Bulldogs advance two to state meet

NEW HAMPTON — Two Bulldog wrestlers were the among the five competing to advance out of the Class 2A District 6 wrestling meet to punch their tickets to state.

Class 2A No. 7 152-pounder Carl Barkema and Jack Showalter (120) will represent coach Patrick Hansen’s team in Des Moines this week.

Barkema (40-1) qualified as a district champion, earning his second trip as a junior.

“I believe Carl should be the six seed at this tournament, but he isn’t, so that is bad news for No. 1-ranked Jack Gaukel of Sergeant Bluff-Luton,” Bulldog head coach Patrick Hansen said. “Carl will start off with Zach Jensen from Spirit Lake who Carl should take care of business against. Then will set up a big match-up against Gaukel, who has been a three-time runner-up.

“He (Barkema) dominated on Saturday and is looking to place very high this week.”

He pinned both of his opponents on the way to the title, getting the fall against Crestwood’s Clay Schemmel in 3 minutes and sticking Charles City’s Roush Jaeger in 4:34.

Showalter (30-7) will be going as the district runner-up after a 3-0 loss by decision to North Fayette Valley’s Nick Koch. He did not have to wrestleback.

Showalter opened with a 2-0 decision against Waukon’s Jakob Regan. He will open the state meet against top-seeded Blaine Frazier (43-3) of West Burlington-Notre Dame, ranked second by The Predicament.

“It’s great for Jack to make the state tournament, now let’s win a match,” coach Hansen said. “Jack wrestled good enough to make the state tournament; he didn’t really get going on his offense in either match against two very defensive wrestlers, but didn’t do anything stupid, either.”

The first-round match for Barkema will be against Sprit Lake Park’s Zach Jensen (24-4). Jensen is unranked, but comes in also as a district champion, the only match-up in the 152-pound bracket pitting district champions against each other.

The Bulldogs had three other wrestlers at the district meet finish fourth, one of which got a second chance to wrestle when he thought his season was done a week ago.

Junior 132-pounder Jakyb Kapp got the opportunity when the sectional champion from Iowa Falls-Alden had to withdraw with an injury incurred in the final match the week before.

He lost his first-round match by sudden victory, 8-6 against Cole Butikofer of Crestwood and them lost a major decision in the third-place match.

“Jakyb lost in overtime after leading most of the match,” coach Hansen said. “He then had to wrestle Brady Stille, who wrestled very well and looked way better than we thought he was capable of. Jakyb will use this as a learning tool and come back strong next season.”

Braden Hansen (160) and Tate Schmitt (170) lost their opening matches and then fell to fourth.

“Everyone wrestled hard Saturday,” coach Hansen said. “Both Tate and Braden will look to have a big senior season.”

The Bulldogs finished ninth out of 11 teams with 32 points behind their efforts.

Class 2A District 6

Team Scoring

1. Crestwood 141; 2. Decorah 70; 3. Webster City 65; 4. Charles City 59; 5. NH-TV 56; 6. (Tie) North Fayette Valley 38; 6. (Tie) Roland-Story 38; 8. Dike-New Hartford 36; 9. Hampton-Dumont 32; 10. Iowa Falls-Alden 18; 11. AP-GC 10.

Bulldog results only

120— Championship match, Nick Koch (NFV) dec. Jack Showalter 2-0. No wrestleback.

132— Third-place match, Brady Stille (Dec) major dec Jakyb Kapp 13-1.

152— Championship match, Carl Barkema pinned Roush Jaeger (CC) 4:34.

160— Third-place match, Ryan Pickar (NH-TV) dec. Braden Hansen 5-1.

170— Third-place match, Nick Johnson (AP-GC) pinned Tate Schmitt 3:31.

First-round state matches

120— Blaine Frazier (W. Burlington-Notre Dame) 43-3 vs. Jack Showalter (H-D) 30-7.

152— Zach Jensen (Spirit Lake Park) 28-9 vs. Carl Barkema (H-D) 40-1.