What we learned from the boys state wrestling finals. Ames, R-S both crown one champion

DES MOINES — Ames and Roland-Story each crowned one state champion during the 2024 Iowa boys state wrestling tournament Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena.

Ames senior Daniel Herrera won his first Iowa boys state wrestling title at 285 pounds and Little Cyclone sophomore Danarii Mickel placed second at 190 in Class 3A.

In 2A, Roland-Story's Kade Blume won his third state championship by taking first at 132. Blume's senior classmate, Hesston Johnson Jr., was runner-up at 175.

Here is what we learned from the 2024 Iowa boys high school state wrestling tournament.

Daniel Herrera achieves perfection

Herrera never lost a match in high school. He finished off his only year in Ames at 18-0.

During his three years at Palm Desert High School in California, he was a perfect 69-0 with two state wrestling championships. But his first one in Iowa was special.

"It means a lot," said Herrera. "This one meant more to me because it was the first one I was away from my team. When I went out there in the finals, I was cool, calm and collected."

There was no stopping Herrera this week in Des Moines. He won his first two matches by fall, defeated third-ranked Cooper Martinson of Southeast Polk by major decision in the semifinals (15-5), and then delivered an 18-6 victory by major decision over second-ranked Caden Wetherall of Waverly-Shell Rock in the finals.

"That's always the goal, make a statement wherever I go," said Herrera. "I want to let everyone know who I am."

Herrera made a huge impact in his lone season wrestling for the Little Cyclones.

"Peanut (Herrera) is dominant and everybody knows it," said Ames coach Andy Fecht. "He went out and wrestled tough guys here in the state tournament, and he came out and dominated every match. He is just a worker. He goes hard and he is constantly trying to score. The kid's got a bright future."

Herrera's future is wrestling for Iowa State. He signed with the Cyclones in November after verbally committing to them his junior year at Palm Desert. But he is not concentrating on that right now.

More:Daniel Herrera was a standout wrestler in California. He is ready to show Ames what he can do

"Nobody knows what the future holds," Herrera said. "That's the beauty of it. I live for right now. I live in the present."

Kade Blume goes 3-for-3 in state finals

Roland-Story's Kade Blume claimed his third state championship in as many tries with a 10-3 victory over Burlington Notre Dame's Kaiden Dietzenbach in the 2A finals at 132.

Blume was projected to be a four-time champion, but before the 2022-2023 season started he was charged with assaulting a former Roland-Story student. The case was adjudicated in juvenile court and the district barred him from wrestling during most of his junior year.

Blume finished his final season with the Norseman at 40-0.

"It's definitely a different feeling," Blume said. "It's my favorite one by far."

Blume fell behind Dietzenbach 1-0 early in the second period, but then he hit a quick flurry with a takedown and two back points. Dietzenbach countered with a reversal, but Blume escaped to take a 5-3 lead into the third period.

"I could tell it was there," Blume said. "He (Dietzenbach) kept hanging and I knew he was game planning for one of my attacks, so I had some ones in the bag to use."

In the third period, he scored an early escape, then got some late back points to pull away.

Blume's toughest match of the tournament came against third-ranked Matthew Beem of Glenwood. Blume prevailed by ultimate tiebreaker, 5-2.

"That semifinal one was massive," Blume said. "We wrestled at Fargo (North Dakota) and he's a very talented kid. It was a good match for sure."

Blume finished with a career record of 120-1. He won a 2A state title at 106 pounds as a freshman and at 113 as a sophomore.

Danarii Mickel, Hesston Johnson Jr. fall just short

Mickel and Johnson came up just a hair short during their championship matches Saturday.

Mickel fell to Southeast Polk's Brent Slade by a 6-5 score after giving up a takedown in the final 15 seconds. He had just rallied to tie the score at 4-4 after falling behind 2-0 early.

More:How a loss in last season's state finals fuels Ames wrestler Danarii Mickel

"That was a war," Fecht said. "That was two tough guys going at it. Unfortunately, we gave up the first takedown. Both guys wrestled their butts off. Danarri has nothing to hang his head about, he had a great tournament."

Mickle finished his sophomore season at 46-3.

It was the second year in a row Mickel placed second at state. He was runner-up to Fort Dodge's Dreshaun Ross at 195 as a freshman.

Johnson made the state finals for the first time in 2A after placing fourth at 170 last season. He suffered his third loss of the season to Anamosa's Austin Scranton during the finals.

Johnson trailed 5-2 in the third period, but he scored a late reversal to pull within one. Scranton followed with an escape and Johnson ran out of time to get another takedown in finishing his senior year with a 42-3 record.

"I'm super proud of him," said Hesston Johnson Sr. "He put in a lot of time and effort for six minutes and it comes down to one position. We were almost there, but we didn't quite get it."

More:Roland-Story wrestler Hesston Johnson is eyeing a state championship in 2024

Johnson Sr., who wrestled at UNI, said it was nice to get to coach his son's final season.

"It's great," Johnson Sr. said. "Dads want to spend time with their kids and this is one of the best ways to do it. It was very rewarding."

Joe Randleman covers high school sports for the Ames Tribune. Contact him atjrandleman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at@JoeRandleman