DES MOINES — The Marshalltown boys’ wrestling team crowned four champions on its way to second place at the Iowa Alliance Conference Invitational on Saturday at Des Moines East High School.
The Bobcats racked up 195.5 points to trail only Fort Dodge (226) in the final standings of the 10-team tournament. MHS finished comfortably ahead of Waterloo East (154) and Ames (153.5) in the race for second place.
Marshalltown senior Xayvion Anderson successfully repeated as conference champion, moving up a weight from last year to claim the 165-pound title in his final go-round. Anderson received a bye into the semifinals before pinning Trent Keller of Waterloo East in 1:20, and then Anderson improved to 35-3 this season with a 3-minute flattening of Fort Dodge’s Jayce Skow.
Lucas Bantz (132), Nicholas Wise (138) and Johan Gomez (190) joined Anderson atop their respective brackets.
Bantz (21-9) pinned is semifinal foe — Owen Reed of Ames — in just 43 seconds, and then outlasted Ottumwa’s Tayton Frueh for a 4-2 decision in the finals.
Wise (33-6) won his quarterfinal with a 50-second pin over Mason City’s Eli McCleish, and then he tallied a technical fall over Waterloo East’s Georvon Tyler, 21-5. Wise closed the day with a 7-1 win over Braxton Winkey of Ames in the championship match.
Gomez (33-3) fought off Gianni Speller of Waterloo East in his semifinal match, winning 7-4, before beating Cole Martin of Ames by major decision, 17-9, in the finals.
Dalton Zednichek (25-13) nearly joined the Bobcats’ bracket champions, falling 5-2 in sudden victory to Fort Dodge’s Jessie Egli in the 175 final.
All 14 MHS wrestlers placed in the top-six in their respective weights. Three Bobcats earned third-place finishes: Carson Wright (157), JJ Schoenfelder (215) and Jaxson Hinkle (285).
Nicholas Million was fourth at 106; Israel Garcia (120) and Anthony Chavez (144) placed fifth; while Jose Corral Coronado (113), Gael Garcia (126) and Kager Kramer (150) came away with sixth.
The Bobcats will host their Class 3A district meet on Saturday, Feb. 15, at 10 a.m. at the Roundhouse.