Barkema claims eighth in first state trip

DES MOINES — Carl Barkema lost a pair of close decisions to end his season eighth at the Class 2A 138-pound state wrestling meet.

Barkema (43-12) got out to a 4-0 lead against PCM’s Payton Drake in the seventh-place match only to see Drake rally with a pair of takedowns and back points with seconds left on Saturday, Feb. 22.

“We wrestled really well that last match the first four minutes of it,” Bulldog head coach Patrick Hansen said. “Did well, right there at the end…he learned a lot and that wrestler was not too bad.”

He was sent to the seventh-place match after Barkema’s closest match of the season out of four against Iowa Falls-Alden’s Alberto Salmeron on Friday, a 7-5 decision in which he got a late takedown and tried to turn him, eliciting a stall warning with 0:33 to go, but nothing more.

All of this despite being ranked.

“I’ve always thought he should be ranked, but I don’t make the rankings. It somebody else who does it, and I told him, ‘it’s just what one person thinks,’” Hansen said. “Just because you aren’t ranked, it doesn’t mean you’re not one of the best wrestlers out there. There are a lot of wrestlers who work their way and are not ranked, get hot. We got hot here, wrestled well and it was a good time for it.”

Barkema said that he has to put the place in perspective.

“I wish I could have gotten a little higher on the podium, but getting on the podium does mean something, especially in Iowa,” Barkema said. “I’m glad I made it, I’m just going to push harder next year to get higher.”

Hansen, too, has big plans for not only Barkema, but the rest of his lineup.

“I’ve always had big goals for Carl and a lot of the kids,” Hansen said. “I was kind of hoping we’d get more down here to place, but I think Carl has a lot of bright things ahead of him. I know (his brother) Carter placed twice and he wants to place three times. Getting eighth place is placing, so you’re on your way.”

The preparation for Barkema will start soon after the state meet is over, but not too soon.

 “He’ll come out with our AAU kids next weekend, help them out,” Hansen said. “He’ll take a short break and then start getting after it again.

“He works at it and you can tell the guys who work at it opposed to those who don’t. It’s tough to wrestle, wait, wrestle again. Sleep in a hotel and then do it again. Carl works hard and does everything right. We need to get more guys doing that.”

Barkema added, “I plan to go to a lot of clubs, a lot of camps, maybe do some freestyle and Greco stuff as well to get better on my feet, so when I go back to folk style, it will make my transitions a lot better. Hopefully, it will help me out a lot.”

The Bulldogs, behind Barkema’s eight points earned, finished in a three-way tie for 51st out of 74 Class 2A teams.

As usual, Bulldog fans came out in droves to support both Barkema and David Cornejo, who was eliminated after two matches, both decisions.

“To all of those people who came out to support, it makes it so much easier when you have 50-60-70 people in the stands cheering you on,” Barkema said. “You can feel it, hear it, especially when you’re in that tight match, or if you make that big move. The adrenaline pumps, because of that it is so much easier to push yourself even harder because they make you feel better showing what you can do and you’re trying to push yourself even harder when they are watching you.”

Hansen said Cornejo, too, will work to get back to state.

“I know he would have liked to wrestle better,” Hansen said. “It’s great, it’s a great accomplishment. Some wrestlers go their whole lives and not make it down here. For David to get down here and he didn’t wrestle the greatest, he’s a junior, he can come back, work at it over the Summer and get back.”