A trio of Okoboji/HMS wrestlers competed in Class 2A at the State Wrestling Tournament held February 19-22 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. Chase Franklin wrestled at 120 pounds, Tyce Hanson at 132 and Brennan Baschke at 138. None of the three were able to reach the podium as one of the top eight finishers.
Franklin received a bye into the second round where he lost a 10-2 major decision to Winterset’s Judah Gurwell, who would eventually place eighth. Moving to the consolations, the Okoboji freshman pinned Waukon’s Kaden Mitchell in 1:57. Franklin bowed out of the tournament with a 7-0 loss to Gabriel Schnerre of Davenport Assumption. Franklin finished the year at 32-3 with two of those losses coming at State.
Hanson won his opening match by technical fall, downing North Polk’s Cael Cotter 17-2 in 3:27. In round two, the senior from Okoboji took on Carter Cajthaml of New Hampton/Turkey Valley and lost by fall to the eventual runner-up finisher in 5:37. Round two of the consolations saw Hanson pin Anamosa’s Dane Owen in 1:39. Hanson’s tournament ended with a loss by fall in 5:36 to Tanner Paustian of Woodward-Granger. Hanson compiled a season record of 39-5.
Baschke began his tournament with a match-up against Ben Kusar of Perry. The Okoboji senior wound up on the wrong end of a 17-2 technical fall in just 1:21. After receiving a bye into round two of the consolations, Hanson lost an 8-3 decision to Jaxson Miller of North Butler-Clarksville to close out his season at 31-12.