Prairie Wrestling

4 Metro grapplers eye state titles

DES MOINES - The emotions will be churning for four Metro wrestlers Saturday night when they join the Parade of Champions at Wells Fargo Arena prior to the final round of the Class 3A state tournament in Des Moines.

But first, they needed to calm their nerves and try to get a good night's sleep Friday after winning in the semifinals.

"Some nights I don't sleep at all and some other nights I'll sleep like a baby," said Taylor Mehmen of Prairie, who will be gunning for the 195-pound crown. "I guess we'll see when I get back to the hotel."

Clint Lembeck of Xavier (138), Logan Rodriguez of Kennedy (152) and Shea Hartzler of Linn-Mar (160) also will be battling for state crowns Saturday night.

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6 Metro wrestlers make 3A semifinals

DES MOINES - Six wrestlers from Metro high schools won their matches in the quarterfinals of the Class 3A state tournament Friday morning and will wrestle in the semifinals Friday night at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Sam Uthoff of Prairie (132), Clint Lembeck of Xavier (138), Josh Gehrke of Xavier (145), Logen Rodriguez of Kennedy (152), Shea Hartzler of Linn-Mar (160) and Taylor Mehmen of Prairie (195) are now two victories away from winning a coveted state title.

The Prairie Hawks are tied for fourth in the team standings with 39 points heading into Friday night's action. Kennedy is ninth with 31 points. Xavier is 19th with 19.5 points. Jefferson and Linn-Mar are tied for 20th with 20 points.

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17 Metro wrestlers win state openers

DES MOINES - Seventeen wrestlers from Metro schools won their opening-round matches at the Class 3A state tournament Thursday in Des Moines and advanced to the quarterfinals on Friday.

The Prairie Hawks finished with a 5-3 record in the first round with Conrad Braswell (106), Marcus England (113), Sam Uthoff (132), Morgan Hood (152) and Taylor Mehmen (195) all advancing. Tyler Pasker (220) lost in the first round, but bounced back in a consolation match and stayed alive in the tournament. Trenten Wennermark (126) and Alex Heisdorffer (285) dropped both of their matches for the Hawks and were eliminated.

Prairie is tied for third place in the team standings with 19.5 points with Johnston and West Des Moines Valley. Fort Dodge leads the Class 3A standings with 31 points, with Southeast Polk second at 28.

The Kennedy Cougars had an impressive day in the opening round with Nolan Hromidko (126), Logen Rodriguez (152), Ben Sarasin (160), Garrett Kubovec (170) and Dalles Jacobus (220) all prevailing in the Round of 16. Kennedy is tied for ninth in the team standings with 14 points after going 5-for-5 in their openers.

The Jefferson J-Hawks went 2-2 in the opening round with Joseph Sibomana (113) and Kyle Briggs (152) advancing. Brenden Baker (120) and Nick Dreckman (182) lost in the first round, but won in their wrestle-back to stay alive. The J-Hawks are in 17th place in the standings.

The Xavier Saints went 2-1 in the opening round with Clint Lembeck (138) and Josh Gerke (145) collecting pins. Keegan Schultschik (120) lost in the first round, but won his wrestle-back. The Saints are in 21st place.

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Prairie wrestlers eye 2 trophies at state

Kane Thompson proved you can win two state wrestling titles in one week when he led Alburnett to the state dual meet title and the state individual meet title in 2013 when he was coaching at Alburnett.

"It can be done," Thompson said Monday. "Our community at Alburnett was super-proud of that."

Now he'd like to collect high finishes in both tournaments this week with the Prairie Hawks. He's not predicting state titles, but he does think top-3 finishes in both events - or higher - are possible.

"We have a great opportunity," said Thompson, in his first season at Prairie. "I know the traditional tournament means a lot to the individuals, but I think you can be ready for both."

The Hawks (19-3) will face Johnston (21-2) in the opening round of the state dual meet tournament on Wednesday at 9 a.m. at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. It's a one-day tournament, with the semifinals at 1 p.m. and the finals at 6:30 p.m.

The other first-round matches are Southeast Polk (16-0) against Clinton (16-2), West Des Moines Valley (21-1) against Waverly-Shell Rock (23-4), and Hempstead (27-0) against Indianola (18-2).

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