DES MOINES

While the Iowa High School Athletic Association was celebrating 100 years of state wrestling it was the first time the long-standing tournament featured the talents of Highland’s Landon Bell, Cash Cole, and Tyler Pierson who all made their state debuts this past week.

The whirlwind known at the IHSAA state championships took place at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines from Feb. 19-22 and the Huskies displayed their skill and growth on the biggest stage Iowa high school wrestling has to offer.

With state being the grand stage it is, the Highland trio decided to partake in some team bonding before competition kicked off with a visit to the barber.

“I’d say it was probably more of a team bonding thing as we go to the state tournament,” Cash Cole said about Pierson and Bell along with himself getting buzz cuts before wrestling at state. “Kind of had to do something goofy a little bit before we came up here and show what we’re about.”

“I just found out that I was going to state. Got a little message from Cash saying, “Hey, since you’re making state, we got to go get buzz cuts. Me, you and Tyler.” And I was like, “Screw it, why not?”” Bell said.

Sporting new haircuts, on day one Cash Cole (1A-113), Bell (1A-106), and Pierson (1A-132) all dropped their first matches at state. Not letting the sting of defeat linger past the first day, Bell and Cash Cole rebounded on day two.

Bell, making the most of his opportunity after advancing to state from a third place finish due to an injury to the runner-up, picked up a pair of strong wins on day two.

“Mostly just doing it for a bigger cause. It’s not even for me anymore,” Bell said about wrestling at state. “It’s kind of just for the kid that got hurt and to the 106 pounder that I took his place and he had lost to one of the kids that I just wrestled.”

In the second round of consolations, Bell earned a hard fought win by 13-10 decision and the senior followed up with another win in his next match by fall (4:48) to advance to day three.

“He’s just a free spirit. He doesn’t put a lot of pressure on himself to wrestle, and he’s having fun,” Highland head coach Nick Cole said about Bell. “I don’t know if people maybe really give enough credit to Landon and how good he is.”

Following in the footsteps of his upper-classman, Cash Cole also made some noise on the second day, as the freshman also earned back-to-back victories to advance to day three.

“That’s a tough mental game to come off of having a close loss yesterday,” Cash Cole said about trying to regroup after a loss on day one. “Just trying to kind of put it in the back pocket and come ready to go and I came a little slow to start, and I picked it up and found it and got two wins out of the way.”

Cash Cole won in the second round of consolations by fall (4:34) and in his next match he scored a come from behind win by fall (4:21) to finish the day with the first two state victories of his young career.

“[Cash Cole] loves to compete. He loves to be out there and he’s proven he belongs here. We got down early in that match on a mistake, and he kept wrestling and doing what we preach every day,” Nick Cole said about his son Cash’s third round consolation match. “I knew we were in a favorable position, even though we gave up early points there.”

Pierson saw his tournament run draw to a close on day two after being defeated in the second round of consolations by 12-2 major decision against the same opponent he wrestled last week in the championship match at districts.

It wasn’t the ending the sophomore envisioned for his first trip to state but Pierson, who ends his season at 31-18, will no doubt use this outing as fuel for the goal of making a return trip to state next season.

“I think [Pierson] improved from match one to match two, he improved. [West Branch’s Logan Christoffel] beat us pretty bad in the district final. I thought we wrestled him well,” Nick Cole said. “Tyler’s got to understand that he belongs here. He’s got all the wrestling ability in the world, and he’s just got to continue to improve and continue to love the sport and the grind and the training.”

On day three both Cash Cole and Bell fell in the fourth round of consolations to end their impressive seasons. Cole ends his first year wrestling for Highland at 37-20 and Bell ends his last year wrestling for Highland at 20-11.

Highland wraps up another season of wrestling at state and in the offseason they say goodbye to seniors Bell, Sage Hartley-Norman, and Isaac Kleese.

Returning plenty of talent next year, this young Highland team is set up for a bright future which should ensure their season’s are never devoid of a trip to state.