Top-ranked in Class 2A at 113 pounds, Webster City freshman Drake Doolittle (37-6) will appear at the state wrestling tournament Thursday, taking the spot of Greene County’s Kane Borgeson, who was not medically cleared to compete.
Borgeson was injured after Doolittle used an illegal slam against him in their wrestle-back match at the Webster City District Tournament Saturday. For the full details of the incident, click: https://theperrynews.com/illegal-slam-could-cost-top-ranked-wrestler-spot-at-state-tournament/.
Late Wednesday, Doolittle’s name appeared in Borgeson’s place in the official bracketing for the tourney. As the third-place finisher, Doolittle — despite being disqualified for using a potentially dangerous move — was advanced to the tourney as the alternate.
Doolittle will face 10-ranked sophomore Brady Fritz (36-6) of South Tama County, with seventh-rated Carter Cox of Atlantic (35-5, Jr.) battling Nate Cromwell of Spirit Lake Park (28-6, Fr.) in the opposing bracket.
Greene County was under no requirement from the IHSAA to report Borgeson’s inability to wrestle. The Rams could just as easily have allowed Borgeson to step onto the mat for each of his two matches and immediately forfeit by “injury default.” Such an act would have been legal and would have kept Doolittle from competing.
The argument on whether Greene County’s decision thus “rewards” a wrestler for using an illegal slam or, as seen by the opposing opinion, is an ethical gesture by not leaving one of the 16 coveted spots “open” will likely continue throughout the tournament.
ThePredicament.com, widely considered the go-to website for prep wrestling in Iowa, has an online forum for the discussion of wrestling matters. A current stream on the Doolittle situation had been viewed over 22,000 times as of 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, indicating the intense statewide interest in the story.
ThePerryNews.com published its coverage of the matter (see link, above) at 2 a.m. Wednesday. As of 10 p.m. it had generated nearly 10,000 facebook ‘reaches’ with 64 shares and 84 comments, while the story had created over 3,400 confirmed web views on our website, also attesting to the widespread interest.
“It is a bad situation all the way around that did not need to happen and probably should not have happened,” Perry head coach Trevor Kittleson said. “The thing I am most grateful for is that Kane (Borgeson) is going to completely recover. Yes, he cannot wrestle at state, but it is great that there is no lasting injury.”
