Jaxon Cherry

Iowa’s greatest grappling show is upon us.

This year, there are six wrestlers from the Daily Freeman-Journal area that will make the trip to the Iowa High School Athletic Association’s State Wrestling Tournament, which kicks off at 9 a.m. today at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

South Hamilton junior Keyton Remsburg starts the first day of the tournament in the Class 1A-138 lbs. Bracket. Remsburg is the lone representative for the Hawks following a tough 2022-2023 campaign.

At 1:30 p.m., the Webster City quartet of wrestlers — freshman Linden Phetxoumphone (106 lbs.), junior Carson Doolittle (120 lbs.), senior Austin Mason (170 lbs.), senior CJ Hisler (195 lbs.) and junior Jaxon Cherry (220 lbs.) — will take to the mats in Class 2A’s afternoon session. Of the five, however, Mason was the only Lynx wrestler to be placed into a qualifier round.

Each matman’s goal is to power through their individual brackets, and make it to the podium by Saturday evening.

Here is a rundown of how each grappler made it to “The Well,” and the path that lies ahead on the tournament’s initial day.

WEBSTER CITY

Linden Phetxoumphone

(Class 2A, 106 lbs.)

Coming in as the fourth seed within his weight class, Phetxoumphone had powered through the road behind him and will have quite a road before him in order to get to his first state championship match.

Phetxoumphone (35-2) will have to wait to get underway, though, as he will take on the winner of a qualifying round matchup between Atlantic freshman Braxton Hass and West Marshall sophomore Jack Decker. Should Linden get his hand raised on Wednesday afternoon, he advances into Thursday afternoon.

Carson Doolittle

(Class 2A, 120 lbs.)

Wrestling as a man possessed, Doolittle enters the tournament as the top seed in his weight class.

Doolittle (36-1) has some waiting time, as he will await the winner of a qualifying round bout between freshman Landen Davis of Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont and ADM senior Jacob Alexander.

Last season, Doolittle finished third overall. Ahead of him this time around is a possible rematch against Caelan Oakes-Sudhish of Southeast Valley on Thursday.

Austin Mason

(Class 2A, 170 lbs.)

After winning the second place match at the Class 2A-District 10 Wrestling Tournament this past weekend, the senior will look to make his first appearance at Wells Fargo Arena a special one.

As the 18th seed, Mason (32-9) will face Atlantic’s Jarrett Armstrong in the qualifying round within the afternoon session.

Should Mason emerge triumphant, he will take aim at No. 2 seed Ethan DeLeon in the second round early this evening. If Mason comes up short, he will shift over to the bottom of the consolation bracket, which starts on Thursday afternoon.

CJ Hisler

(Class 2A, 195 lbs.)

Looking to build off of his third place finish last year, the senior has his sights set on wrestling in the finals on Saturday night. Hisler comes in as the second seed within his weight class.

Much like Phetxoumphone, Doolittle and Cherry, Hisler (26-1) will have a little bit of waiting time before making his way to the mat. On Wednesday evening, he will have to face either Eagle Grove senior Jack Mendoza or Perry junior Keegan Snyder.

Should Hisler come out on top in his lone match of the day, he could lock horns with Winterset’s Carter Smuck, Osage’s Cole Jeffries or have a rematch against Roland-Story’s Jaxson Kadolph. At districts, Hisler sealed his tournament spot with an 11-second pin on Kadolph.

Jaxon Cherry

(Class 2A, 220 lbs.)

Slapped into the middle of the bracket as the third seed, Cherry has a straight shot to Friday, given his current momentum.

Cherry (35-2), much like the majority of his teammates, will have time to lace up the boots. Starting in the second round, Cherry will face off against the winner of Atlantic’s Miles Mundorf and Anamosa’s Cole Sigler.

Should Jaxon continue on, he could face Ballard sophomore Henry Christensen on Thursday afternoon.

SOUTH HAMILTON

Keyton Remsburg

(Class 1A, 138 lbs.)

Of all of the area student-athletes, Remsburg will have the most interesting road ahead of him.

As the No. 22 seed, Remsburg (25-14) will challenge Nashua-Plainfield senior Kaden Wilken in the qualifying round. Should Remsburg send his opponent to the consolations, he will face fourth-seed Tiernan Boots of Lisbon.

If Remsburg falls short in the opening round, the South Hamilton grappler will dip down to the wrestlebacks. There, he will face the loser of the second round matchup against Alburnett’s Brody Neighbor and either Wapsie Valley’s Kanen Decker or East Union’s Hadyn Walters.