3rd Place for Kral at State Meet

DES MOINES – The Garner-Hayfield-Ventura wrestling team sent two wrestlers to the 2025 Class 2A IHSAA State Championships. Lucas Kral took third at the state meet in the 157-pound weight class, and Parker Moritz wrestled at 190.

Kral finished third in the state in the 157-pound weight class. He opened with a 17-2 technical fall win over Hayden Schafer (61-20) of Eagle Grove. Kral then lost by a 1-7 decision to Brent Dennhardt (34-2) of Greene County.

In the consolation ladder, Kral got back to winning with a 13-1 major decision win over Reese Fauble (24-9) of Glenwood. He then defeated Schafer again in a wrestle back, 7-1. Kral won by fall at 1:44 over Kaden Wiele (74-20) of West Liberty. He won the third-place match 7-1 with a win over Tate Slagle (42-4) of Algona. 

Parker Moritz wrestled 190 in the state championships. He won his first match 9-2 over Jayme Van Wyhe (27-15) of Central Lyon/George-Little Rock. Moritz was then eliminated with a loss by fall at 1:39 to Cael Moore of Williamsburg.

"Both guys had great wrestling careers. Lucas placed three times at state(4,2,3) and became the winningest wrestler in program history with 170 wins," said coach Cory Jenniges. "Parker was a two time qualifier and also had an 8th place finish(SQ,8,SQ).  Parker would also close out with over 150 wins. Both of them are also the only three time state qualifiers in our program's history. They both wrestled well at this year's tournament."

Coach jenniges continued, "Couldn't be more proud of them and the way they handled themselves on and off of the mat down there. They continue to be great role models for our younger kids in the program. Both of them had loaded brackets. Lucas coming all the way back to third place after a tough loss as the number one seed is no easy task and says a lot about him as a person.  Parker represented himself well although he fell short of his goal. They both put a lot of time in to get to where they are today."