DES MOINES — Panorama’s Tyler Van Houten (152 pounds) and Gunnar Grunsted (170) will compete this morning in the Class 1A Quarterfinals while George Appleseth (132) will aim to stay alive in the second round of the consolation bracket as a result of Thursday’s matches at the State Wrestling Tournament.
Two Panthers — Dalton Holmes (195) and Dan Jensen (285) were bounced from the tourney after a pair of losses.
Holmes (44-11) lost by fall to fifth-rated Kaleb Reeves (44-5, Jr.) of Sigourney-Keota in the first round, then suffered a loss by fall to No. 9 Manning Kuboushek (37-5, Jr.) in the consolation bracket.
Jensen lost twice by fall — in the first round to sixth-ranked Cameron Beminio (34-3, Jr.) of Belmond-Klemme and in the second round to Cody Crawford (36-9, Jr.) of WACO — to have his season ended with a 27-20 mark.
Tenth-ranked Appleseth (42-9) was in danger as well, as No. 4 Joshua Tibbits (36-2, So.) of Martensdale-St. Mary’s scored a 10-0 major decision in their opening bout at 132 pounds. However, the Panther senior responded with a 5-0 victory over eighth-ranked Michael Egan (46-4, So.) of MFL-Mar-Mac in the consolation round.
Appleseth awaits the loser of the quarterfinal between No. 2 Kolton Roth (41-2, Jr.) of Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire and Garrett Arment (36-11, So.) of Woodbury Central. A victory would ensure a spot on the medal stand.
Van Houten (51-3), ranked eighth, was in command of his match with Akron-Westfield’s Sebastian Berg (33-12, Sr.) from the opening moments, eventually recording a pin in 4 minutes, 27 seconds. He will face No. 2 Brennan Swafford (46-1) of Mediapolis, who pinned sixth-ranked Michael Olsen of Lamoni (50-6) in their first round bout.
The winner moves to the semifinals and is assured no worse than sixth place, while quarterfinal losers fall to the second round consolations, where a win guarantees a podium spot.
Grunsted (42-10) faces the same circumstances after his 3-2 win over HLV’s Kenneth Kriege; (45-11, Sr.), who went on to pin No. 5 T.J. Dierking of South Iowa in the consolation bracket. Dierking had lost, 9-0, to Grunsted’s quarterfinal foe, third-ranked Jarel Arbegast (18-2, Sr.) of West Fork-Sheffield.
The Class 1A Quarterfinals and second round consolations begin at 9 a.m. Winners move on to tonight’s semifinals and third round consolation matches, which start at 7:30 p.m.
