Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Nick Bronstad finishes 8th at state wrestling tournament
Wearing his Maroon and Gold singlet, Nick Bronstad works to flip Sioux Center's Ethan Hooyer last Friday during the state wrestling tournament.
Nick Bronstad wrestles Keean Kamerling during his final match last Saturday. He finished eighth in the Class 2A 285-pound weight class.
Junior Nick Bronstand earned a spot on the podium after finishing eighth in the Class 2A 285-pound weight bracket last weekend.
O/H-M-S heavyweight Nick Bronstad wrestles Columbus Community's Chance Malone during his opening round match Feb. 18 at 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.
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.
