1 point makes all the difference
Nick Bronstad finishes 8th at state wrestling tournament
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Wearing his Maroon and Gold singlet, Nick Bronstad works to flip Sioux Center's Ethan Hooyer last Friday during the state wrestling tournament.
A higher place on the Class 2A medal stand literally escaped Okoboji/H-M-S wrestler Nick Bronstad at the individual state tournament last weekend.
In the 285-pounder's final two consolation matches, second period escapes by Ethan Hooyer, of Sioux Center, and Keean Kamerling, of Mount Vernon, were the difference between winning and losing. As a result, Bronstad (11, 35-15) finished eighth overall in his first state tournament appearance at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.
Bronstad opened the tournament on Thursday against No. 5 seed Chance Malone, of Columbus Community (12, 37-5). Malone scored a takedown in the first period and an escape in the second. Another takedown in the final period gave Malone the 5-0 victory.
INA PHOTO
Nick Bronstad wrestles Keean Kamerling during his final match last Saturday. He finished eighth in the Class 2A 285-pound weight class.
In the first round of consolation action, Bronstad pinned No. 13 seed Rudy Papakee, of South Tama County (10, 24-11) in 2:16. On Friday, Bronstad nearly repeated his earlier consolation match performance with a win by fall over No. 11 Jacob Leohr, of Dike-New Hartford (12, 14-7), in 2:13.
That set up the match with the 10th-seeded Hooyer (11, 41-7) in the third round. In their only regular season encounter in December, Hooyer had pinned Bronstad in 4:00. The rematch at the state tournament was decided when the Sioux Center wrestler scored the only point with a second-period escape.
That was also the period in which Kamerling (12, 23-7), the No. 6 seed, recorded an escape in the seventh-place match to defeat Bronstad, 1-0.
The seven points scored by Bronstad placed Okoboji/H-M-S in a tie with Hampton-Dumont and North Fayette Valley for 55th place in the 2A team standings. West Delaware won the team title with 150 points and Osage, which won the District 4 title at Humboldt on Feb. 13, finished second with 96.
