Four Cardinals advance to state wrestling tournament

CARLISLE — When Abel Aldama climbed into the bus at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, he was 1.5 pounds over the weight needed to compete in the district tournament at 113 pounds.

When Aldama went to bed on Saturday night, he was a state qualifier.

Aldama was one of four Newton wrestlers to clinch a spot in next week’s state tournament, and a workout before the tournament followed by a haircut assisted in allowing him to make weight.

“He was 1.5 pounds over at 6:30 a.m.,” Newton head boys wrestling coach RJ Brown said. “He got a workout in before weigh-ins and was still .1 over at the weigh-in. I had a pair of scissors in my pocket just in case, and we went over to the trash can and I cut off as much hair as I could for him to make weight.”

Aldama was joined by teammates Lane Rozendaal and Nick Milburn as first-time state qualifiers and Kent Montgomery returns to the state tournament as the Cardinals placed fifth in the eight-team field.

Class 3A No. 1 Southeast Polk won 11 individual titles, advanced all 14 wrestlers to state and won the 3A District 2 championship with 298.5 points.

Third-ranked Carlisle was the runner-up with 173 points. The rest of the field included West Des Moines Valley (154), Pella (99), Newton (93), Des Moines East (79.5), Ottumwa (60) and Des Moines North-Hoover (12.5).

“We did pretty well overall,” Brown said. “We had to handle some adversity as there were a lot of inconsistent calls throughout the day. Once we took care of what we could control, we wrestled well and wrestled hard.”

The top three finishers at each weight class in 3A advance to the state tournament.

Milburn was the best finisher in second, while Montgomery, Aldama and Rozendaal all took third.

Aiden Robson and Coleby Revell also came within one win of advancing but lost their third-place matches.

Milburn (30-15) placed second at 215 pounds after a 4-1 day. He posted one pin, one technical fall and one major decision. His lone loss came against second-ranked Holden Hansen (33-3) of Southeast Polk.

“He was losing early in the season to guys he had no business losing to,” Brown said. “It kind of clicked for him at Ottumwa. He beat a ranked guy there. His losses came against quality opponents, but he knew he was competing with tough kids. He was aggressive all day and trusted in himself.”

Montgomery (39-3), who dropped out of the IAwrestle rankings this week, finished third at 106. He was 3-1 with two pins and one technical fall.

His lone loss came against No. 11 Oliver Lange (26-9) of Valley. Montgomery led the match 3-0 after one period and 5-2 after two but was pinned in the third with a 6-5 advantage.

Aldama (24-14) was third at 113. He was 3-1 with two pins and his lone loss came against No. 12 George-Grant Mavromatis (26-14) of Valley.

Aldama got put on his back and trailed 7-0 to Carlisle’s Hudson Shelton in the third-place match but rallied to win by fall in the first period.

“He’s been our most improved wrestler this season,” Brown said. “He’s only been wrestling since eighth grade, but he’s so relentless that he’s never out of a match. There’s not a kid on our team who deserves this more than him.”

Rozendaal (31-10) qualified for state at 157 after a 3-1 day. He posted two pins and one technical fall. His lone loss came to Brady Cochran of Valley.

Cochran (29-18) led 5-3 before winning by fall in the second. Rozendaal advanced to state with a win by fall over Pella’s Ty Van Vliet.

Robson (29-18) was fourth at 150 and Revell finished fourth at 285. Both wrestlers were 2-2. Robson posted two pins but lost twice to Des Moines East’s Jason Rivas.

The Cardinals had a full lineup for the tournament. J’Kwon Williamson (120), Kaiden Rogers (126), Asher Rhoads (165) and Zach Sheffield (190) all won one match, while James Murphy (132), Sebastian Sorenson (138), Konner Jimenez (144) and Deshawn Boclaire (175) all went 0-2.

“This was another opportunity to learn and grow,” Brown said. “Everyone is 0-0. Our discussions before the tournament focused on ourselves. When guys had the right mindset, they wrestled well.”