GILBERT — A quartet of Woodward-Granger wrestlers advanced to the Feb. 15 Class 2A District 3 tourney in Huxley after action Saturday in their sectional meet.
Winning their respective weight classes were top-ranked and defending state champion Cody Fisher (220 pounds) and 2019 state qualifier Tyler Lawrenson (285), both seniors.
Fellow senior Cale Pritchett (170) and freshman Peyton Nixon (106) also qualified for districts after placing as the runner-up in their bracket.
Host Gilbert won the team standings with 219 points, with North Polk second at 198. Ballard placed third at 168.5, Perry fourth at 156.5 and W-G fifth at 155, while Roland-Story was sixth at 101 points.
Fisher improved to 46-0 after recording a pin in 1 minute, 23 minutes after an opening round bye. He pinned Gilbert junior Cayden Meskan (39-8), ranked eighth, in 2:16 in the finals to stand atop the podium.
Lawrenson improved to 24-3 after a bye and a pin in 1:30 moved the heavyweight into the finals. He claimed the top spot after defeating Gilbert senior Jacob Torresi with a 3-1 decision.
Pritchett (38-7) won a 3-2 decision against Perry’s Wilber Ramirez (23-18) after a bye. He lost an 8-4 decision to champion Aiden Carr (38-7), a Gilbert senior, but then automatically qualified for districts because of a prior win over Ramirez when the later won his consolation match.
Nixon (38-8) was a 7-5 winner in his first match, then dropped a 7-5 Sudden Victory I match in the finals to Perry junior and 10th ranked Riece Graham (24-4). Nixon then faced Ballard freshman Landon Broer (26-18), advancing when he scored a 13-2 major decision.
Sophomore Dustin Harney (33-15) just missed qualifying at 152. He opened with a pin in 5:37 before suffering an 18-7 major decision loss to Gilbert junior Kruz Pierce (31-12). Harney bounced back to post a 10-3 decision over Ballard junior Connor Finch (15-15). Pierce lost in the finals to fall into a consolation final, which he won on account of his prior win over Harney.
Joel Harney (18-24) and Corbyn Atwell (12-26) were each 1-2, both winning by fall, to each place fourth, at 113 and 120 pounds, respectively.
Matthew White (30-18) was 1-2 with a 9-4 win to place fourth at 138 pounds, with Jon McKeever (12-11) fourth at 160 pounds with an 0-3 mark Saturday.
Devan Brown (24-23) lost by fall, then received a pair of byes to place fifth at 182 while Jay Dorenkamp (10-19) followed a loss with a pin in 64 seconds after a bye to stand fifth at 145.
Tjaden Smeltzer (15-29) was 0-2 in placing sixth at 126 for the Hawks, with Jayden Flugge-Smith (13-32) suffering a first match injury and finishing sixth at 132. W-G did not have an entrant at 195 pounds.
