Viking Brady Ortner gets a hug from his mom Laurie after will the 126-pound District title Saturday.
"Any year that ends at State is a good year..."
-- Coach Don Holmes, 19-something-or-other
A season of injury and illness, of ups and downs, and emotions that went off the scale on both ends will continue one more week for the Vinton-Shellsburg wrestling team.
Sophomore 126-pouner Brady Ortner used a first round pin and three big takedowns in the finals to win the Class 2A District wrestling tournament Saturday at Center Point-Urbana High School.
Ortner (41-6 for the year), opened the day with his 30th pin of the season as he dropped Monticello's Ethan Tallman in 2:34 to move to the title match. In the finals, Ortner fought off a second-period cradle by West Delaware's Evan Woods to take a 5-4 lead into the third period.
In that final frame, Ortner got an early escape then took Woods down with 28 seconds left to clinch the outcome that made him just the second Viking sophomore ever to win a District -- joining Ryan Hill in 2005 -- title. As the match ended he pointed to his teammates before fading into a pile of hugs from his coaches, family and a lot of other pretty special, happy people.
The road to Des Moines will continue Thursday at 1:30 p.m. with the first round of Class 2A State Wrestling Tournament at Wells Fargo Arena. Look for live reports on Vinton Today all weekend!
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