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Hageman headed back to state

MHS 152-pounder earns true second place at district meet to qualify for state tournament

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE • Marshalltown High School senior Reese Hageman, behind, locks up the cradle on Dubuque Senior’s Nathan Siegwarth during their 152-pound quarterfinal match at the Class 3A District 8 wrestling tournament Saturday at Waverly-Shell Rock High School in Waverly. Hageman won this match by technical fall, 17-2.

WAVERLY — Reese Hageman enjoyed his maiden voyage to the Iowa High School State Wrestling Championships so much a year ago that he wanted to repeat the feat.

Everything except the part where he didn’t win a match in Des Moines.

The Marshalltown High School senior will set his sights on that initial goal when he gets back to Wells Fargo Arena next week, a trip he earned with Saturday’s second-place finish at 152 pounds in the Class 3A District 8 meet at Waverly-Shell Rock High School.

With three ranked teams in attendance at the eight-team district, those two automatic state berths per weight class were coveted across the board. With No. 5 Waverly-Shell Rock edging out No. 4 Western Dubuque for the team title, 236.5 to 229.5, those golden tickets to Des Moines were hard to come by. Both of those teams occupied seven spots, accounting for half of the available qualifying bids.

So Hageman (35-7), who was seeded second in his weight class, had to earn every inch of his spot on the award stand. He scored a technical fall against Dubuque Senior’s Nathan Siegwarth, 17-2, in the quarterfinals, and then nearly notched another in the semifinals by beating Western Dubuque’s Jackson Healey 19-5.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE • Marshalltown junior Keygan Hansen, puts Waterloo West’s Nicholas Knight on his head for nearfall points during their fifth-place match at 132 pounds in Saturday’s Class 3A District 8 meet in Waverly.

In the 152 finals, Hageman was bested by major decision, 11-2, at the hands of No. 3 Austin Yant from Waverly-Shell Rock (45-2). In the wrestle-back match for true second place, Hageman ran into a familiar foe. Luke Deinhart, from Mason City, pinned Healey in 1:15 to keep his state hopes afloat, but Hageman sunk them in the second period with a pin of his own.

“I knew that the top guy was going to be pretty good,” Hageman said of Yant. “I had my mind on my second match and went out there and got that one.”

After defeating Deinhart earlier in the year 6-4 during CIML Iowa Conference dual meet action, Hageman handled his league foe for the fall in 3 minutes, 12 seconds.

“He handled him, I knew Reese was better than him, it was just a matter of proving it,” said MHS head coach Mike Mann. “When you’re in that situation, you’ve got to perform and your back’s against the wall. I had all the confidence in the world he was going to pull it off, but you’re just waiting for that first takedown to break it open.”

Hageman got that takedown with 35 seconds left in the first period and led 2-0 at the first break. After electing the bottom position on the second-period restart, Hageman quickly escaped and eventually earned a takedown that led to the pin.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

It secured Hageman’s state tournament return after he went 0-2 in the 138-pound bracket a year ago. He was the only non-senior of four Bobcat qualifiers — each of the other three earned a place on the podium.

“I didn’t feel it’d be a failure [not to get back to state] but I had a mindset I was going to go and I wasn’t going to let anyone stop me from going back,” Hageman said. “[Going 0-2] is a little bit of motivation. You want to get there and do something. You don’t want to just be there, that’s no fun — you want to win.

“It was fun overall just the experience, it was a great experience and hopefully it’ll help me this year get some better matches and get some wins.”

Hageman’s first-round opponent at state will be fifth-ranked Colin Conway (41-3) from Marion. Ranked ninth or 10th by The Predicament for most of the season, Hageman fell out of the top-10 in the last poll prior to districts.

Hageman was one of only two Marshalltown wrestlers who remained on the front side of the bracket after the opening round sent 12 Bobcats to the back half. At 160, junior Brian Trowbridge won a first-round bout against Mason City’s Evan Craw, 5-4, before getting technical falled by Tanner Doyle of Cedar Falls, 16-0.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

With a chance remaining to get to state, Trowbridge did his part by beating Western Dubuque’s Jake Hosch in the wrestle-back round, 8-3. But Doyle’s loss in the finals eliminated the need for a true second contest, ending Trowbridge’s season at 18-19.

“He was put in a position where if he would have won that semifinal match, that’s all you can ask for,” said Mann. “He had an opportunity he didn’t capitalize on, but at least he didn’t slip past his seed. He finished strong, and almost everybody else on the team exceeded their seed.”

Marshalltown sent eight wrestlers through the back side of the bracket into the consolation finals, where five of them prevailed. Only four Bobcats had to earn the fifth-place distinction as 120-pound sophomore Erick Rodriguez lost his first-round match by fall and was awarded fifth as the last of five wrestlers in the bracket.

Fifth-place winners were Keygan Hansen (132), Carlos Gomez (138), Jordan Fox (195) and Jordan Anderson (220). Zach Bitker (106), Jacob Bitker (126) and Wyatt Himes (145) were defeated in their last matches of the season, settling for sixth.

Four MHS wrestlers — Jay Drummer (113), Kegan Jass (170), Antonio Patricio (182) and Luis Ortiz (285) — wrapped up the day with 0-2 marks.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

“It’s cool to see young kids come up like that and embrace the experience,” Mann said. “To be honest, to look where we were at this season with a lot of kids struggling to be .500 and all of them being seeded basically seventh and finishing above their seed, that’s great.

“We come from a tough conference and it’s good competition. Today is when it pays off, but they still have to believe this is going to do them good. Right here, today is the proof in the pudding.”

Hageman will be Marshalltown’s first solo state representative since David Hughes advanced as a 170-pound junior in 2012.

Class 3A District 8

At Waverly

Team Standings — 1. Waverly-Shell Rock 236.5, 2. Western Dubuque 229.5, 3. Cedar Falls 132, 4. Waterloo East 128, 5. Waterloo West 119, 6. Mason City 113, 7. Marshalltown 88, 8. Dubuque Senior 68.

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