State Wrestling Coverage Thursday-Saturday On “Sunny” 99.7 FM
Your home for radio coverage of the Iowa State Wrestling Tournament will again be “Sunny” 99.7 FM and here on our website. Coverage of the individual tournament will run Thursday Feb. 18th, Friday the 19th and Sunday the 20th. Coverage will begin around 9 AM on Thursday and Friday and at 10 AM on Saturday. Please note that this event will not feature video coverage like last Saturday’s 3A District Tournament at Fort Dodge Senior High did. The video rights for the State Tournament are reserved, however Alpha Media Sports will once again bring you radio coverage. Critically acclaimed wrestling broadcaster Theresa Hildreth and National Wrestling Hall Of Fame member Tom Hildreth will be the announce team. Tom is set to be inducted into the Iowa Wrestling Hall Of Fame during the final day Saturday.
Alpha Media Sports will offer coverage of all area wrestlers in Class 1A and Fort Dodge wrestlers in Class 3A ( we will not offer coverage of the 2A portion of the tournament). North Central Iowa will be heavily represented at State. Fort Dodge will have 9 wrestlers battling for the most coveted prize in Iowa, West Hancock is sending 6, South Central Calhoun 3, Pocahontas Area and East Sac County each have two. West Bend-Mallard and St. Edmond will each have one wrestlers in the field. For the Dodgers, Dreyzon Phillips is the #1 seed at 145. Drake Ayala is #2 at 132 after losing earlier this season to #1 seed Ryder Block of Waverly-Shell Rock. Those two could see each other in the State Finals for what would be one of the biggest match ups around the entire country in high school wrestling. Ayala deserves a ton of credit for moving up from 126 to 132, he could have stayed at 126 and probably coasted to another State Title. However, he chose to take on the challenge and try to avenge the loss to Block. Lane Cowell and Kody Cook drew 3 seeds at 120 and 160 respectively. Freshman Dru Ayala at 106 and Ben Egli at 182 bith garnered 4 seeds. Max Bishop is the 6 seed at 113. Damarion Ross is the 16 seed at 138. Matt Surles-Davis at 170 is the 16 seed after a dark horse run in the District Tournament.
South Central Calhoun will send last year’s silver medalist at 170 Blake Mcalister back and he’ll be looking to finish the job of taking home gold. Kevin King at 145 and Jayden Soard at 220 will also represent South Central Calhoun, all three of those guys were part of the State Semifinal team for Titan Football. West Bend Mallard’s- Donavan Hanson who is 38-1 on the season will take on Garrett Burkle of Wilton in the 1st round. St. Edmond’s Ryan Duckett who has battled his way through injuries all season long will take on one of the favorites at 120 in the 1st round.
East Sac County’s Garrett Quirk at 160 and Justin Rupnow at 285 are in the field are being consistently successful all season long. Pocahontas Area will send Tyce Ruffridge to match up with West Hancock’s Kellen Smith at 120. Pocahontas Area’s Dane Johnson is considered one of the top contenders at 285. West Hancock will have Smith in the field along with Evan Boothroyd at 106, Kane Zuehl at 152, Bryer Subject at 160, highly ranked Matt Francis at 195 and multi-sport star Cole Kelly at 220.
Alpha Media Sports presents coverage of the 2021 Iowa State Wrestling Tournament this Thursday, Friday and Saturday on “Sunny” 99.7 and here on our website.