NH; 2nd: Marcus Ruehlow, O) 171 - Sophomore Matt Tobin lost a 9-5 decision to Jon Yungtum (SF) and lost a 9-3 decision to Dylan Boos (NH) to finish sixth. (1st: No. 3 Vinnie Wagner, O; 2nd: Luke Stika, Cre) 189 - Junior Stephen Swart won a 7-1 decision over James Schilling (NH), and lost an 8-6 decision to seventh-rated Blake Suckow (SF) to finish second and advance to district action. (1st: Suckow, SF) 215 - Junior Kale McCormick pinned Brad Evans (O) in 1:29, lost by 17-1 technical fall to sixth-rated Kyle Slifka (Cre), and pinned Marcus Roths (NH) in :50 to finish second and advance to district action. (1st: Slifka, Cre) 275 - Sophomore Sean Rea lost a 7-1 decision to Blake Rasing (NH) and was pinned by Nathan Rosman Bakehouse (SF) to finish sixth. (1st: Alex Schmidt, CC; 2nd: No. 4. Adam Lueschow, Cre) Schulte, Swart, and McCormick will continue their quests for the state tournament this Saturday, Feb. 19, at the district event hosted by Upper Iowa University, Fayette. Wrestling begins at noon. Schulte's first round opponent is Oelwein sophomore Brad Westendorf. Westendorf took championship honors at 119 at the Oelwein sectional. Other first round action at 119 features New Hampton sophomore Russell Evans and Denver freshman Andy Endorf. Mike Moser of North Fayette is Swart's first opponent for Saturday. Moser was the 189-pound champion at Oelwein and is joined by section runner-up, Independence sophomore Matt Shannon. Seventh-rated Blake Suckow, a Sumner-Fredricksburg junior, remains in the field after winning the New Hampton section. At 215, McCormick's first round draw is top-rated Ben Lehman. The junior from Independence defeated MFL-MarMac sophomore Brian Rodas (fifth-rated) for the section championship at Oelwein. Sixth-rated Crestwood junior Kyle Slifka will also be in the mix after winning his bracket at New Hampton. Top two placewinners in each weight class will earn a trip to Des Moines for the Feb. 23-26 state tournament.