WARRIOR WRESTLERS SECURE 1ST PLACE WIN IN OKOBOJI

Warriors strike Gold in Okoboji, taking 1st place at the Okoboji/HMS Invitational with 197 total points in a field of ten teams. With 21 pins, 3-2nd place finishers, 6-3rd place finishers, 1-4th place finisher, and 1-5th place finisher, the Warriors towered above the other attending teams.

At 120 lbs Thomas Pruitt took 2nd place to Reid Persinger of West Sioux, Howarden IA, after pinning his semi-finals opponent the #2 seed Sam Katter of Garner- Hayfield/Ventura, IA Brayden Gilb, unseeded with a 1st round bye, took 1 minute and 5 seconds to pin Caden Zotz of North Union, IA to earn his way to the semi-finals where he would meet #1 seed Caleb Swedin of Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire, IA. Gilb would fall to Swedin and start his work in the wrestle backs pinning his way to a 3rd place finish with pins over Noah Garcia of Sioux Central, and Senior Michael Gonnerman of Okoboji IA.

Teague Meyer in the 132# bracket suffered a quarter final loss to Tyce Hansen of Okoboji and would work his way back to 3rd place with 2 pins, and a decision over #1 seed IA state qualifier Jacob Larson of West Hancock in his finals match.

Denver Ash, the only wrestler in the Warrrior program to be seeded in the tournament, pinned his way to the finals bout where he fell to the #1 seed Teague Smith of West Hancock, taking second place.

Aiden Lorenzen, unseeded, won his quarterfinals match with a pin against Evan Boothroyd of West Hancock. Lorenzen’s semifinals match went to overtime against the #2 seed Dawson Beyer of Sibley Ocheyeden where Lorenzen would score a takedown and a nearfall to secure his trip to the finals with a score of 7-3. Lorenzen fell to Dustin Van Oort of West Sioux in the second period earning a 2nd place finish.

Owen Olsem at 150lbs, after losing his quarterfinals match to Kayne Julius of Sibley/ Ocheyeden by fall in the first period would go on wrestling back to third place with 2 major decisions and a pin.

Quintin Lewis at 157 lbs. pinning his way to the semi-finals with a victory over Alex Rouse of Okoboji would fall to Kellen Smith of West Hancock sending him to the wrestlebacks where he would pin his way to third place over Drake Lynott of West Sioux, and Gavin Casey of Sioux Central, taking third place.

Noah Mathiowetz found his way to 5th place with a win in the championship quarter finals over Senior Omar Rivera of West Sioux, but fell to the #2 seed Kaden Kral of Garner/ Hayfield/Ventura in the semi’s. Losing his quarterfinals match to Draven Keeler of North Union sent him to the 5th place finals where he would take 5th place overall with another fall against Omar Rivera.

Luke Iverson, with a 9 man bracket at 175 lbs, took a first round pin then won his way to the semi-finals with a 5-4 decision over the #2 seed Kain Clinkenbeard of Spirit Lake. Iverson lost his semifinal match to James Gellerman of Okoboji, but wrestled back to an eventual 4th place finish for the day with another win over Lucas Dreyer of North Union.

Carson Klein, at 190, had a 1st round bye and in the quarter finals took Dominic Marco of Sibley/Ocheyeden to the mat for a pin in the first period. The semi-finals round didn’t go quite as well, as Carson suffered a decision loss to Parker Mortiz of Garner/Hayfield/Ventura. In the consolation round Carson did excellent, pinning his way to a third place finish.

For the Heavyweight bracket, the Warriors depended on Colby Kesteloot to anchor the team and he did. Winning his quarter final round with a 2nd period pin he went on to a 5-2 decision loss against David Smith who took 6th last year in the Iowa state tournament. Colby had a very exciting match for his consolation semifinal going into triple overtime and winning with an escape and a penalty point. Colby’s final match for 3rd place he took with an 8-4 decision.

On December 7th the Warriors traveled to Mountain Lake for a quadrangular against Marshall, Adrian, and Windom/Mountain lake.

First up were the Adrian Dragons and we had Adam Iverson at 107 to collect a forfeit and the first 6 points for the Warriors. At 114 Kaston Clarke stepped to the mat against Logan Grahm and suffered two double leg takedowns which he was able to defend the first with an escape and the second with a reversal and started the second period with a 3-2 deficit. At the whistle, starting in down position Kaston scored on an escape tying the score. Grahm scored on a single leg and then scored backpoints on Kaston with a cradle of which Kaston was able to defend and scored an escape. The third period Kaston held Grahm scoreless and held on for a decision loss with a final score of 10-5.

With a loss at 121 by Thomas Pruitt with a pin by Moe Erdman, Brayden Gilb took to the mat against Travis Weiss and went the distance only allowing a major decision.

Teague Meyer and Charger Erlandson at 133 had a scoreless first period and the 2nd period Erlandson led the scoring with an escape from bottom and a takedown going into the 3rd period with a 3-0 score. Teague starting bottom in the 3rd scored his own escape making the score 3-1 and it came down to a scramble at the end of the third period and this time Erlandson came out on top winning with a takedown and a 5-1 decision.

Denver Ash at 139 wrestled very well for three periods against Jackson Jenniges, but only scored 2 on a reversal in the second period ending the match with a 9-2 decision in favor of the Dragons.

Aiden Lorenzen started the scoring again against Jesse Bullerman with a blast double then swimming up to a butcher for a three point nearfall. After releasing the butcher Lorenzen caught a reverse half for another 2 nearfall points. The second period was all Lorenzen again, scoring on a high crotch then getting the half on for the pin and 6 team points.

The mighty Owen Olsem went 3 periods with Bruce Farinella and scored 3 points with a takedown in the second period and an escape in the third period for another 3 point decision.

“Q” Quintin Lewis went three periods with Rilee Heidebrink unable to score. Rilee scored on an escape in the 2ndperiod and Lewis rolled out for a reversal just as time expired and suffered the decision loss.

“IVY” Luke Iverson took Micha Bullerman on a scoring ride going 14-4 with a major decision. Iverson scored first on a single leg takedown and got a half in for a nearfall. The second period Iverson starting on bottom, spun out for a reversal and scored on an armbar and a half for a 3 point nearfall. Third period the flexible Iverson scored a two point reversal on a go behind and Bullerman reversed as well, scoring his only two points of the bout. Iverson would get another three on a nearfall before the match ended.

After Carson Klein suffered a loss by pinfall to Reese Morrison Colby Kesteloot took a 3-1 loss to Roberto Hernandez-Nelson. Final score Dragons 40, Warriors 16 Next up were the Marshall Tigers and the Warriors put up a good fight. After Kaston Clarke fell to Lincoln Christenson in the first period, Thomas Pruitt fell to Levi Kraft with 1 minute left in the 3rd period. With the 127 weight open, Brayden Gilb received a forfeit, then Teague Meyer had a very competitive match in the 133 bout against Landon Marthaler, but ended up with a 3-4 decision loss.

After a loss in the 139 bout “Cowboy” Aiden Lorenzen took to the mat with Drew Chandler. After suffering a takedown in the first period Lorenzen started scoring and didn’t stop scoring on a single leg takedown and allowing an escape in the second period. They started the third period 3-2 in favor of Chandler. Starting on bottom, Lorenzen scored on a go behind reversal then went to work on his pinning combination and ended up with 3 nearfall points before the whistle blew winning the match with a 6-3 decision.

After a loss in the 160 bout, Luke Iverson took till the third period and scored a fall against Matthew Her.

Carson Klein and Colby Kesteloot at 189 and 285 both suffered losses. Klein by pinfall and Kesteloot by a 1 point decision.

The Warriors VS. Windom Cobras The Warriors dropped their first 3 weights with pins giving the Cobra’s a commanding lead, but Brayden Gilb stopped the bleeding with a pin of his own against Dagen Hansen with a reverse headlock.

Teague Meyer added to the score with a major decision scoring 11 points to Kameron Koerner’s 1.

After Denver Ash lost by major decision to Tucker Renquist, the Cobra’s had 4 open weights giving the Warriors a 34-22 lead.

At 189 Carson Klein took John Berman down and held him there, scoring a pin with 3 seconds left in the first. Another Open weight by the Cobras went to Colby Kesteloot, then Jabian Quintero in his varsity wrestling debut, went 53 seconds against Jeffery Barrios and suffered a pin fall. The final score of the dual was 46-28 Warriors The 2023 Pizza Ranch Invite held in Jackson found 6 of the 10 Warrior wrestlers finding the podium Kaston Clarke 5th Teague Meyer 4th Aiden Lorenzen 4th Quintin Lewis 2nd Noah Mathiowetz 5th Carson Klein 4th Up for the Warriors this week will be a triangular at Red Rock Central on the 14th and the Redwood River Riot tournament on the 15 and 16th