Led by Molyneux, Clarahan and Reed, SK Advances Nine to Districts

Trailing 3-2 in the second period of his Iowa Class 1A Sectional 14 final last Saturday, Feb. 5, Cade Molyneux scored a reversal on Connor Golston to take a 4-3 lead, before finishing Golston off with a pin. 

The sequence of moves used by the Sigourney-Keota senior to win the 160-pound tournament, elicited a raucous ovation from the host crowd and clinched his spot in the Iowa Class 1A District 7 tournament this Saturday in Wapello, Iowa. 

“Cade went deep into that match,” said Sigourney-Keota head coach Corey Van Den Heuvel. “He had a game plan and stuck to it.”

Molyneux reached the finals after a first round bye and by pinning Austin McMahan of North Mahaska in the semifinals. 

This will be Molyneux’s second consecutive trip to Districts as he plans to use it to reach an even bigger goal. 

“To make it to districts is just a part of the process leading up to my ultimate goal of getting on the podium this year at the State Tournament,” Molyneux said. “I am looking forward to it and my focus right now is making it out of districts on top to set myself up for success moving forward.”

Molyneux wasn’t the only Sigourney-Keota senior to punch his District ticket with a Sectional Championship as Conner Reed won the 220-pound tournament. 

With only three wrestlers in his bracket and the best record between the three, Reed only had to win one match and he did so in impressive fashion, pinning Matthew McDanel of Moravia in just over a minute. 

“Conner really came out and wrestled his style,” Van Den Heuvel said. “Aggressive and taking care of business as quickly as possible. He’s really wrestling his best at the right time.”

Junior Jack Clarahan will also enter the District tournament as a Sectional Champion having won the 170-pound tournament. 

Clarahan, who qualified for State his freshman year, missed out by one match a year ago and has been wrestling with a mentality focused on returning to Wells Fargo Arena. 

“Jack’s goal is to wrestle in Des Moines again,” Van Den Heuvel said. “He took care of business Saturday and now needs to focus on what will be a tough bracket coming this weekend.”

After a bye in the first round, Clarahan pinned Lane Kool of Moravia in 30 seconds before defeating Blake Juhl of Pekin by 15-2 major decision.