North Fayette Valley senior Austin DeMuth won by major decision, 14-3, over Hampton-Dumont’s Trevor Grefe in the opening round of Saturday’s Indee Open in Independence. (Kris Van Sickle photo)
TigerHawks place 3 in top 5 at Indee
By Zakary Kriener
The TigerHawk wrestlers, along with some of the toughest competition in the Upper Midwest, traveled to Independence on Saturday, for the Indee Open.
Johnny Wonder placed fourth at 120 lbs. After receiving an opening-round bye, he picked up a 18-2 tech fall over Linn-Mar’s Charlie Peterson. Wander was pinned in the semifinal and third-place match by Brandon Mayer of Crestwood and Dylan Kleinschmidt of Cedar Rapids Prairie, respectively.
Upper Iowa University wrestling recruit Zach Bruns rallied to a third-place finish at 160 lbs. After receiving a bye in the opening round, he picked up an 11-3 major decision over Justin Woods of Osage, and then was beat by Independence’s Jake Juhl in overtime, 4-2. Bruns fired back in the third-place match, recording an 11-4 decision over Algona’s Josh Strohman.
NFV 182-pounder Nick Baumler wrestled his way to a fifth-place finish with a 16-3 major decision over Joe Malecek from Osage in the first round. Baumler lost a tough 7-1 match to Jarod Cadena from Cedar Rapids Prairie. In the consolation semifinals, Baumler recorded a 14-2 major decision over Independence’s Logan Williams. He closed out the day by bearing Austin Hoyle of Alburnett, 7-6, in the fifth-place match.
As a team, the TigerHawks placed 12th in the field of stout teams. Apple Valley, which is the number one-ranked AAA school in Minnesota, captured the team title with 230 points over Cedar Rapids Xavier (no. 4 in 3A), Independence (no. 8 in 2A), Osage (no. 6 in 2A), Alburnett (no. 1 in 1A), Crestwood (no. 10 in 2A), Hampton Dumont, Linn-Mar (no. 7 in 3A), and Sumner Fredericksbburg (no. 9 in 1A).
NFV will be back in action on Friday, traveling to New Hampton for a dual meet. The TigerHawks will then travel to Calmar on Saturday for the South Winn Invite.