LMNK advances one wrestler to state meet

Published 8:55 am Monday, February 15, 2010

Lake Mills junior Royce Byrnes has gone to the Iowa state wrestling tournament for most of his life but never as a participant.

Byrnes, ranked 10th at 152 pounds in Class 2A, reached his goal of competing in the state tournament with a pair of victories Saturday at the Class 2A district meet in Lake Mills.

“It’s a great feeling,” Brynes said. “It’s what I’ve been dreaming about.”

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Byrnes defeated Emmetsburg’s Andrew Wellik 2-1 in overtime to reach the championship bout and beat Clear Lake’s Jordan Dahl 4-3 in the finals to earn a spot in the state tournament, which begins Wednesday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.

Byrnes chose the down position in overtime against Wellik, an opponent he previously defeated during the regular season, and said the decision did not come easy.

“It was one of the hardest decisions I had to make,” Byrnes said.

After conferring with head coach Alex Brandenburg and assistant coach, Bill Byrnes, Royce’s father, he chose down and got an escape for a sudden victory in overtime.

Byrnes moved on to face Dahl in the finals, a wrestler who he split matches with during the regular season and hadn’t taken down. But Byrnes got two takedowns and allowed Dahl just three escapes for a 4-3 decision to become the first Lake Mills/Northwood-Kensett wrestler since Wade Hebrink two years ago to qualify for the state tournament.

“The key was taking him down,” said Bill Byrnes. “We hadn’t been able to take him down before.”

Byrnes enters the state tournament with a 34-5 record and will face Brody Jay of Creston/Orient-Macksburg, a senior with a 17-3 record.

His bracket includes top-ranked Tanner Weatherman, a junior from Ballard, second-ranked Blake Sorenson, a senior from Denver-Tripoli, third-ranked Taylor Berger, a junior from Carroll, fourth-ranked Ryan Valline from East Marshall, sixth-ranked Cody Solari, a junior from Bluff-Lunton, seventh-ranked Logan Felton, a senior from Monticello and ninth-ranked Chase Skoneczka, a junior from Benton Community.

While Byrnes advanced to the state meet, the rest of the district meet remained bittersweet for LMNK.

Sixth-ranked senior Jake Brekken fell short in his attempt to reach the state tournament.

Brekken came into the district meet with a 32-4 record and a favorite to win the 285 pound weight class.

Brekken won his first match 13-5 against Spirit Lake’s Shae Heinrichs, but fell in the title match to Charles City’s Mark Tiedemann 6-3.

Brekken had a true second match following his loss, but got pinned by Algona’s Brandon Keller to end his wrestling career.