Milburn leads Cardinal quartet at state wrestling

DES MOINES — This year’s Newton boys wrestling team took positive steps in becoming more competitive on the mat.

And with all four state qualifiers returning next season, head coach RJ Brown expects the Cardinals to take another step forward next winter.

“We’ve definitely become more competitive,” Brown said. “They are starting to elevate to another level and realizing they can be really good.

“We just need to keep getting experience and elevating ourselves in the weight room. They need to get on the mat, put in the work and get used to the high-level stuff.”

Three of the four Cardinals wrestling inside Wells Fargo Arena at the Iowa High School Boys State Wrestling Championships won at least one match and Nick Milburn led the quartet with a 3-2 record, but they all fell short of the podium.

And only Milburn reached the third day of the tournament.

Kent Montgomery, Lane Rozendaal and Milburn opened their tournaments with victories, but all three Cardinals ran into a top-two ranked grappler in the second round.

Milburn’s two losses ended up being to No. 1 and state champion Dreshaun Ross of Fort Dodge and No. 5 Carson Slorah of Indianola.

Rozendaal lost to top-ranked and eventual champion Maximus Dhaboldt of Ankeny Centennial in the second round and Montgomery’s first loss came against second-ranked Carew Christensen of Waukee Northwest.

Abel Aldama went 0-2 in his first state tournament and both of his losses came against state-ranked foes.

“Abel had some jitters, but the other three guys competed well,” Brown said. “They all had tough draws. That was unfortunate. Getting here wasn’t the only goal. We came here to get on the podium, compete and get some wins. Last year, we maybe were just happy to be here. There’s been a shift in regard to that.”

Milburn (33-17) opened his first state tournament with a win by fall over Carlisle’s Andy Crowder (19-21) at 215 pounds. He also scored a 9-4 win over Urbandale’s Ethan Miller (23-13) and posted an 8-2 win over Cedar Rapids Prairie’s Conner Bistricky.

Milburn led Miller 3-0 and 6-2. Miller made the final outcome closer with points in the final seconds.

He dominated Bristricky (29-21) in an elimination match. It was scoreless after one, but he registered a takedown and four back points in the second to go up 7-2. He added an escape in the third for the final outcome.

Milburn lost three times to Slorah this season and Ross, an Oklahoma State recruit, dominated every other opponent he faced, too.

“Those first two felt pretty good,” Milburn said. “I came in with a mindset of just letting it fly and whatever happens, happens. It felt really good.

“(Ross) is awesome. I tried to do my stuff, but he was really good like I expected. Coming out of that, you just realize that no one else in the bracket is going to be as good as him.”

Montgomery (41-5) finished 2-2 at 106. He opened with a 12-6 win agains Iowa City Liberty’s Connor McGonegle (26-14) but lost 17-4 to second-ranked Christensen of Waukee Northwest.

Montgomery led McGonegle 7-0, but it was 8-6 in the third before the Cardinal sophomore got an escape and takedown for the final margin.

Christensen (41-4) led 6-2 after one and 10-3 after two. He ended up finishing seventh in the tournament.

Montgomery’s second win was a 9-4 decision over Waukee’s Drake Pelton (21-15). He was eliminated, 10-0, by No. 8 Zander Matz of Council Bluffs Lewis Central.

That match was scoreless after one, but Matz (50-6) led 3-0 after two before getting a takedown and back points in the third.

“(Rozendaal) came up short in a couple of scrambles,” Brown said. “(Montgomery) was a little hesitant in his last match. But they competed hard and wrestled well. Sometimes you don’t come out on the winning side.”

Rozendaal opened with a 4-0 at 157 against Valley’s Brady Cochran, who defeated him at districts. It was 0-0 after one and 4-0 after two.

He followed that up with back-to-back defeats, losing by fall to top-ranked and state champion Dhaboldt (33-1) and falling 8-4 to Linn-Mar’s Brayden Fish. Rozendaal led Fish 3-1 after one but fell behind 5-3 after two. Fish (24-18) added a takedown in the final period to finish off the win.

Aldama (24-16) lost 15-0 to No. 9 Coby Fiser (31-10) of Bondurant-Farrar and dropped a 16-0 match to No. 12 George-Grant Mavromatis (28-16) of West Des Moines Valley at 113.

Brown hopes this year’s run by four returning wrestlers will help improve the mindset in the room next season.

“They’re our leaders whether they made it here or not,” Brown said. “It’s nice they came here and competed well and weren’t just here to have fun. Being an example next year of what they do in the offseason is going to get kids to see that. I think the others are going to be motivated because a lot of them are close. Putting state qualifier next to their name will be valuable to those guys, too.”