Schulte, Swart on to state!

Of the Tribe’s three district competitors, Swart had the day’s best finish. The junior 189-pounder scored two straight wins to earn championship honors.

Swart opened the event with an 8-2 win over North Fayette’s Mike Moser. In the finals, the Indian wrestler faced a rematch with Sumner-Fredricksburg’s Blake Suckow. Suckow, ranked No. 7, had defeated Swart just a week earlier in sectional action. After three periods, the bout moved into overtime, where Swart scored a quick takedown and took the 7-5 victory.

Waukon coach Greg Adams was pleased with Swart’s championship. “Stephen came out strong against Moser and did what he had to do. In the finals, I don’t think many people thought Stephen had a chance. But, I think this match goes back to sectionals when Stephen kept the score close into the third period.”

Swart managed a pair of takedowns during the bout before sending Suckow to the mat for the winning points in overtime.

Adams added, “Our first goal is just to get guys to qualify for the state meet, but above that, we want to get champions. If you win your district you get to face a runner-up in the first round at state. We want to put ourselves in position to place at state. We always need to be looking a week ahead.”

Schulte made the most of his third straight trip to the district meet. The 119-pound junior handed Oelwein’s Bradley Westendorf a 13-4 loss in the semifinals before meeting New Hampton’s Russell Evans in a rematch of last week’s sectional final. Evans managed to come out on top of a 2-1 decision, but Schulte still advanced to state as the district’s number two competitor.

“Andrew knew his semifinal match was big. He went out and beat Westendorf in pretty convincing fashion and that’s what we’re looking for,” said Adams. “We want to wrestle aggressive and put the match away early. We want the score out of reach by the third period.”

Although Schulte suffered losses to Evans the past two weekends, Adams thinks he’s due to defeat his New Hampton foe. “He had a great finals match and I really feel Andrew can beat Evans the next time around. Andrew’s wrestling very smart.”

The coach added that, after Westendorf won the consolation final, there was no wrestle back opportunity at 119. “That’s the first time in six years we haven’t had to earn a trip to state through a wrestle back. It’s more exciting that way, more decisive.”

Fellow junior Kale McCormick was also on the mat Saturday. The 215-pounder competed in one of two weight classes that featured three ranked wrestlers.

McCormick’s first round draw was top-rated and undefeated Ben Lehman of Independence. Lehman ultimately won by fall in 1:52.

In the consolation bracket, McCormick met a familiar foe in MFL-MarMac’s Brian Rodas. Ranked fifth in Class 2A, Rodas eventually won an 18-8 contest, but McCormick still got some licks in before finishing fourth in the division.

“Kale probably had the biggest challenges of the day to come out and wrestle with the caliber of opponents in his weight class. We wanted to focus not only on winning, but wrestling six minutes without getting pushed around,” Adams stated.

Another priority for the 215-pounder was scoring points, something he accomplished against Rodas. “Kale took him down and kept scoring points throughout the match. I think that’s the best Kale has wrestled against Rodas this year.”

Although McCormick’s season is over, Adams expects good things during the next grappling campaign. “I think Kale is only a fine-tuning away from wrestling and beating guys of that caliber. I think he should have some good motivation for next year.”

As a whole, Adams pointed out that this junior class has taken the reigns of the program this winter. “These guys took the lead. They did more work this year, more running, lifting, and drilling and that brings benefits to guys who are committed to being good wrestlers,” the coach said. “One of our goals was to qualify multiple wrestlers for state and we did just that. We want to continue that trend and from the work these guys are putting in, I expect that to continue.”

In district team scoring, New Hampton was first with 138 points while MFL-MarMac was a distant second with 74.5. Osage was third with 70, Independence and Crestwood tied for fourth with 68.5 points each and Denver-Tripoli was sixth with 43. North Fayette took seventh with 38 and the Indians were eighth with 29 points. Charles City finished ninth with 21 points, Sumner-Fredricksburg was tenth with 11, and Oelwein was 11th with eight points.

Both Schulte and Swart will make their state debut Wednesday, Feb. 23 during the 6:30 p.m. session.

Schulte’s (30-9) first round draw is Waterloo Columbus sophomore Alex Hansen. Hansen is 18-9 for the season. Winner will advance to face the winner of the bout featuring fourth-rated junior Mark Beatty (Maquoketa Valley, 28-1) and Glenwood junior Drew Langel (29-10). Losers from these two matches will face in the consolation bracket.

Swart (22-8) will match talents with Algona sophomore Kyle Simonson (9-5) in the opening bout. Winner will face either Eddyville-Blakesburg senior Nathan Gilliand (25-3) or fifth-rated Ty Copsey, a Glenwood junior with a 34-6 season mark. Losers from these two matches will also face each other in the consolation bracket.

Class 2A quarterfinals and second round consolation action will begin Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. Semifinals and third round consolations for the class will be Friday from 2:15 to 3:30 p.m. Consolation semifinals for all three classes will be Friday night from 7:15 to 9:45.

Consolation finals will begin Saturday at noon for all classes. The tournament’s grand march will be at 5:45 p.m. Saturday evening with championship matches to follow.