Golden Again: Glenwood’s Koehler repeats as state champion, team grabs four medals at state

When Mason Koehler stepped to the top of the podium Saturday night at the Iowa State Wrestling Tournament, he wasn’t just winning another state title — he was stepping into Glenwood history. 

With his second straight state championship at 215-pounds, Koehler became just the third wrestler in school history to claim two state crowns, cementing his place among the program’s record books.

“He had one thing on his mind all year: go dominate,” said Glenwood coach Tucker Weber. “He knew he could do it, he believed he could win and he just went out there with poise and maturity.”

The Rams missed out on winning team hardware, finishing fifth in the team scoring with 107.5 points. Decorah and Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont shared the Class 2A team championship with 131 points. Alburnett was third with 114 points.

Koehler wasn’t the only Ram who came home from Des Moines with a medal. 

Joseph Leick, Ace Cochrane and Drake Buthe all won their first state medals. Leick was the runner up at 126-pounds and Cochrane (106) and Buthe (285) both placed third.

“I thought the kids did a great job,” Weber said. “We got a first, second and two thirds, that’s pretty darn good. And we had a chance at a team trophy if we could have won our two championship matches and Alburnett had lost their matches. We would have snuck into third place. But Joe’s match didn’t go the way we wanted, and Alburnett ended up winning anyways. It was great to be in the team race.”

In their finals 12 matches at state, the Rams went 11-1.

“That’s all against state medal types of guys and I was impressed with that,” Weber said.

Perhaps none were more impressive than the performance of Koehler.

Koehler defeated Osage’s No. 3 seeded Gavin Muller in the finals to win gold.  On his way to the finals, the senior pinned Webster City’s Cody Elliott, Denver’s Cody Koepke and Carroll’s Quinten Polking to get back to the title match.

Koehler (51-1) was challenged by Muller in the final but a first period take down and then a second period escape was all he needed to repeat as the 215-pound champion with a 4-0 winner. In his four matches, Koehler did not allow a single point at state.

“Coaches told me before the match I was at a different level than him and I took that to heart,” Koehler said. “I went out and showed I could wrestle at a different level. Right away I did that. I had other opportunities to score but it was the state title match, so I got a little conservative. It ended up being a bit more of a conservative match.”

The win puts Koehler in rare company alongside Jeff Jens (1989 and 1990) and Rick Moreno (1991 and 1992) as the only two-time champions in school history.

It’s a moment that is still sinking in for Koehler.

“It feels great,” Koehler said. “I feel kind of nostalgic since last night and the whole entire time today about my whole career. Just a great team to be a part of and all of the memories I’ve made. It’s going to be hard to say goodbye to. I’ve just been so blessed to be a part of Glenwood Wrestling. I’ve just been feeling that the last couple of days but also a lot of excitement.”

Leick (49-3) joined Koehler in Saturday night’s finals. 

The freshman who finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in the final IAWrestle rankings, but was the sixth seed at state, stormed into the semifinals against Slater Thomas of Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont, 10-7. Thomas was seeded No. 2 in the bracket but Leick got the better of the sophomore with a first period takedown and wore the sophomore out in the win.

In the 126-pound finals, Leick was his typically aggressive self against Wilton's Mason Shirk but he could never quite get the shots he needed. 

Weber said Shirk kept his feet moving and never allowed Leick to close the gap with his shots all match long. 

“They had a really good game plan,” Weber said. “He (Shirk) got that takedown late in the second and it kind of shocked us a little bit and I don’t think we were the same after that. It’s hard to mentally rebound after that and he’s a tough rider and he had an arm bar series he used the rest of the period. We had a chance at the end of the second (period) that would have made it a different match.

“As a freshman in the finals its hard, especially against a senior like Shirk who had the experience and is a vet. We’ll learn from it and hopefully be on the top of the podium next year. He has three more chances.”

Shirk would go on to win the match 5-1.

Cochrane and Buthe both captured third place medals after suffering what could have been heartbreaking quarterfinal losses. But neither were willing to concede anything at state.

“Ace and Drake had phenomenal back side rounds,” Weber said. 

After losing his quarterfinals match, Cochrane (49-8) came back and pinned Keller Little from Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont and avenged a state duals loss with a pin of Decorah’s Edisen Fullhart. He notched an 11-5 win over Luke Walsh of Sergeant Bluff-Luton to reach the third-place match where he got by Alburnett’s Tyler Gerhold 5-4.

“To see the growth that Ace has had in the last year and then during this year has been really cool to see,” Weber said.

Buthe lost his quarterfinal to Lucas Feuerbach of Solin by major decision then ground out two straight close victories to reach his third-place match. Buthe (53-5) grabbed his first state medal with a 5-2 decision over Woodward-Granger’s Kane Mahler-Moreno.

“He grinded out matches on that back side against high level guys,” Weber said. “The kid he wrestled for third had a great year and was a really tough opponent and he got on top and created some back points and he was able to ride it out.”

The Rams’ Brody Black, Nile Lundvall and Jacob Aust didn’t medal at state but all three had strong showings.

Brody Black (120), the Rams’ three-time state qualifier, went 2-2 in Des Moines with wins over Eli Peiffer of Grinnell by major decision and Carroll’s Carson Tedrow by 5-4 decision to cap his is senior season with a record of 43-16.

Lundvall (175) went 3-2 at state, finishing just short of the medal round with a 20-5 technical fall loss to Anamosa’s Ayden Antonelli in the consolation bracket. He finishes his junior season with a 46-12 record.

Aust (190) was 0-2 at state to finish his senior season with a record of 5-9.

Weber hasn’t quite fully turned the page to next season, but the coach said next year is already on his mind. Who could blame him – five of the Rams’ seven state qualifier all return, including medal winners Cochrane, Leick and Buthe.

“Hopefully the kids realize how great of season we had this year and we can be even better next year if we put the time in,” Weber said. “We should be pretty solid next year. We just need to stay healthy and stay focused.”