The 165-pounder for Marshalltown boys wrestling is excited to be one step closer to the state finals after a win in Thursday’s quarterfinals at Wells Fargo Arena, and to clinch Marshalltown wrestling’s first state medal since Carson Williams and Julian Gomez got on the podium in 2021.

“Feels great,” Anderson said, “but job’s not done.”

The confident senior won a rubber match with Johnston’s Caden Leonard by injury default to advance to Friday morning’s semifinals against top-seeded Ethan Bibler of Waverly-Shell Rock.

“All we know he’s a very strong kid, he’s pinned a lot of guys this year,” Marshalltown head coach Luke Cross said, “so we just need to keep our positioning good and make sure that we don’t get in situations where we can be on our back.”

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - Marshalltown junior Nicholas Wise is consoled by head coach Lucas Cross after being defeated 1-0 by Indianola’s Mac Crosson during the Class 3A quarterfinals at 138 pounds on Thursday at the state wrestling tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Leonard and Anderson split their first two meetings this season. What set the third time around apart was Anderson’s aggressiveness, looking for a takedown early and often.

“Every match has been close, a hard match with him,” Anderson said. “I was just more aggressive with him today. … I decided that I wasn’t going to stop putting pressure on him.”

After escaping from bottom to start the second period, Anderson eventually came out on the better end of a scramble with Leonard and got the takedown he needed before the end of the period and turned Leonard for two near-fall points as the clock expired.

“I knew at that point, no matter what, he was going to win that match,” Cross said. “Not many people can score six points on Xayvion that quickly.”

During the scramble though, Leonard landed awkwardly on his right ankle, and needed medical attention between periods. He opted to keep wrestling, but when he attempted a throw the pain was too much for the Johnston senior, collapsing to the ground and seeing his injury time run out, awarding the match to Anderson.

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - Marshalltown senior Johan Gomez, right, finds himself in a scramble with Bettendorf’s Brayden Koester during their Class 3A 190-pound quarterfinal match on Thursday at the state wrestling tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. Koester won by decision, 7-1.

Bibler scored a 12-3 major decision over Waukee’s Wes Anderson in his quarterfinal match. The senior for the Go-Hawks is now 20-4. Friday morning’s Class 3A session begins at 9 a.m.

“I just have to keep going out there and being the predator, not the prey,” Anderson said. “Take as many shots as I can, be aggressive and believe in myself.”

It’s uncharted waters for Xayvion, which Cross thinks makes him even more dangerous on the mat.

“That quarterfinal round, and the blood round has been like a monkey on his back,” Cross said. “And it’s off now. I think you’re going to see a kid that’s more confident than ever, and lighting up the scoreboard.”

Cross also believes Nicholas Wise got a confidence boost, even in defeat against top-seeded Mac Crosson of Indianola, who claimed a 1-0 decision to knock Wise to the 138-pound consolation bracket.

While a disappointing loss for the junior, it came less than a week after Crosson won by technical fall over Wise at the district tournament in Marshalltown.

After a scoreless first period, Crosson escaped from bottom position to start the second, but Wise kept coming, trying to get Crosson out of position while fighting off Crosson’s own offense.

With no score in the second, Wise chose bottom to start the third.

“Very few people have ridden Nick for a whole period, maybe none,” Cross said. “We were pretty confident we could get out of it.”

Crosson made sure that wasn’t the case, closing the door with a tough ride and showing why he’s the top ranked in the state.

“It gave him a lot of confidence that he could wrestle with anyone,” Cross said. “And Nick being a little more cautious with his attacks can be a good thing. He’s a wild man out there sometimes, which puts a lot of people in danger, but really good kids could thrive on that.”

Wise will get Des Moines East’s Camron Bennett in the blood round on Friday with a spot on the podium on the line. Wise beat Bennett with an 11-1 major decision in a dual with Des Moines East on Jan. 9 but Cross said Wise’s experience with Crosson is proof that previous matchups don’t always dictate final results.

“He’s one of those really tall kids too that Nick can have some difficulties with,” Cross said. “We just have to take it one match at a time and hopefully get Nick into that third-place position.”

Johan Gomez also fell short in his quarterfinal at 190 pounds with Brayden Koester of Bettendorf. Koester notched a 7-1 decision, slowing Gomez down with deep underhooks when Gomez showed some early fire.

“It’s frustrating because we’re fighting for 20-30 seconds at a time to get out of them,” Cross said. “We’ve got to get better in that position. … But like I’ve said before, Johan can score against anyone and beat anyone, so this is wide open for him.”

Gomez will wrestle ADM’s Jon Hatchitt in Friday’s blood round.

Colby Cross’ tournament came to an end on Thursday, losing by tech fall to Cedar Falls’ Evan Simpson in a 126-pound second-round consolation match. Cross finishes the tournament 0-2 as a sophomore.

“Colby got pinned by him twice last year, but he was really bumming after that match because he thought he could’ve done better,” Luke Cross said. “But he knows what he needs to do, he said right after that match, ‘I’ve got to get stronger, dad,’ and yeah, we’ve got to make a plan and commit to it. He’s got work to do.”

After Colby had to slim down to fit the lineup at 126 pounds, Luke is looking for something a little more healthy for Colby’s tall frame.

“I envision him as a 150-pounder next year,” Luke added. “I don’t want him focused on weight cutting anymore, because when your focus is there, it’s not on wrestling, and that’s a difficult thing for a wrestler.”

Friday’s schedule

Class 3A session, 9 a.m.

Fourth-round consolations

138 pounds — Nicholas Wise, jr., Marshalltown, 41-8 vs. Camron Bennett, soph., Des Moines East, 41-10

190 pounds — Johan Gomez, sr., Marshalltown, 41-4 vs. Jon Hatchitt, sr., ADM, 32-11

Semifinals

165 pounds — Xayvion Anderson, sr., Marshalltown, 44-3 vs. Ethan Bibler, sr., Waverly-Shell Rock, 20-4