North Mahaska has always competed well at the Bill Rex Invitational wrestling meet held at Pekin High School. They were the runnerup the past two seasons, but the Warhawks placed 10 in the finals matches and won six of them. Sixteen wrestlers placed sixth or higher on the day.
North Mahaska accumulated 238.5 points to outdistance second place Albia with 212.
Freshman Breckin Wittenburg was first at 106. He opened with a bye then pinned Braxton Headley of Van Buren in 30 seconds in the semifinals and took 1:13 to pin Davis County’s Gage Moss for the title.
Freshman Aydan Groom utilized three pins at 132 pounds to take the title. Following a bye, Groom pinned Parker Boley of Van Buren in 59 seconds and in the finals and pinned Kendric Johnson o Lynnville-Sully in 3:20.
Senior Joel DeJong took the title at 138 pounds. He scored a technical fall over Chariton’s Drew Chandler, 18-3 in the quarterfinals and pinned Moravia’s Aiden Kelley in 2:39. He met Matthew Mintle of Lynnville-Sully in the finals winning a 6-3 decision.
Ryan Groom used a pin, and two tech falls to earn his crown at 144. He pinned Cardinal’s Athan Zimmerman in 57 seconds in the quarterfinal match. Chariton’s Dylan Chandler was on the losing end of an 16-0 tech fall and Davis County’s Kiptyn Lawrence also lost by tech fall 15-0.
Gage Ries worked his way through to the podium at 165 pounds pinning Pekin’s Henry Adam in 3:34; scoring a major decision over teammate Dawson DeBoef, 12-1. In the finals he edged Parker Hemann of Albia, 3-2.
Junior Max Reed used a pair of pins and. Decision to win at 175 pounds. He took 2:34 to pin Chariton’s Levi Johnston and pinned Alex Scott of Van Bren in 39 seconds. Reed faced Fletcher Mick of Albia in the finals winning a 9-5 decision.
Freshman Logan Van Zee earned a runnerup spot at 120 pounds falling to Albia’s Wyatt Yule in 2:46. Van Zee pinned Kinnick Griffiths of Davis County in 4:52 in the semifinals.
Senior Hunter Wernli pinned his way into the finals at 150 pounds. Van Buren’s Jaydan Pilcher was pinned in 50 seconds and William Kok of Moravia in 4:57. Carter Folkerts of Albia pinned Wernli in the finals in 58 seconds.
Freshman Nolan Shock pinned teammate Landon Briggs in 25 seconds and pinned Cardinal’s Sawyer Goehring in 2:44. Elijah Westercamp of Van Buren won an 8-1 decision to give Schock second.
Junior Chance Angle decisioned Blake Lamansky of Cardinal 10-3 in the opening round at 215. He decisioned Montezuma’s Brett Plants 5-4 to advance to the finals. Albia’s Nate Ballard decisioned Angle 13-6 for the title.
North Mahaska will return to action Saturday at the Tri-County tournament.