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CENTERVILLE – Two Clarke wrestlers are headed on to the state wrestling tournament in Class 2A today in Des Moines: Urijah Fry (165) and Angel Gomez-Perez (106) with their first and second-place finishes respectively.
At the qualifying meet, Fry made quick work of his first two opponents, falling both in less than 45 seconds - he took down Kenneth Houston (Fairfield) by fall in 0:32 and Chariton’s Jaydon Narber by fall in 0:38. The first-place match went to 1:37 when Fry fell Kael Hutchinson (Albia).
Fry ended his regular season 49-4 and goes into the state meet today the 11 seed. He wrestles against 22 seed Jax Shekleton of NH/TV (34-12). The winner will face the 6 seed Layton Yager (42-4) of Estherville Lincoln Central.
Gomez-Perez won his first match no contest and his second with a quick fall over Bentley Haywood (Chariton) in 0:31. The third match took a little longer for Gomez-Perez to get his footing before falling over Noah Patel (Fairfield) in 2:36. The first-place match went to Keller Little of EBF, who took a fall over Gomez-Perez in 1:53.
Gomez-Perez’s season record stands at 29-11. As 23 seed, he faces off against 10 seed Ace Cochrane of Glenwood (84-17); the winner will take on Cole Wibholm (31-7) of Clarion.
Though not advancing to state, two more grapplers stood on the podium as Angel Torres (285) placed third and Lincoln Hill (157) fourth.
Torres took his first match against Alex Hudson (Fairfield) by a fall in 0:39, and lost the second match by a fast fall in 0:18 to Corbyn Padgett (EBF). He won his third match after a lengthy battle against Logan Caraccio (Centerville) before taking him down in 4:43, and won by 10-2 major decision over Eli McGriff (PCM) in the fourth match. Torres’ final match of the day went to Baylor Ferreira (Fort Madison) by fall in 1:12.
Hill won his first match by fall in 0:33 over Aiden Holthus (Fairfield), then fell himself in 1:31 to Zane Mullenix (EBF) in the second match. He took his third match against Jake Hash of Centerville with a fall in 2:19 and lost the third-place match to Peter Seyb (Fort Madison) by fall in 3:29.