WEBSTER CITY — Four champions and four weight-bracket runner-up placings at Saturday’s Webster City Sectional will send eight members of the Perry wrestling team to the district tourney in Adel Feb. 9. District winners and second-place finishers at each weight qualify for the state tournament.
“Obviously we would have liked to have had more champions, but it is hard to say it wasn’t a good day for us,” Perry head coach Mark Weber said. “What I liked so much about these results is how they came about — we had some really clutch victories, some moments where guys really sucked it up and won tough matches, and as a coach you always want to see that.”
Jacob Nelson (132 pounds), Kaleb Olejniczak (138), Justin Stammer (152) and Cole Snyder (182) each went 2-0 to win their respective brackets.
Cole Nelson (106) and Erick Funez (160) won, then lost, but moved on when the wrestler they had defeated won his consolation match, giving the Bluejay grappler a win by ‘rule/prior victory.’
Riece Graham (113) and Jeb Stewart (145) took a different route, each winning in a wrestle back in dramatic fashion to secure their place in districts.
Olejniczak (41-1) was his usual dominant self, scoring two 17-2 technical fall wins. The first came in five minutes, 32 seconds over Reynaldo Torres (13-6) of Roland-Story, the latter against Grant Nason (33-13) of West Marshall. The win in the finals was number 174 for the senior, tying him with 2018 grad Zach Thompson for most wins in school history.
“He is just so driven, it is something else,” Weber said of Olejniczak. “He just goes out there and dominates. Kaleb is always in a good position, always wrestles to his strength and just seizes control right away. He is definitely on a mission.”
Stammer (33-14) won a 13-5 major decision and then rallied late to record a 7-5 win over Gilbert’s Carson Johnson in the finals.
“A great win for Stammer,” his coach said. “He had to really fight for it. He grabbed a late lead and then wrestled real smart. I am very happy for him.”
Snyder (29-16) used a 10-2 major decision and a 10-7 decision over Webster City senior Michael Gilbert (21-19) to punch his ticket to districts.
Jacob Nelson (30-14) earned his trip with a pinfall in 3:40 and a tough 7-5 decision over Gilbert frosh Jake Shedarowich (31-16).
Cole Nelson (33-12) pinned David Grimes (18-8) of Roland-Story in 1:54 before being handed a 9-2 loss from seventh-ranked Carmron Phetxoumphone (33-4) of Webster City. Nelson advanced by prior when Grimes won his consolation match.
A similar scenario played out for Funez (14-30) who tallied an 8-4 decision over Gilbert’s Justin Adolphson (20-19) then won by rule after a loss in the finals when Adolphson won his consolation match.
Graham (16-26) took a more circuitous route. He won by pin, then rebounded from a loss with a win by technical fall. That sent him into a winner-moves-on bout with Reece Sadler of Webster City, with Graham rallying in the third period for an 11-8 win.
Stewart (7-5) claimed a win by decision before losing by fall to Kody Hassebrck (36-3) of Roland-Story — ranked seventh — in the finals. He faced Gilbert’s Kruz Pierce (21-19) in a wrestle-back, using a rare offensive shot to surprise Pierce with a take down for an 8-6 win in sudden victory I.
Tanner Burgin (7-17) won his second match at 120 to place fifth for Perry, with Alex Fickbohm (4-10 at 126), Jered Narber (5-15 at 170) and Sebastian Hernandez (1-8 at 220) all losing their lone match of the competition, with each also finishing fifth.
Perry had no entries at 195 and 285 pounds.
“No it comes down to being smart and doing the right things this week,” Weber said. “We will have the guys ready — what they need to do is wake up Saturday morning ready to go kick butt and go out there and wrestle hard and smart. All the work has been to put them in this position, with state the reward. Now it is time to go and make it pay off.”
