Akron-Westfield to take three district champs to state wrestling

(Photo By Roy Tucker) Akron-Westfield’s Jadyn Friedrichs wrestles Sioux Central’s Keagan Riley in the 126 pound first place match at Saturday’s district meet. Friedrichs won the match as he is one of three Westerners who won their divisions to advance to state.

HULL — The Akron-Westfield wrestling team got three Class 1A District 11 champions on Saturday as that trio advances to the state tournament.

At 113 pounds, Cael Morrow will make the trip to Des Moines for the third time. His first two appearances came at the 106 weight.

Morrow received a bye all the way to the semifinal round. There, he picked up a 50 second win by fall over Kingsley-Pierson’s Jesse Chinn. In the first place match, Morrow outscored Caleb Swedin of Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire for an 18-2 technical fall win. It was a rematch of the GTRA Invitational first place match which Morrow won by a 10-3 score.

Morrow takes a 34-1 record to the state tournament. He has not lost to an Iowa wrestler this season as his lone loss came against a Nebraska wrestler.

The Westerners got their second state qualifier at 126 pounds. Jadyn Friedrichs won all three matches to advance to state. The first was a 1:41 win by fall over West Sioux’s Ethan Schurman. In the semifinal round, Friedrichs won an 8-1 decision over Joel Carranza of Pocahontas Area. In the first place match, Friedrichs won a 13-8 decision over Sioux Central’s Keagan Riley. It was the second win for the Akron-Westfield wrestler over Riley this season after beating him 11-5 in the first place match of the Paul Fuhrman Invitational in December.

Friedrichs enters state with a 39-3 record.

Ian Blowe provided the other first place finish for the Westerners in the contest. He got wins by fall in the first minute of his quarterfinal and semifinal matches. He pinned West Sioux’s Daniel Avila-Silvas to start and then took down Treyton Kleve of GTRA. In the first place match, Blowe claimed victory by injury time over Alex Welander of Pocahontas Area. It is a repeat trip to state at 195 for Blowe as he takes a 24-5 record to Wells Fargo Arena.

No one else on the team earned a placing finish at the district meet. The only other team member to win their quarterfinal round match was Michael Varns at 152. He pinned West Sioux’s Zac Finzen in 4:28, but then lost his semifinal and consolation semifinal matches by fall to be knocked out of state qualifying contention.

The trio of Westerners to advance to state will begin competition on Wednesday morning.

Team scores: Kingsley-Pierson 157, West Sioux 140, Pocahontas Area 126, Woodbury Central 123.5, Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire 101, Akron-Westfield 83.5, Alta-Aurelia 75, Sibley-Ocheyedan 64, Western Christian 48, Sioux Central 47.5