T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - Marshalltown boys wrestling is sending four qualifiers to this week’s state meet at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines: (from left) Colby Cross, Xayvion Anderson, Johan Gomez and Nick Wise.

Whether it’s their first time or third time at state, Luke Cross hopes Marshalltown boys wrestling’s four state qualifiers treat this tournament like it’s their only shot at the top of the podium.

“Enjoy the opportunity,” said Cross, the MHS boys’ head coach. “You never know what next year is going to bring. We always hope for our younger guys that there’s more state tournament berths in their future, but we want to presume this could be the last one, so try your hardest.”

Xayvion Anderson, Johan Gomez, Nicholas Wise and Colby Cross head to the mats at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines at 9 a.m. Wednesday morning for the opening session of the 100th IHSAA State Wrestling Tournament.

For seniors Anderson and Gomez, it truly is their last opportunity on the state stage, and both are primed for success in their final go-round.

Anderson, the state veteran of this quartet entering his third tournament, is seeded fifth and received a first-round bye, awaiting the winner of a first-round match between Oliver Gray of Urbandale and Waukee Northwest’s Bryce Williams later on Wednesday morning.

Last year, Anderson won his first two matches, but came up short in the quarterfinals and was nipped in a 3-2 decision in the blood round to deny him a spot on the podium.

After the calendar year of work he’s put in since that loss, he said his eyes are focused on the top of the podium.

“I’m shooting for the top and expect nothing less than that,” Anderson said. “I love where I’m sitting right now. … Having that previous experience is big, it takes away a lot of the nerves because I know what it’s going to be.”

Johnston’s Caden Leonard would be a possible quarterfinal opponent, which would be a rubber match after splitting their first two meetings. Waverly-Shell Rock’s Ethan Bibler is the top seed and would possibly be waiting in the semifinals.

Cross is confident in Anderson’s ability to make those potential matchups a reality, but wants to make sure Anderson takes care of the opponents in front of him first.

“We can’t look past anybody,” Cross said. “But he’s done all the hard work, and now he’s just gotta make it pay off. He works his tail off in this room every single day, trained all summer, trained at Grand View a lot. There’s no reason that he can’t be on the top of the podium. He’s just got to make sure that he makes the matches his match, and not someone else’s.”

Gomez also comes into the tournament seeded fifth at 190 pounds, and will take on Clear Creek-Amana’s Dylan Schrock or Norwalk’s Victor Esparza in a second-round match on Wednesday morning.

Carlisle’s Asa Hemsted is the top seed in the bracket, but Cross sees it as a wide-open bracket.

“There’s a lot of people in that weight class that are potential contenders,” Cross said. “There’s no guy that feels like ‘that’s the man right there.’ You could probably run that bracket every day for a week and have different champions every time. So he just has to make sure that this tournament is his.”

Gomez is a two-time qualifier — he was one win shy of the podium as a sophomore, and said he feels two years stronger both physically and mentally, and also wants to shoot for a state title in his final appearance at state.

“I’ve been working on my endurance and being able to stay flexed and keep moving a lot more than other competition, and that definitely gives me the edge,” Gomez said. “I’ve really been focusing on my top game and riding out the Indianola kid [Tegen Anderson] at districts for a whole period really shows the progress. Still work to be done there, but I’m excited for that.”

Wise is making a splash in his first appearance at state, seeded eighth and receiving a first-round bye in the 138-pound bracket where he awaits North Scott’s Will McDermott or Waukee Northwest’s Ben Gallagher in the second round.

“I’m super excited for this,” Wise said. “It’s going to be fun. Whenever I watch other guys wrestle at state, I just get into it so much, and it hurt to not be down there myself, so I’m just glad to be there and wrestling for it.”

Wise could potentially have a rematch in the quarterfinals with top-seeded Mac Crosson of Indianola, who beat Wise at the district tournament on Saturday.

“It’d be better to see [Crosson] a little later in the tournament, but it is what it is,” Luke Cross said. “Nick’s seeded below a kid he beat this year, but that’s just the way the seeding points fell. Still, there’s no reason he can’t do just fine in the tournament.”

No matter how the chips fall, Wise feels like he’s ready to deliver at The Well.

“Just a couple months ago, I was more conserved, and now I’m just constantly attacking,” Wise said. “Attacking, fakes, attacking again, just bringing that constant pressure. It’ll definitely be a tough match on Wednesday, but I think I can get the win.”

Cross is the other Bobcat newbie on the state stage, and has been thrown into the frying pan as the 24th seed out of 24 wrestlers in the 126-pound bracket.

The sophomore draws Ankeny Centennial senior Andrew Roland in the first round.

“I know there’s a lot of tough competition there, and I just want to go out there and try my hardest,” Colby Cross said. “I’ve been working with good wrestlers, so I’m confident in my ability to go out there and wrestle against other good wrestlers.”

Easton Jorgenson of Waverly-Shell Rock awaits the winner of the match between Roland and Cross.

“If he can win that first match, there’s no reason he can’t push deep in the tournament, but with a loss it could be a short-lived tournament,” Luke Cross said. “But it’s just another match. Sometimes kids will get starstruck and get anxious seeing the crowd and thinking that everyone is there to watch them, and the reality is there’s only a fraction of the people there to watch you.

“It’s about being grateful for the opportunity. There’s a lot of wrestlers out there wishing they could be on that stage, or even people that wish they could wrestle but can’t for whatever reason. Just be grateful that you’re in that position where you’re athletic, hard-working, and capable of participating in such a cool environment as the state tournament.”

PODIUM POTENTIAL

Several T-R area wrestlers are poised to end the weekend on the podium as a top-8 finisher in the state; presenting in ascending order of seed:

Class 2A, 113 pounds — Urijah Courter, soph., West Marshall, 39-0: The top seed in the bracket returns from a third-place finish at 106 pounds as a freshman at Nevada. … Courter has won all but one of his matches by pinfall or technical fall this season. … Cael McCabe of Fairfield, who knocked Courter out of last year’s tournament in the semifinals, is the second seed in the 113 bracket.Class 2A, 150 pounds — Shane Hanford, sr., West Marshall, 42-0: Hanford received the top seed ahead of second-seeded Mikey Ryan of Mount Vernon — Hanford and Ryan were likely to meet at a tournament earlier this year that was canceled due to weather. …Hanford has not lost since the 138-pound third-place match at state last year and is in pursuit of his third state medal.

Class 1A, 150 pounds — Kolt Knaack, sr., North Tama, 44-0: Knaack eyes a big finish to his high school career with the fourth seed this week. … He’s seeking redemption from last season, where he entered with an undefeated record but was upended by Lisbon’s Tiernan Boots in the quarterfinal and eventually fell to sixth place; Knaack was fifth as a sophomore. … Knaack is one of three undefeated wrestlers in the bracket, along with top-seeded Corbin Reisz of Logan-Magnolia (52-0) and Teague Smith of West Hancock (31-0).

Class 2A, 120 pounds — Jon Gonzalez, soph., West Marshall, 38-3: Gonzalez made a splash as a freshman, reaching the semifinals at 113 pounds and eventually finishing fourth for his first state medal. … Gonzales is seeded fifth this week, and could see a rematch with Crestwood’s Mitchell Schmauss in the quarterfinals — Schmauss clipped Gonzalez in a 5-4 decision at an Osage tournament on Jan. 4. … Two-time state champion and Air Force commit Brayden Bohnsack of Union is the top seed in the bracket.

AREA SCHEDULE

(Number in parentheses denotes wrestler seed)

Class 3A session, 9 a.m.

First Round

126 — (24) Colby Cross, soph., Marshalltown, 16-16 vs. (9) Andrew Roland, sr., Ankeny Centennial, 23-15

Second Round

138 — (8) Nicholas Wise, jr., Marshalltown, 40-7 vs. Winner of (9) Will McDermott, North Scott vs. (24) Ben Gallagher, Waukee Northwest

165 — (5) Xayvion Anderson, sr., Marshalltown, 42-3 vs. Winner of (12) Bryce Williams, Waukee Northwest vs. (21) Oliver Gray, Urbandale

190 — (5) Johan Gomez, sr., Marshalltown, 40-3 vs. Winner of (12) Victor Esparza, Norwalk vs. (21) Dylan Schrock, Clear Creek-Amana

Class 1A session, 1:30 p.m.

First Round

113 — (12) Maxon Monat, jr., North Tama, 38-7 vs. (21) Lane Knudson, fr., Central Springs, 33-20

Second Round

150 — (4) Kolt Knaack, sr., North Tama, 44-0 vs. (13) William Lawson, Pocahontas Area vs. (20) Jeremiah Berg, Westwood

Class 2A session, 6 p.m.

First Round

113 — (24) Brayden Jara, fr., Aplington-Parkersburg/Grundy Center, 23-27 vs. (9) Benjamin Anderson, fr., Independence, 37-12

126 — (13) Carter Liston, sr., Aplington-Parkersburg/Grundy Center, 35-10 vs. (20) Jarrett Engel, soph., West Delaware, 30-19

126 — (14) Jack Decker, sr., West Marshall, 31-11 vs. (19) Lane Elmquist, jr., Audubon, 38-14

138 — (23) Jordan Meling, jr., East Marshall/GMG, 30-15 vs. (10) Dax Koedam, fr., Sergeant Bluff-Luton, 47-10

144 — (13) Kinnick Geers, jr., West Marshall, 33-12 vs. (20) Andrew Tjaden, soph., Anamosa, 28-16

157 — (19) Beau Towne, soph., South Hardin-BCLUW, 25-8 vs. (14) Miken Wheeler, sr., Anamosa, 23-8

190 — (16) Maison Copp, soph., Aplington-Parkersburg/Grundy Center, 29-8 vs. (17) Brody Schmidt, sr., Dubuque Wahlert, 30-5

190 — (12) Drew Wheater, sr., East Marshall/GMG, 38-4 vs. (21) Bridge Anderson, sr., Burlington Notre Dame, 32-12

215 — (16) Jesse Brouwer, sr., Aplington-Parkersburg/Grundy Center, 40-4 vs. (17) Troy Kupka, sr., Benton Community, 39-14

Second Round

113 — (1) Urijah Courter, soph., West Marshall, 39-0 vs. Winner of (17) Carl Shew, North Butler-Clarksville vs. (16) Jaron Jacobs, Greene County

120 — (5) Jon Gonzalez, soph., West Marshall, 38-3 vs. Winner of (12) Braxton Hass, Atlantic vs. (21) Luke Showalter, Hampton-Dumont-CAL

150 — (1) Shane Hanford, sr., West Marshall, 42-0 vs. Winner of (16) Logan Boehm, North Fayette Valley vs. (17) Brody McKinley, Harlan Community