I-35’s Arzani places seventh

DES MOINES — It’s been a tough season for Interstate 35 junior Sal Arzani.

Arzani suffered a head injury just before Christmas and missed two weeks of being on the wrestling mat. Then he suffered an ankle injury in mid-January that also cost him two weeks of being on the mat.

Still, the sixth-ranked 160-pounder battled his way to a seventh-place finish here Saturday at the State Wrestling Tournament in Class 1A.

“It’s been a great comeback for him. A strong, tough kid,” Interstate 35 head coach Ryan Snyder said. “He wrestled, I think, three matches in 17 days (leading up to state). Not making excuses, but we weren’t on the mat much from December 20th. To come back today and wrestle today like he did, I didn’t feel like he was 100 percent the first night we got here, but he wrestled well.”

Even the week leading up to the state tournament was a difficult one for Arzani, as he battled the flu during the early portion of the week.

Arzani lost his first match of the tournament on Thursday, dropping an 8-4 decision to eventual runner-up Cody Kingery of Underwood.

He stayed alive with a 5-3 decision over Wilton’s Bryce Oveson in the first round of the consolation bracket Thursday night.

Friday, Arzani guaranteed himself a spot on the podium with a dominant 14-6 major decision over Sibley-Ocheyedan’s Trent Kruger.

Arzani built a 12-2 lead in the match, before giving up an escape and a pair of points for twice slamming Kruger to the mat on an injured shoulder.

The Interstate 35 junior then lost to North Butler senior Caleb Wedeking in the consolation quarterfinals with a 9-0 major decision.

“We got beat last night, but by a real good kid,” Snyder said about the loss to Wedeking. “He competed really well up here. We wanted to end on a good note, and we did.”

Arzani capped off his tournament by dominating HLV’s Nate Van Buren in the seventh-place match.

Arzani came out aggressive, scoring a takedown in the opening 10 seconds of the match, before cutting Van Buren. Arzani toyed with Van Buren, taking him down and letting him escape, until building up an 11-4 lead in the second period.

He finally decked Van Buren in 3:14 to earn seventh place.

“One of the better matches he’s wrestled in a while,” Snyder said. “We wanted to come out and finish strong. That was the key, finish strong. He’s a junior, so he’ll be back next year. We wanted to end the season right, go all out.”

Snyder said with everything Arzani had to overcome this year, finishing seventh at the state tournament was a good way to end the season.

“I’m proud of him,” he said. “I’m proud of what they all did this year. We came in this season and started with seven freshmen and three 10th-graders. It was a young team. We did well all the way through. He’s had a rough year with injuries this year. Hopefully we can stay healthy next year.”

Junior Austin Pontier, in his third trip to the state tournament, faced a tough draw in the 126-pound bracket.

Pontier lost to West Fork sophomore Jacob Hansen in the first round by 14-0 major decision, and then was eliminated from the tournament by Tri-Center senior Christian Polley in the first round of the consolation bracket Thursday night in a 13-2 major decision.

Polley eventually won a 4-3 decision over Hansen in the fifth-place match.

“Not seeding the tournament is rough,” Snyder said. “You never know what you’re going to get. We caught, I think the Tri-Center kid is wrestling for fifth place. Catching him on the first round of the backside — I don’t know what that kid is doing first round on the backside. He should have been in the semis.

“It’s just how it goes, you get rough draws. Austin will be back again. He’s been here three times, there’s no reason to think he won’t be back here next year. We’ll give it another shot next year. Proud of him, too.”

Snyder said bringing Arzani and Pontier to the state tournament was a whole team effort.

“Proud of the whole team,” he said. “It’s a whole team sport. Wrestling’s not an individual sport like people think, it’s a whole team effort. If it wasn’t for the other people in the (wrestling) room, we couldn’t have been here today. Good season.”