This weekend athletes and teams from around the area finished up the youth wrestling season with the IKWF State Tournament.
3 Hononegah youth wrestlers leave with individual state titles. Rocco Cassioppi, senior 103 lbs., was dominant the entire weekend. He pinned his way through the bracket, totaling only 8:13 on the mat. His twin brother Bruno Cassioppi, senior 110 lbs., also got a pin in the finals to win an individual state championship. Brody Sendele, senior 154 lbs., the third Hononegah wrestler in the finals, posted a 24-4 technical fall to take home the title. Brody was also very dominant this weekend, posting 2-technical falls and 2-pins to complete his championship campaign.
In addition to individual success, Alber Athletics took 3rd place in the senior division as a team. This is a very difficult achievement as there are many talented teams that compete within the state. Alber Athletics is coached by Josh Abler, 4x IHSA State Champion and D1 wrestler at Northern Iowa. The team had a total of 9 state place-winners, 3 of which finished as state runner-ups.
Here’s how the area finished up.
Hawk WC
- Cannon Ziller – 2nd at Novice 60 lbs.
- Jack Benesh – 8th at Novice 80 lbs.
Stockton Renegades
- Mason Henderson – 8th at Novice 178 lbs.
- Asher Acevedo – 6th at Novice 215 lbs.
Hononegah WC
- Archer Smith – 4th at Novice 60 lbs.
- Rocco Cassioppi – 1st at Senior 103 lbs.
- Bruno Cassioppi – 1st at Senior 110 lbs.
- Brody Sendele – 1st at Senior 154 lbs.
Alber Athletics
- Elijah Nadig – 8th at Novice 74 lbs.
- Maddux Rabczak – 4th at Novice 80 lbs.
- Cam Young – 5th at Novice 93 lbs.
- Cam Whitehead – 3rd at Senior 79 lbs.
- Brendan Nardin – 6th at Senior 126 lbs.
- Brody Stein – 6th at Senior 144 lbs.
- Trey Diduch – 2nd at Senior 74 lbs.
- Charlie Connors – 2nd at Senior 103 lbs.
- Ben Nadig – 2nd at Senior 110 lbs.
