DES MOINES — Perry sent a junior and a sophomore onto the medal stand at the State Wrestling Tournament Saturday, with Zachary Thompson third at 120 pounds and Kaleb Olejniczak fourth at 113.
Thompson (52-6) entered the state tourney ranked sixth. He was sixth at 106 pounds as a freshman, then placed sixth again last season at 120, with a goal of standing atop the podium. Although he did not reach the top spot, he did move three steps up on the stand, with numerous victories over higher-ranked foes to his credit.
He had reached state with sectional final and district final wins over second-ranked Carter Cox of Atlantic, who finished fifth. His lone loss in Des Moines was to top-ranked and eventual champion Bryce West (54-1, Sr.) of Solon, who scored an 8-3 decision.
On Saturday Thompson faced fifth-ranked Nick Meling (44-7, Sr.) of East Marshall/GMG in the consolation finals and scored a 6-4 win to enter the third-place match, where he recorded a 3-1 decision against No. 4 Shea Ruffridge (41-5, Jr.) of Pocahontas. Thompson was thus 4-1 against higher-ranked foes in February.
Olejniczak finished where he was ranked — fourth. The sophomore standout posted a 6-4 win over Chase Luensman (32-5, So.) of Monticello to compete for third place, but was handed a 14-2 major decision by top-rated Eric Faught (42-3, So.) of Clear Lake.
Faught had been upset by third-ranked Aden Reeves (52-1, So.) of Albia in the semifinals, one round after Reeves had stopped Olejniczak in the quarterfinals. Reeves defeated Webster City’s Drake Doolittle (43-3, So.) for the title.
Olejniczak finishes his second season 54-6 and is 85-13 in his career, well on pace to break Kane Seeley’s school record for wins, which sits, unofficially, at 156. Thompson is also in pursuit, as he will start his final season next fall with a 129-25 career mark.
Also back for a final season will be Zach Stewart, who was the third Bluejay to qualify. Stewart finished 48-10 after a 1-2 mark at Wells Fargo Arena. He was stopped, 3-2, bu No. 8 Ryan Steffen of Creston in the first round, bounced back to beat Carson Hartnett of Webster City, 7-4, but was then eliminated with a 7-2 loss to No. 2 Brandon Curry of Sergeant Bluff-Luton.
