Underwood Wrestlers Take 4th Place at State!
Alex Thomsen paces Eagles with 3rd State Title
Lewie Curtis
Three straight State Championships for Alex!When the Underwood Eagles won the District Meet on February 11, qualifying six wrestlers for State, expectations were very high in the wrestling room. Coach Joe Stephens knew the group could do well in Des Moines. After the finals on Saturday, everyone knew that Underwood wrestling was a team on the rise.
The Eagles were led by junior Alex Thomsen, who won his third State title, running his record to 139-0. Alex is the 85th wrestler to win three titles, and he looks to join a very elite company of four-time Iowa State Champions. Only 25 Iowa wrestlers have won four state titles. Alex had technical falls in each of his 4 matches, winning the title over a 2016 State Champ, Donny Schmit.
Three other wrestlers finished on the medal stand in the top 6. Freshman Logan James lost a tough first round match to finalist Devon Meeker, then won four straight matches by a pin, technical fall, and two major decisions, before falling in a tight 3rd place match.
Freshman Blake Thomsen won his first two matches to reach the semifinals. There he fell 5-0 to eventual State champion Brock Henderson. After losing in the consolation semifinals, he won his final match 12-7 to take 5th place.
Senior Guy Sudmann returned to State after a two year absence. He won his first match in a tie-breaker, then fell in the quarterfinals. He won two more matches on the consolation side, one by technical fall, and wrapped up a very successful Eagle wrestling career with a sixth place finish.
Sophomore Michael Baker lost his first round match, then came back with an impressive 12-0 technical fall on the consolation side. His final match was a tough 5-3 loss.
Freshman Zane Ziegler had an incredibly tough draw in his first State appearance. He lost his first match to the eventual State Champion Adam Allard. On the back side, he fell to Daniel Meeker.
Guy will be a tough one to replace for the Eagles moving forward, but this young squad looks to only get better in the future.
(Photo credits to Brenda Sudmann, Lewie Curtis, and Eric Rodgers.)
Eric Rodgers