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Three area KCII teams competed in Saturday’s class 2A district meet at Mt. Pleasant High School.

Washington’s Ayden Frazer was the lone Demon in action and he advanced to state with a runner-up finish at 182lbs. After a tough loss in the third period of his opener to Mid-Prairie’s Ben Meader, Frazer rebounded to beat Clayton Young of Eddvyille-Blakesburg by fall to set up a wrestleback with top 10 John Argo of Davenport Assumption who he edged by a 7-6 score. After the meet Frazer talked about the win and qualifying for state. “I have two shots that I kind of like to work and I couldn’t really get to that. I felt his upper body open up when he was reaching for shots. So I got the two I  needed from that. I just knew after that I couldn’t let him score. I knew after wrestling him last week what kind of shots he likes to take so I protected my left leg and hung on for the ride. This feels really good. Especially with it being my senior year and my first time at state. My coaches were ecstatic, they know how hard I have worked for this and that I deserved it.”

Mid-Prairie will send three wrestlers to the state tournament in Des Moines. Ben Meader went undefeated on the day, beating Frazer in the opening round 8-4 before pinning Argo of Assumption to claim the title. At 220lbs, Josh Wallington was also the district champion pinning Chase Diaz of Assumption in the opener and scoring a tech fall against Paul Ballard of Albia in the finals. Mid-Prairie’s Cael Garvey advanced as a district runner up, opening the tournament with a fall over Ethan Palmer of Columbus, Garvey dropped his second match by 9-6 decision, leaving him with a wrestleback against Josh Oldfield of Centerville who he pinned in just 31 seconds to claim the state bid. Three other Golden Hawks finished in third place, just missing out on qualifying with Mose Yoder at 113lbs, Vinnie Bowlin at 160lbs and Gannon Callahan at 285lbs.

The Columbus Wildcats are sending a pair of wrestlers to state this week. Lane Scorpil was dominant in his district showing, rolling through the 113lb weight class with a fall in his first match and taking the title over Brodie Conner of Albia by 4-0 decision. Chance Malone will also be in Des Moines at 285lbs. He opened with a pin and then won the title match over Callahan of Mid-Prairie by 4-1 decision. You can hear updates from the state tournament this week on AM and FM KCII.