DES MOINES — After just two years in the wrestling room, Marshalltown High School senior Tristan King couldn’t help but be content with where his season ended.

King was the last of the Bobcats’ three state qualifiers, falling on the second day of the Iowa High School State Wrestling Championships with a loss by major decision to second-ranked Carson Hagan of Dowling Catholic.

King (25-7) finished one win shy of reaching the podium (top eight) in the Class 3A heavyweight bracket, and the 11-0 setback in his only match Friday at Wells Fargo Arena didn’t deter him from enjoying the moment just the same.

“I’m not going to make any excuses, he kicked my (expletive), but that’s wrestling for you,” King said. “I really don’t feel bad at all because after only wrestling two years and I accomplished this much, I really can’t be heartbroken about anything.”

King was the only Marshalltown wrestler to make it past the first day after fellow senior Gannon Williams and freshman Xayvion Anderson were eliminated with two losses on Thursday, but his second loss before a second win meant the end on Friday.

“I never really lost a match that bad,” King said. “All my five (regular season) losses were either from pins or me being stupid, so I’ve never really gotten beaten like that. At the same time I’m just happy to wrestle some of the best kids in the setate and prove I can keep up.”

King nearly didn’t get the chance to prove that point against Hagan. The second-ranked Dowling heavyweight, who was upset in Friday’s quarterfinals, had King in a headlock and the referee looking for the pin less than 30 seconds into their second-round consolation bout. A bloody nose, however, forced officials to stop the match and breath new life into King’s chances.

It didn’t materialize into a win, but King went the full six minutes with the CIML champion instead of hearing the referee slap the mat with just 24 seconds having wound off the clock.

“I think [King] came out a little slow — I know he came out a little slow — and we shouldn’t have given up that many points right off the bat and kinda got lucky with the bloody nose because were on our back,” said MHS head coach Luke Cross. “That prolonged the match and gave us the opportunity to get back in there but we just couldn’t quite capitalize on that.

“Tristan wrestled with more intensity for sure, but the kid at that point had a 6-0 lead so he kind of did enough to not let us do anything.”

Hagan (29-1) tallied two more nearfall points in the first period and an escape and takedown in the second. The two wrestlers started neutral in the third period and neither was able to secure a takedown the rest of the way.

“Throughout the whole season, the biggest thing with him was just to learn how to be more humble,” Cross said. “He’s done a good job of keeping his cool in matches that have gotten heated, and there’s some times he’s lost it and we’ve had to address those issues. That very well could have been one of those matches and he kept his cool and he’s a happy guy right now.

“He’s not happy with [losing] but he knows it’s over and he’s content and that wouldn’t have been the case earliier in the year. He’s grown up a lot, he’s matured a lot.”

The Bobcats were denied a state placewinner for the first time since 2019, but Cross was still excited for the future.

“I’m just happy with our leadership that Gannon and Tristan had, they’ll be missed on the team,” he said, “but now we’ve got to work forward and see what we can do in the years to come. We’ve got some young guys who are hungry and a lot of them came to the tournament to watch, and that’s a good sign.”