INDEPENDENCE — The varsity boys took 13th place out of 33 teams competing in the 2023 Cliff Keen invitational wrestling tournament last weekend at the Independence (Indee) High School.
Jordan Schmidt led the Spartans with a third-place finish at 138 pounds.
Schmidt pinned West Liberty’s Enrique Michel (1:22) in the first round and won a 21-6 technical fall over Smithville’s Cannon Hutchcraft in the second before taking a 3-2 decision from Carlisle’s Sevastian Soto in the third round. He defeated CCA’s Nolan Howell with a 2-0 decision in the quarterfinals before falling to Osage’s Blake Fox in the semis. Schmidt bounced back to a 3-1 decision over Algona’s Barrett Morgan in the third consolation round, which earned him a spot in the third-place match where he won an 8-2 decision over South Tama’s MaCael Bear.
“Jordan has put time in this offseason and won some close matches against quality wrestlers,” said Coach Aaron Hadenfeldt. “He’s getting it figured out that he’s right there with the best in the state and the types of matches he won this weekend will be the types of matches he’ll see at the end of the season. The sky’s the limit for that kid.”
Kyler Steapp was sixth at 120 pounds with a second round 15-0 tech fall over Lisbon’s Elliott Moehlman and a third-round win by fall (5:30) over Denver’s Connor McLaughlin. A quarterfinal loss to CCA’s Cale Nash dropped Steapp to the 2nd consolation round where he took a 13-1 major decision from NH/TV’s Landon Bruess before falling 15-5 to Carlisle’s Aiden Serrano in the third consolation round. Steapp fell 8-4 in the fifth-place match to Greene County’s Gavyn Winters. “Kyler is another kid who has put some work in this offseason and he’s getting it figured out,” the coach said. “We’ve got to keep working with him on continuing to wrestle. When he wrestles for six minutes, he’s tough to beat and that will be a focus moving forward.”
Jayden Steapp was seventh at 106 pounds with a first round tech fall (15-0) over Indee’s Zach Homan and a second-round pin (1:48) over Des Moines Lincoln’s Cameron Harms. Steapp pinned Lisbon’s Kyler Happel (1:08) in the third round but fell in the quarterfinals and consolation second round before pinning Harrisburg’s Griffin Felder in 37 seconds in the seventh-place match. “I think he surprised himself this weekend,” said Hadenfeldt. “He’s got a bit of an attitude when he wrestles, and you need that attitude to be good in this sport. He’s another one who maybe saw what he’s capable of and we’ll continue to build on this moving forward.”
Lucas Feuerbach rounded out Solon’s top-ten place winners with his tenth-place finish at 215 pounds. Feuerbach pinned Smithville’s Xander Brown in 16 seconds in the first round. A second-round loss led to a third-round win by fall in 24 seconds over Dubuque Senior’s Rome Freeman and a consolation first round win by fall (2:17) over Crestwood, Cresco’s Preston McCabe. In the consolation second round Feuerbach pinned Osage’s Ledger Nehls (2:35) but lost a 7-5 decision in the ninth-place match.
Lawsin Sinnwell took 11th at 144 pounds with a 6-1 first round decision over Fennimore’s Malin Hahn and a win by fall (3:52) over Pleasant Valley’s Carson Duncan in the second. A third-round loss sent him to the consolation brackets with a first round win by fall (2:31) over Maquoketa’s Pryce Schueller and a third-round win by fall (1:40) over Greene County’s Crew Conner. Sinnwell won the 11th place match by pinning Schueller in 2:30.
Kyler Jensen finished 11th at 190 pounds with a first round 16-second pin over Union, LaPorte City’s Holden Craft and a second round 20-second pin over Dubuque Senior’s Calvin McAvan. A third-round loss sent him to the consolation brackets and a first round 8-1 decision over Fennimore’s Drew Crubel, a second-round loss, and a third round 9-2 decision over Carlisle’s Caleb Nordhagen. Jensen pinned Pleasant Valley’s Nathan Musal (4:57) in the 11th place match.
Charlie Karam was 13th at 132 pounds with a first round 9-2 decision over Smithville’s Vinny Pinzon and a second-round technical fall (18-2) against CCA’s Ben White. A third-round loss sent him to the consolation brackets with an 11-2 major decision in the first round against Vincent McLaughlin (Denver). Karam pinned Harrisburg’s Steven Lamont (3:34) to win the 13th place match.
Grant Wilson was 13th at 285 pounds with a 7-0 first round decision over Milton’s Nate Roddy and a 44-second win by fall over West Liberty’s Julio Flores in the second. A third-round loss sent him to the consolation brackets and a 6-2 first round decision over Alburnett’s Josiah Redel. An injury led to a third-round loss while he won via medical forfeit in the 13th place match.
Conlan Poynton placed 15th at 175 pounds. Poynton lost his first-round match but pinned West Liberty’s Tytan Griffith (3:57) in the second round and Tinley Park’s Quinn Zeman (4:29) in the third round before falling twice in the consolation brackets and winning by medical forfeit in the 15th place match.
Jackson Feuerbach took 19th place at 165 pounds with a second-round win by fall (1:22) over Dubuque Senior’s Maurice Willis, a first round consolation match 2-0 decision over Osage’s Bradyn Blair, a third-round consolation win by fall (1:47) over Pleasant Valley’s Tanner Cournoyer, and a win by fall (1:04) over Union, LaPorte City’s Brock Bergmeirer in the 19th-place match.
Carson Kidwell finished 20th at 150 pounds with a second round 5-0 decision over Denver’s Xander Peterson, a consolation second round win by fall (1:37) over Clarion-Goldfield-Dows’ Mason Warnke, and a consolation third round decision (3-2) over Pleasant Valley’s Camrin Rondeau.
Justin Moore was 21st at 113 pounds with a 9-2 decision over Fort Madison’s Brody Bolander in the first consolation round, Evan Burg was 21st at 132 pounds with an 11-3 major decision over Fennimore’s Dalton Leffler in the third round and a 3-2 win over Smithville’s Vinny Pinzon, and Oliver Owens was 23rd at 190 with a 5-4 first round decision over Alburnett’s River Williams and pinned Smithville’s Trevin Nitsche in 24 seconds in the 23rd-place match. Tyson Wheeler finished 29th at 126 pounds with a win by fall in 3:27 in the first consolation round over NH/TV’s Cargin Robinson.
A weekend of discovery
to build off of
“Overall, it was a positive weekend for us,” said Coach Aaron Hadenfeldt. “We’ve got work to do, but the competition we saw this weekend was as tough as we’ll see all year. Some of our guys saw what they are capable of this weekend and that is big for them mentally. As a team, we need to work on wrestling for six minutes and that means six minutes of pressure. We’ll get there, and we’re going to build off this.”
Upcoming events
Thursday, Dec. 7 – Home meet vs. Prairie, Cedar Rapids and Williamsburg, 5:00 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 9 – At North Cedar tournament (Clarence), 10:00 a.m.
Monday, Dec. 11 – JV boys tournament at Vinton-Shellsburg, 4:30 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 14 – Varsity triangular at Independence, 6:00 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 15 and Saturday, Dec. 16 – Varsity invitational at Fort Madison, 5:00 p.m. and 9:30 a.m.
Saturday, Dec. 16 – JV boys tournament at Wilton, 9:30 a.m.
Thursday, Dec. 21 – Home varsity tournament (Solon Middle School), 3:30 p.m.