ESTHERVILLE, Iowa - The Iowa Central Tritons won four of the 10 weight classes to win their first North Central District Touranment title since 2019.
The Tritons were led by sophomore Matt Sarbo at 149 pounds. The No. 1 ranked, returning National Champion, took home his weight class, winning by Tech Fall in the semifinals and pinning his opponent in the championship. Sarbo was named ICCAC Wrestler of the Year following the event.
Joining Sarbo as a District Champion were Darnai Heard at 157, Lawrence Rosario at 174 and Trystin Irvin at 184.
Heard became the fifth Triton wrestler to win the 157 crown at Districts in the past eight seasons. Rosario regained the 174 class after Iowa Western held it for the last two seasons. Maybe most impressively, the freshman Irvin powered through the 184 weight class winning three matches. He was the only three-win champion on the day, and had to work through a class in which four of the six wrestlers are ranked top 10 in the NJCAA.
Iowa Western came in second place and had a District high five champion. Two familiar names were Paul Ruff at 133 and Malachi Bordovsky at 141. Both of the returning All-Americans repeated as district champs again this season joining Sarbo as the only three to go back-to-back.
Cole Price, another returning All-American, got redemption from last season. After falling to Ellsworth's Mirzo Khayitov last year, he defeated Iowa Central's Michael Myers this year to garner the 165 pound crown.
The Reivers took 197 and 285 as well, seeing Luke MacDonald and CJ Carter take each of the heaviest weights.
Rounding out the champions were 125 Isaac Gibbs of Indian Hills. The freshman upended Dallas Dunn of Iowa Western in the final to win the class.
Iowa Central, Iowa Western and Indian Hills qualified all 10 of their wrestlers for the NJCAA National Championships coming up in Council Bluffs on March 1-2. NIACC earned nine bids, while Ellsworth had seven qualifiers and Iowa Lakes, six.
Team Score/District Results:
1. Iowa Central – 144.5
2. Iowa Western – 130
3. Indian Hills - 120
4. NIACC - 111
5. Ellsworth - 74
6. Iowa Lakes – 68.5
125 Weight Class
- Isaac Gibbs, Indian Hills
- Dallas Dunn, Iowa Western
- Jaydale Whitlock, Iowa Central
- Chris Compton, Ellsworth**
- Osvaldo Ocampo, Iowa Lakes++
- Rhett Bonnette, NIACC
133 Weight Class
- Paul Ruff, Iowa Western^^
- Arojae Hart, Indian Hills
- Jamey Bruner, Iowa Central
- Ayden Rader, Iowa Lakes
- Parker Hayes, Ellsworth**
- McKenley Charlus, NIACC++
141 Weight Class
- Malachi Bordovsky, Iowa Western^^
- Isaac Church, NIACC
- Benjamin Fosdick, Iowa Central
- Nick Koch, Ellsworth
- Aiden Crawley, Iowa Lakes**
- Arieh Hart, Indian Hills++
149 Weight Class
- Matt Sarbo, Iowa Central^^
- Cordell White, NIACC
- Gabe Ferreira, Iowa Western
- Fischer Hawkins, Iowa Lakes
- Yaveion Freeman, Indian Hills++
- Kael Glenn, Ellsworth
157 Weight Class
- Darnai Heard, Iowa Central
- Tanner Warden, NIACC
- Ayden Kingery, Indian Hills
- Cannon Carey, Iowa Western++
- Eddy Ndayikengurukiye, Iowa Lakes
- AJ Buzynski, Ellsworth
165 Weight Class
- Cole Price, Iowa Western^^
- Michael Myers, Iowa Central
- Triston Barncastle, Ellsworth
- Emmanuel Celestin, NIACC**
- Ulises Placido, Iowa Lakes**
- Peyton Asbury, Indian Hills++
174 Weight Class
- . Lawrence Rosario, Iowa Central
- . Jaquan East, Indian Hills
- . Marco Guzman, NIACC**
- . Kolby Larson, Iowa Western**
- . Giles Cowell, Ellsworth++
- . Giovanni Hernandez, Iowa Lakes
184 Weight Class
- Trystin Irvin, Iowa Central
- Jessey Colas, NIACC
- Darion Thompson, Indian Hills
- Brent Greenfield, Ellsworth^^
- Bruce Lukehard, Iowa Western++
- Blake Eatman, Iowa Lakes
197 Weight Class
- Luke MacDonald, Iowa Western
- Joseph Lewis, Iowa Central
- Xander Kenworthy, NIACC
- Ansel Cervantes, Indian Hills**
- Kaleb Homan, Ellsworth++
- Josiah Bundt, Iowa Lakes
285 Weight Class
- CJ Carter, Iowa Western
- DJ Moehring, Iowa Central
- Treyshawn White, Indian Hills
- LB Neloms, NIACC**
- Tyreik Davison, Iowa Lakes++
- Reidyn Serna-Ames, Ellsworth