Oskaloosa Wrestlers Shine in Districts sending 5 to State Tournament

Oskaloosa Indians

by Matt Saville

If you wrestle in the state of Iowa, one of your goals and dreams is to make it to the coveted Iowa State Tournament. For 5 Oskaloosa wrestlers, that goal and dream was accomplished this last Saturday in Mount Pleasant. Those 5 wrestlers earned their spot at district meet, each needing to be in the top two to advance onto state.

The Indians took full advantage of their opportunities Saturday.

Advancing for the Indians were district champions senior #126 Skylar DeJong and sophomore #220 Callan Tomlin. Finishing runner up was sophomore #120 Drew Sams , senior #170 Cody Jones and sophomore #195 Kylar Salazar. For Sams, DeJong and Jones it will be return trips. Salazar and Tomlin will get their first taste of the historic Iowa State Tournament.

Other local schools are going to be represented at state as well. Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont will also be sending 5 wrestlers. They will be led by senior, and defending state champion, Jeren Glosser.  Glosser has committed to wrestle for the University of Iowa.

Joining Glosser will be: #113 Adam Proctor, #120 Alex Hanna, #170 Bret Wurstra and #195 Hunter Johnston. Glosser and Johnston are returners to state, while Proctor, Hanna and Wurstra are first-timers.

Albia will be sending 3 junior wrestlers. They will have #145 Blake Lawless, #152 Bryce Leshen and #220 Carter Isley. All three Blue Demon wrestlers were district champs and are returning state qualifiers.

Finally, Sigourney-Keota will also be sending 5 wrestlers. Four of the five, #145 Nathan Fritz , #152 Lane Boender , #220 Noah Boender and #285 Bryce Brown, were all district champions, while #182 Kaleb Reeves was runner up.

All the action gets underway Thursday and will conclude Saturday night. Good luck to all the local wrestlers and coaches.