Barkemas share state connection

By Kristi Nixon

ALGONA — Carl Barkema now has the chance to match something his older brother, Carter, has done for the Bulldogs’ wrestling team.

The sophomore 138-pounder can equal three straight trips to the Iowa state wrestling tournament that Carter did from 2013-15.

Ask them both, and they want for Carl even better things.

“I think now I’ve just got to place all three years, so that I can one-up him,” Carl said jokingly, but then continued. “It’s very nice, it’s great to have him in the room. He helps push me as much as he can, but yet he understands I need to practice my own moves, so he pushes me to where I still do what I need to do, but he’s also pushing me past what some of my teammates have been able to do the past few years.”

Carter added, “Obviously, that’s the goal. I’m going to quote Bryce Schimp, here: ‘My goal is to come back and make them better than I was.’ He said that when I was chasing his career wins record. He said the goal was for me to beat it. That’s my goal is for my brother, and David (Cornejo, Hampton-Dumont’s other state qualifier), and Jack Showalter and all of those boys to go back and do better than I did and I think that there is a very good chance of that happening.”

Carter, who acknowledged that he graduated early to help out, said he would have come back to coach regardless.

“You know, I’ve been coaching him since he was little, whether he thinks that or not,” Carter Barkema said. “Wrestling around in the living room, we were getting better and pushing each other, really.

“My intention wasn’t to graduate early and come back and coach, but I did it and now I’m glad that I’m back. I was going to come back to coach either way. I’m glad I’m back for his first trip to the Well. He’s got a bright future, and so does David. He wrestled tough today and a couple of real tough matches and we’re glad to see him get success going forward, too.”

Carl Barkema didn’t make it out of the sectional meet as a freshman, to his frustration, and getting through as sectional and district champion on Saturday, Feb. 15 was big for him.

“This year is amazing,” Carl said. “I came out and told my parents what I was going to do. I did exactly that.”

What he did was pin both of his opponents, and in the final he avenged a loss by fall against Osage’s Ryan Adams, who pinned him at the Bulldogs’ home duals on Saturday, Jan. 4. He was leading 4-2 when he got the turn.

Barkema will be joined by junior 145-pounder David Cornejo, who emerged with two close one-point decisions, the final coming on an ultimate tiebreaker with an escape over Emmetsburg’s Brad Wirtz.

Scoreless throughout the first three periods and the sudden victory overtime, Cornejo rode out Wirtz in the 30-second extra period while he got the escape and held on in the final 12 seconds of his 30-second overtime.

He was warned for stalling while being ridden out the entire second period.

Cornejo admitted there was some concern about a possible stall point, but not about being able to escape in what gained him a state berth.

“A little bit, he is pretty tall, so…he’s like 6-foot-3 and I’m 5-6,” Cornejo said. “He kept trying to cradle me and that was a tough one. Tough to get out of.

“I wasn’t concerned I wouldn’t be able to get out (in overtime) because I knew we were both tired and he was going to go for my ankles, so I jumped out of there as fast as I could and prayed for the best.”

Wirtz had to wrestle back and lost against Cornejo’s semifinal opponent, Nick Gasca, of Webster City, who Cornejo defeated by 4-3 decision despite also being warned for stalling with 33 seconds left.

“He (Wirtz) was a tough wrestler, but I just came in today not mentally prepared enough to wrestle,” Cornejo said. “I could have wrestled better than I did. I have next week to look forward to, but I can’t be nervous because the same thing will happen that happened here. I have to be prepared and go out and wrestle. I didn’t wrestle as good as I wanted to, but came through at the end.”

Barkema’s first-round opponent will be Perry’s Erick Funez, who owns a 32-15 record. Cornejo opens with a wrestler he is 1-0 against, Cayden Howland, of Iowa Falls-Alden. He earned a win by 4-1 decision at the Bulldogs home dual tournament on Saturday, Jan. 11.

“I’m just going to take whatever I can get and run with it as far as I can,” Carl Barkema said. “I’m hoping to place, I want to place, but I’ve got to realize that I have what I’ve got to do before that. I have to make it through Thursday, Friday and Saturday.”

Cornejo added, “I’m pretty excited to go down there and wrestle. I’ve always had a dream to go down and wrestle at Wells Fargo Arena, but I can’t look at it as too much of an accomplishment. I’ve got to try and place down there. I can’t look too far ahead. I’ve got to take each match at a time.”

Carter Barkema, who knows the routine of a state wrestler, laid out the plan for himself, Carl and Cornejo.

“We’re going to go home right now and rest, take (Sunday) off, relax, recover,” Carter Barkema said. 
“Come back, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday have good practices and get down there and see where we are sitting. If we need another workout or two to fine-tune things and get ready to roll, we’re going to do that. (Head) coach Patrick (Hansen), (assistant coach) Logan (Chipp) and I are all excited.”

2A State First Round Pairings

138:Carl Barkema, HADU (41-9) vs. Erick Funez, Perry (32-15)

145:David Cornejo, HADU (29-5) vs. Cayden Howland, IF-A (34-4)

Class 2A District Meet at Algona

Team Scoring

1. Osage 115; 2. Forest City 80.5; 3. (tie) Algona 67; 3. (tie) Humboldt 67; 5. Emmetsburg 65; 6. Webster City 40; 7. Hampton-Dumont 36; 8. Clear Lake 32; 9. Okoboji 31; 10. GHV 21; 11. Estherville-Lincoln Central 13; 12. Southeast Valley 0.

Bulldog results

138– Semifinal, Barkema pinned Noah Strantz (Okoboji) 2:34; Championship, Barkema pinned Ryan Adams (Osage) 4:55.

145– Semifinal, Cornejo dec. Nick Gasca (Web. City) 4-3; Championship, Cornejo won in TB-1 over Brad Wirtz (Emmetsburg) 1-0.