The Iola High School wrestling program hasn’t had a problem with quality over the past few years as they have routinely sent wrestlers to the state tournament, but they have had a quantity problem with low turnout for the team.
The Iola youth wrestling club could very well have the answer. The club qualified 12 wrestlers for the USA Wrestling Kansas State Tournament in Topeka, March 25-26.
To qualify, the wrestlers had to finish in the top four of their weight class at Saturday’s district meet at Blue Valley Southwest High School.
The 12 qualifiers is the highest in the history of the program. Last season, they qualified six and the year before that, three qualified.
As a team, Iola took 13th out of the 75 District 1 teams.
Dylon Reiter (14 and under, 145 pound bracket) and Trenton Jones (12 and under, 120 pounds) were each crowned as district champions.
William Jay (10 and under, 55 pounds), Cole Mathes (10 and under, 79 pounds), Danny Boeken (10 and under, 150 pounds), T.J. Taylor (12 and under, 72 pounds) and Adam Atwell (12 and under, 100 pounds) each finished as runner-ups.
Braydon Keithly (8 and under, 40 pounds) and Logan Brown (14 and under, 235 pounds) each finished third in their respective weight classes.
Korbin Cloud (10 and under, 61 pounds), Drayden Reiter (10 and under, 100 pounds) and Trenton Varney (12 and under, 130 pounds) each finished fourth in their brackets.
T.J. Cash, Austin Crooks, Bryce Walden and Thomas Hall also competed at the district meet for Iola.
Out of the over 9,000 youth across the state of Kansas that wrestle, only 1,500 qualify for the state tournament.
The 12 Iolan wrestlers will compete against the other top 16 wrestlers in their weight class and age bracket at the state meet held in the Kansas Expo Center.
HOW TO SUPPORT
The Youth Wrestling Club is having their final fundraiser of the season this Saturday to help with the expenses of the state trip.
