Johnson, Ragsdale, Meinders advance to state quarterfinals

By: 
Jake Ryder / Grundy Register Sports

DES MOINES – Dike-New Hartford's Trent Johnson and Jacob Ragsdale and AGWSR's Caleb Meinders still have state title hopes alive after the first day of the state wrestling tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines on Thursday.
Johnson pinned Reno Chiri in 2 minutes, 38 seconds in a 145-pound first-round match and Ragsdale scored a 12-4 major decision over Logan Heaberlin of Belmond-Klemme.
At 220 pounds, Caleb Meinders grinded out a 3-0 decision over Sibley-Ocheyedan's Erick Olvera.
Ragsdale will wrestle Wapello's Devon Meeker (37-7) in a 113 quarterfinal on Friday morning. Johnson draws AHSTW's Joel Becerra (44-9) in the quarterfinal.
Finally, Meinders will wrestle Logan-Magnolia's Drake Johnson (49-3) in a state quarterfinal.
Wolverine 220-pounder Ethan Huntington and 285-pounder Chase Arends are both alive in the consolation bracket after dropping their first-round matches on Thursday.
Huntington bounced back from a loss by technical fall to Sigourney-Keota's Noah Boender to win an 8-7 decision over Logan O'Connor of Lisbon.
Arends was pinned in 1:20 by Iowa City Regina's Jared Brinkman but pinned Riverside's Coy Maher in 3:19 to reach Day 2.
D-NH 106-pounder Zack Nicol was pinned by Alburnett's Jaymus Wilson in the first round and lost a 13-10 decision to Jake Nieman of OA-BCIG in the first-round consolation match as his senior season ended with a 26-18 record.
The Wolverines are tied for ninth place in the team standings with 11 advancement points through the first round and the first-round consolation matches.
SH-BCLUW 113-pounder Ian Showers lost a first-round match with Perry's Kaleb Olejniczak by a 9-3 decision. In the first-round consolation match with Mount Vernon's Ryan Clark, Showers sustained an early knee injury and tried to wrestle through the pain before taking a pin at 1:46. Showers ends his senior season with a 37-8 record and as a two-time state qualifier.

The Grundy Register

601 G. Avenue - P.O. Box 245
Grundy Center, IA 50638
Telephone: 1-319-824-6958
Fax: 1-800-340-0805

Mid-America Publishing

This newspaper is part of the Mid-America Publishing Family. Please visit www.midampublishing.com for more information.