The Roland-Story Norsemen and South Hamilton Hawks wrestling teams made the trip south into Des Moines on Saturday morning, to compete in the annual Saydel Invitational at Saydel High School. The Norsemen and Hawks were joined by the host Eagles, as well as Boone, Carlisle, Clarke, Clear Creek-Amana, Des Moines Lincoln, Interstate 35, Iowa City High, Iowa Falls-Alden, Lynnville-Sully, Marshalltown, Newton, PCM, Southeast Polk, Waukee and Waukee Northwest.
Roland-Story claimed the the two area bracket winners on Saturday, as Logan Powers won the 165 lbs bracket in dominant fashion, winning by pins in 1:13, 1:33, :48 and :45 in the title match in his first action of the season. Hesston Johnson won the 175 lbs bracket, winning his championship match in a 9-7 decision over (3A) #6 Asa Hemsted of Carlisle. The Norsemen got a runner-up finish at 285 lbs from Aaron Peyton, who lost a 7-0 decision to PCM’s Kaden Clark, while Caiden Latch placed 3rd at 113 lbs with a pin over Waukee’s Mahdi Fadel. Konnor Blume placed 4th at 106 to round out placers for the Norsemen.
South Hamilton’s top placer was 157-pounder Keyton Remsburg, who placed runner-up, advancing to the title match before losing to (3A) #1 Kael Voinovich of Iowa City High via a 2nd-period fall. The Hawks also saw a couple of 5th place finishers, as Jonathan O’Neal placed 5th at 165, winning his 5th place match via medical forfeit over Boone’s Joe Pestotnik. Graham Peters would place 5th at 190 lbs with a pin over Iowa Falls-Alden’s Reece Rankin in the 5th place match.
Roland-Story wrestling returns to action on Thursday with a Heart of Iowa Conference tri-dual at Nevada, while South Hamilton wrestling also returns on Thursday with a Heart of Iowa Conference tri-dual at Perry.