Reinicke, Textor earn state spots

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NEW HAMPTON – Wil Textor has made the most of the opportunity afforded to him.

Nearly two weeks ago, his season appeared to be over. Now, the junior 220-pounder joins Nick Reinicke as the two state qualifiers representing Dike-New Hartford/Gladbrook-Reinbeck at the state wrestling tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, with both winning district titles at New Hampton High School on Saturday.

Crestwood’s Drew Jackson’s upset of Charles City’s Tino Tamayo in the 220-pound sectional championship at Crestwood on Feb. 5 was the first domino to fall in an amazing turnaround for Textor - not only qualifying for state but doing so as district champion with a 5-2 decision over New Hampton/Turkey Valley’s Marcus Herold in the semifinals and a second-period pin of Independence’s Brady McDonald in the championship match in New Hampton.

Textor is seeded seventh in the 2A 220-pound bracket and draws Albia’s Paul Ballard, a sophomore with a 26-13 record, in the first round on Thursday.

Back in the halls of the school in Cresco, this all would have sounded improbable to Textor as he jogged back and forth, blowing off steam after losing what appeared to be a season-ending sectional semifinal against Jackson.

“I would have laughed at this,” Textor said of how his road to Wells Fargo panned out. “But Tony [Norton, D-NH/G-R head coach] talked me into it. And the practices leading up to this helped a lot.”

Textor and Herold were tied 1-1 after Herold escaped from bottom to start the third, but Herold was hit with a stalling call and moments later Textor took Herold down for a 3-1 lead, then added one more takedown after a Herold escape in the trailing moments of the match.

“I was just staying heavy on his head, trying to wear him out,” Textor said. “I know I have a gas tank, and I wanted to use that up.”

Textor added he was careful in his championship match with McDonald to not get himself in a bad position, and managed to wrangle McDonald to the mat for a pin just before the buzzer at the end of the second period.

“I just wanted to prove something since I got second last week,” Textor said. “I wanted to prove that I wasn’t a second-place finisher. I wanted to go get everything I could.”

Reinicke won his bracket at 182 pounds and will return to the state tournament this week, seeking to climb the podium after an eighth-place finish at last season’s state meet.

He’s the fourth seed at state, opening the tournament against Clarinda’s Jase Wilmes, a sophomore with a 30-8 record.

Reinicke pinned his way through the opposition on Saturday, wrapping up Independence’s Marcus Beatty with a fireman’s carry into a pinning combination in the first period of the semifinals and leading 7-1 before pinning NH/TV’s Braden McShane in the third period for the district title.

“We knew both those kids were tough,” D-NH/G-R head coach Tony Norton said. “But Nick’s movement, his motion on his feet, it’s hard to defend against.

“He’s flipped a switch, and it’s a good time to turn it on. He’s smooth, wrestling real confident right now. … And you can see Nick making those little adjustments that a lot of kids can’t make in a match.”

D-NH/G-R’s other district qualifier, Cayden Buskohl, was stopped short of state, finishing third at 170 pounds.

Buskohl lost to eventual district champ Ben Tenge of NH/TV in the semifinals. He earned a wrestleback after pinning Charles City’s Trevor Peterson in the third-place match but couldn’t quite get anything going against Mitch Johnson of Independence, a 5-1 winner in the wrestleback.

“That first one got away from us,” Norton said. “We knew [Tenge] probably should have won that sectional on the other side, but Cayden wasn’t quite wrestling how we’ve seen him wrestle earlier this year in that kind of match.

“Johnson’s a tough kid, but we were right there with him. There’s one shot he wasn’t able to finish and another that kinda sealed the deal. But Cayden will bounce back. He’s a hard-working kid, so much progress this whole year. It didn’t turn out the way he wanted to, but man, you look back at the first day of practice to today and it’s leaps and bounds difference. He’s going to be fine.”

Norton expects Reinicke and Textor to push each other for great things this week.

“They’ll feed off each other, they always do,” Norton said. “They’re best friends and have been since they’ve been knee-high to a grasshopper. They know what will motivate each other. They’ve worked out together, played together on the O-line in football, played baseball together. They’re both hard-working, tough kids.”

A-P/GC’s KNAACK 4TH: Justin Knaack, a sophomore with Aplington-Parkersburg/Grundy Center, finished fourth at 138 pounds in New Hampton on Saturday.

Knaack was pinned by Independence’s Carter Straw in the first period, and lost the third-place match against Union’s Keegan Ellsworth by fall in the second period.

Straw is now a three-time state qualifier after finishing as runner-up at 138, joining three-time champ Carter Fousek in returning to state.