STATE WRESTLING: Honnold’s medal leads Wolverines at the Well

Nodaway Valley/O-M’s wrestling team motto this year was to “Start unknown, finish unforgettable.”

The Wolverines can certainly take a bow and say they made a strong case of doing that this year. Four members of the team finished their season at Wells Fargo Arena Wednesday through Saturday last week with their spot in the state wrestling tournament.

One went a step farther and was able to come home with a medal. Freshman 195-pounder Ashton Honnold fought his way from a quarterfinal round loss to place eighth.

All four are back next season even more hungry to return to the state tournament.

“When you’re at the state tournament you’re among the best of the best. We brought four kids who are among the best of the best in Class 1A. Did we perform at our best? Probably not in all cases, but we also took four kids who had never been in this tournament before. Are we happy with the way they performed? Absolutely, 100%,” NV/O-M head coach Brad Honnold said. “We see it as a learning experience. We bring four guys back next year who can hopefully bring home four medals, and whoever else that qualifies.”

Starting out with a first-round bye, Ashton Honnold gutted out a 6-2 decision over Denver’s Corbin Hill in the second round. He then lost a tough 6-3 decision to Maquoketa Valley’s Nathan Beitz in the quarterfinal.

Honnold came back in an elimination round to stay in the tournament, beating Sumner-Fredericksburg’s Kyle Kuhlmann 5-3.

“My goal was to finish top 8, so to reach my goal I had to do everything I could do to beat that kid,” Honnold said. “I know that in that kind of a round it’s about heart, and I knew I wanted it more and he didn’t want it was bad as me. I went out there and got out of some tough positions he put me in, I didn’t let that discourage me and dug down in the third and won the match.”

Honnold lost by fall to Jack Schwenn of Belle Plaine, which sent him to the seventh place match, where he was pinned in 5:21 by Interstate 35′s Eli Green.

With 47 wins this season, Honnold tied the wins in a season record for the Wolverines’ program. He finished one pin short of breaking the school record for pins in a season.

“I’m excited, but I know I have a lot to work on because I want to be on the top of that stand in coming years,” Honnold said. “I just need to work as hard as possible and make sure I can accomplish that goal.”

Trenton Warner finished his season at 42-8 at 285 pounds. He went 2-2 in the state tournament, finishing just out of the medals.

Warner opened by pinning Vinny Zappia of Missouri Valley in 2:49. He then lost a close 9-7 match against West Sioux, Hawarden’s Keegan McMillan in the second round.

Warner responded by pinning Griswold’s RJ Dishong in 3:28 and bowed out of the tournament after a pin in 44 seconds to Pocahontas Area’s Joseph Sanders.

“I went out [against the Griswold kid] and worked some of the same things I did during the first match. I rode him out pretty well on top,” Warner said. “I’m kind of mad I didn’t end up on the podium this year because I thought I should have. I’m hoping that next year I can place pretty high and by my senior year maybe be at the top of the podium.”

After finishing with just nine wins as a sophomore, 145-pounder Carmine Shaw posted 33 this season and was a district champion, reaching the state tournament.

Shaw opened with a loss by fall in 2:42 to Northwood-Kensett’s Treycen Rollene. Getting a bye on the consolation side of the bracket, he came back the next day, losing to Missouri Valley’s Riley Radke by 6-0 decision and was eliminated.

Shaw has high hopes for his next season, which will be his final in a Nodaway Valley singlet.

“I set a few goals for myself before the season and making the state tournament was definitely one of them. I probably set lower goals than I should have because I met most of them by a lot. Now I know where I need to be mentally for next season,” Shaw said. “The people in the practice room and the environment in the room helped me the most. With good coaches to push us it was really just a good team all around.”

Freshman 113-pounder Keyin Steeve turned in a stand out first season of wrestling, finishing 37-11 on the campaign as a whole. He didn’t finish where he wanted to at state, losing by fall twice, however he feels good about the foundation he was able to set by making it to state in his first try.

Steeve’s losses came to Jesup’s Ayden Bergman and Colfax-Mingo’s Cason Fitch.

“I was pretty happy with making it and the way my season went. I definitely could have done better though,” Steeve said. “The first kid, I went in and wanted to wrestle my match and he just came out on top. On the second day, that kid was good too, and he was a lot more technical than I was. This was definitely something that made me thirsty for more.”

In a recap of the season recently, Coach Honnold stated that the Wolverines had several significant things happen this year.

Charles Rudolf greatly improved his win total from last year.

Aidan Kuster posted 15 wins on varsity this year after only having six coming in.

Brandon Raasch reached 60 career wins.

Bradley Gebbie reached 50 wins in his career.

The Wolverine freshman class combined for over 120 varsity wins this year.

The team accrued a 16-3 dual record, making the Class 1A regional duals for the first time since 2011.

Honnold said all these facts, and the four state qualifiers, are a testament to the team’s desire to start unknown and finish unforgetable.

“We had kids who performed well all season long, each week, and when it’s all said and done, growth for our program was what our ultimate goal was,” Honnold said. “One kid was one or two matches away from medaling at the state tournament, one medaled and two others got huntry for their opportunity to place in coming years. The biggest thing to take away is that I hope the younger kids, or ones who didn’t make it, use it as a motivator for themselves in the coming years. This program is on the rise and we’re going to continue taking more people there.”