Petersen becomes third Warhawk wrestler to medal

DES MOINES – Kale Petersen’s sixth-place finish in the Class 1A 106-pound state wrestling meet made him only the third West Fork wrestler to reach the medal stand in school history.

Petersen, who follows Jake Hansen, who was the first and the first freshman to medal for the Warhawks, and Jarel Arbegast, the current assistant coach, to achieve the feat for coach Jared Arbegast’s squad.

Following a 15-5 major decision of Highland, Riverside’s Bryce Thompson had assured him of his medal, Petersen put it into perspective.

 “If you place your freshman year and make it to the state tournament the next year, however high you place, you get different rankings,” Petersen said. “So, if you place third, you get a better ranking than if you placed seventh or fifth. That’s just my mentality: just get the best place on the podium I can get so I can get more ranking points next year.”

However, after the match that assured his medal, things went south for Petersen.

The match that would have put him in the third-place match had him out solid with a 2-1 lead after the first two periods following an early takedown and an escape, and extended his lead to 4-1 in the third on a takedown, but his opponent, Dawson Schmit of Wapsie Valley got a reversal with 19 seconds to go on a move that both Arbegast coaches protested was an illegal move that temporarily had Petersen injured and needing carried off the mat.

When asked about it shortly before Petersen’s fifth-place match, Jarel Arbegast said he believed the move Schmit made was illegal and that the initial fear was for Petersen’s other knee.

Petersen missed the first half of the season with a knee injury. After the initial scare, Petersen was good for his fifth-place match, against the wrestler who sent him to the consolation in the first place, Mikey Baker of West Sioux.

That was another match in which Petersen led, only to get pinned.

“In my opinion, I’m one of the best wrestlers in the bracket,” Petersen said. “I wrestled my match my first match and I just got caught. I was just trying to stay safe for the last minute and got caught, but in my opinion, I’m one of the best guys in the bracket.”

However, Petersen once again was pinned by Baker in 1:24 to finish sixth, which elicited a display of anger by Petersen as he threw his head gear halfway across the next mat, costing a team point to be deducted. Behind Petersen, the Warhawks scored nine points for a four-way tie for 48th place out of 89 Class 1A teams.

Since he is a freshman, there will be plenty more opportunities for Petersen to rise higher on the podium.

“There’s always something better than I can place, but it’s pretty good to have my name in the school (books) even as a freshman,” Petersen said. “Most of the guys who placed, like Jarel, one of my coaches, he placed a couple times, got second his senior year, that’s what I look forward to.”