Shenandoah Boys Wrestling
Shenandoah wrestling's state tournament group poses for a picture Saturday, Feb. 21, at the State Wrestling Championships after Jacob McGargill (third from right), placed third at 165 pounds, and earned his 200th career win. From left: Jake Johnson (athletic trainer), Brett Roberts (assistant coach), Hayden Roush, McGargill, Todd McGinnis (head coach) and Logan Roberts (assistant coach).
Shenandoah senior Jacob McGargill throws West Delaware's Lane Gudenkauf straight onto his back during the second period of the third-place match Saturday, Feb. 21, at the State Wrestling Championships.
Shenandoah senior Jacob McGargill gets off the mat a winner for the 200th and final time, after pinning West Delaware's Lane Gudenkauf Saturday, Feb. 21, in the Class 2A third-place match at the State Wrestling Championships.
Shenandoah senior Jacob McGargill celebrates his 200th and final win Saturday, Feb. 21, at the State Wrestling Championships. McGargill pinned West Delaware's Lane Gudenkauf in the third-place match for his final win.
Shenandoah senior Jacob McGargill expresses his emotions to Mustang assistant coach Brett Roberts after a third-place match win, the 200th of his career, Saturday, Feb. 21, at the State Wrestling Championships.
After a yell toward his assistant coach, Shenandoah senior Jacob McGargill jumps into the arms of Mustang assistant Brett Roberts, celebrating a third-place finish and his 200th career win Saturday, Feb. 21, at the State Wrestling Championships.
Shenandoah senior Jacob McGargill celebrates his 200th and final time his hand is raised Saturday, Feb. 21, as the third-place winner at the State Wrestling Championships.
Shenandoah senior Jacob McGargill lets out one last roar as a Shenandoah Mustang after winning his 200th career match to finish third Saturday, Feb. 21, at the State Wrestling Championships.
Shenandoah junior Hayden Roush looks to score against Carver Wieland of Independence Friday, Feb. 20, at the State Wrestling Championships in Des Moines.
Shenandoah junior Hayden Roush sizes up Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont's Landen Davis Friday, Feb. 20, during a 144-pound quarterfinal match at the state tournament. Davis won the match by fall.
Shenandoah junior Hayden Roush looks to score during a second round win over Drake Howard, Sergeant Bluff-Luton Thursday, Feb. 19, at the State Wrestling Championships.
Shenandoah senior Jacob McGargill goes for the takedown of Clarke's Urijah Fry in a consolation fifth round match Friday, Feb. 20, at the State Wrestling Championships. McGargill won the match by fall, advancing to Saturday's consolation semifinals.
Shenandoah senior Jacob McGargill throws West Liberty's Briggs Collins to the mat during a McGargill win by fall Saturday, Feb. 21, in a consolation semifinal at the State Wrestling Championships.
DES MOINES — Shenandoah senior Jacob McGargill made the trip to Des Moines and the Boys State Wrestling Championships with one goal in mind, a state championship.
He didn’t accomplish that, but he did rebound from a shocking quarterfinal loss with four straight falls, the last of which came in the Class 2A 165-pound third-place match and gave him his 200th career win to wrap up his Shenandoah career.
“It means a lot of constant improvement after losing (Friday),” McGargill said, “to coming back and beating the same kid (Saturday). I think it shows how mentally tough I am. A lot of kids in my situation would have given up.”
McGargill had to immediately rebound Friday, winning two matches, both by fall, the first which was needed just to earn a medal, the third of his outstanding career. He then won two more matches Saturday, both by fall, the last of which came against West Delaware’s Lane Gudenkauf, who handed McGargill the loss Friday, to earn the last and milestone win.
“It was pretty satisfying,” McGargill said on avenging his only loss of the season. “I don’t think he wanted anything to do with me. He knew I was dangerous. I got to where I wanted to be quickly and everything flowed. It felt amazing and that’s that.”
His 200th win was his fifth of the state tournament, something he couldn’t have done if he stayed in the championship bracket. Obviously, McGargill would have rather had the title, but 200 career wins is an impressive accomplishment, and he said it’s not just his to celebrate.
“I broke our school record by 14 wins. That means a lot,” McGargill said. “This program means a lot to me. It taught me everything I know along with my club coaches, but the coaches here have been the ones to push me all year long.”
His last win, which came in a fall time of 2 minutes, 40 seconds, set off a huge celebration, which included several yells and jumping into the arms of assistant coach Brett Roberts.
McGargill entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed and won his only match Thursday, beating Albia’s Kael Hutchison by a 12-0 major decision.
His first match Friday was simply stunning. After giving up an early takedown, McGargill led Gudenkauf, the No. 7 seed, 4-3, and then 5-4 in the third period before giving up a takedown with 1:15 to go. Gudenkauf didn’t let McGargill up to earn the upset win.
From there, it was a quick turnaround in the consolation bracket and Shenandoah head coach Todd McGinnis admitted he and the rest of the coaching staff were a bit nervous on how their senior leader would respond.
“That’s not easy,” McGinnis said on McGargill coming back from a loss. “We were all trying to make sure he was in a good head space again. He wrestles all year, this is what he does. I figured he would be ready to go and I know that was a goal he had set for a long time. Knowing you’re not going to do that is pretty devastating.”
McGargill said looking back, he felt he wasn’t in a great mindset going into the quarterfinal match.
“I think the pressure got to me a bit,” McGargill said. “I wrestled not to lose and that was a big part of why I lost. It’s a learning target and it feels amazing to come back with a win.”
McGinnis estimates McGargill was back on the mat about 45 minutes after his loss and earned a fall in 2:40 over Algona’s Taevyn Zinnel. Later Friday evening, in the semifinal session he had planned on being featured in, he was on one of the outer mats, reserved for the fifth round consolation matches, when he pinned Urijah Fry of Clarke in 3:20.
That moved him into Saturday and guaranteed two matches to figure out third through sixth place medals.
He pinned Briggs Collins of West Liberty in 5:34 in a match he would have had the technical fall in after a scoreless first period if he didn’t finish off the pin. His final match was the win over Gudenkauf.
“I know he wanted to be in the finals again and be a state champ,” McGinnis said. “But the 200 is something that is only going to be him. So, that’s special. I’m proud of him and happy for him. He’s a special kid.”
For McGargill, it’s a 58-1 season, 200 wins in his career, marks that easily place him among the best to wrestle in Shenandoah High School history.
“He is something special for us,” McGinnis said. “He’s a four-time qualifier and we haven’t had many of those, and a three-time placer. He’s been a huge part of the program. It’s been a turning point since he’s been on the team.”
McGargill added that going down in history as holding a lot of marks that few, if any, in program history have accomplished is pretty special.
McGargill finished his career with a 200-23 record, including an incredible 114-2 over the past two seasons. He finished third as a senior, second as a junior and sixth as a sophomore after qualifying for the state tournament as a freshman.
Hayden Roush at state wrestling
After a promising Thursday for Shenandoah junior Hayden Roush at the Boys State Wrestling Championships at Casey’s Center in Des Moines, Roush’s tournament and season ended with two losses Friday.
The two losses Friday meant Roush finished the tournament one win shy of earning a state medal, the second straight year he has suffered this feat.
“I figured my first match would be tough and it was,” Roush said on his Friday performance. “I had a good shot, but I couldn’t finish it. I wasn’t happy with the loss but was happy with how I wrestled. The second match didn’t go the way I wanted it to, and I ended the same way as last year.”
Roush entered the tournament as the No. 9 seed and ranked 10th by Iawrestle and opened the tournament with a dominant 12-3 major decision over Humboldt’s Caleb Vinsand.
After giving up the first points of the match on a takedown, Roush came back with six points in the first period and didn’t give up another point in earning the major decision.
That matched Roush up with eighth-seeded and ninth-ranked Drake Howard of Sergeant Bluff-Luton in the second round. Again, Roush gave up an early takedown and was down 4-0 in the second period before securing a takedown of his own right before the period ended. After getting a penalty point, Roush reversed Howard to take the lead and quickly pinned him with a fall time of 5 minutes, 30 seconds.
“I was down and it was just right place, right time,” Roush said on his second round win. “I threw a headlock and pinned him.”
The win moved Roush into the quarterfinals, and he said he was hopeful that his Thursday success would lead to more on Friday.
“It was amazing,” Roush said on his two Thursday wins. “I wanted to build off my performance (Thursday) into (Friday). I wasn’t too happy with my performance (Friday), but I gave it my all and that’s all that matters.”
He opened Friday against top-seed Landen Davis of Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont. The undefeated senior finished second as a junior and third as a sophomore at the state tournament and dominated the match, using his quickness to secure three first period takedowns. He added a four-count for a 13-2 lead after one period. He added a takedown in the second and worked on Roush from the top position until the fall, which came at 3:53.
That dropped Roush into the consolation fourth round where Roush dropped a 12-1 major decision to 12th-seeded and sixth-ranked Carver Wieland of Independence.
Roush gave up a takedown in the first period and then a reversal and takedown right before the second period buzzer to trail 8-1. Wieland added another takedown in the third and Roush gave him a penalty point shortly before the buzzer.
Roush said it was a tough finish to the season, but he has plenty to build on going into his senior season.
“I’m running out of next years,” Roush said. “I have just one year left and hopefully I’ll come back here next year and get it done, prove all what I have been working on my entire high school career.”
Roush ended his junior season at 49-7 with 125 career wins.
