Huston, Miller reach State

Wrestling

     Two Midland wrestlers have qualified for the State Wrestling Tournament as a result of the Class 1A, District 8 tournament held Feb. 15 at Wilton.

     Damon Huston, who holds a 46-3 record, finished second at 120 pounds to advance. Cayden Miller, 32-6, also was second, at 160 pounds.

     Huston won his semifinal match by fall over Chase Witte of Wapello, and then lost in the finals to Brandon Paez of Lisbon. Witte won his third place match, clinching the runner-up spot for Huston.

     Miller also won an opener by fall over Hayden Cavelage of Louisa-Muscatine, but lost in the finals. Miller did have to wrestle back for the true second spot against Jacob Waller of Bellevue, and won by fall in 3:17.

     Huston and Miller will compete in the Class 1A first round session that begins Thursday, Feb. 20, 6 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

     Huston will face Hayden Fischer of AHSTW, Avoca (27-24) in his first round match.

     Miller will battle Austin Wilson of Nodaway Valley (40-1) in his opener.

Girls basketball

     Midland saw its girls basketball season come to an end in a 56-28 loss at Calamus-Wheatland Feb. 13 in a Class 1A, Region 4 first round game.

     Cal-Wheat stormed to a 17-3 lead by the end of the first quarter, and gradually pulled away. Midland was led by Kirstin Schaeger, who had 10 points and five rebounds; and Allison Paulsen, who had seven points, six rebounds and two blocks. Bailie Uppena grabbed seven rebounds, and Hannah Fishwild had six.

     “Our energy was great, but physically we just fell short,” Midland coach Jason Soper said.

     Earlier, the Eagles played host to Clinton Prince of Peace Feb. 11 in their final regular season game, and lost 51-34 despite 13 points from Arianna Hacke, and 10 from Elizabeth Soper. Hacke also had 11 rebounds to complete a double-double. Paulsen had six points and seven rebounds.

     “Down by as many as 26, it would have been easy for our girls to give up,” coach Soper said. “But as they have done all year, they really bore down, and we made a push in the fourth.”

     Midland finished the season 1-11 in the Tri-Rivers Conference, 3-18 overall.

     “Ultimately we grew a lot over the season,” coach Soper said. “I know the time to grow the most is when facing trials, and we will be better having gone through it.”

Boys basketball

     Midland closed down its boys basketball regular season by splitting a pair of games against Tri-Rivers Conference foes.

     The Eagles (4-8, 6-14) played host to Clinton Prince of Peace Feb. 11, and lost by a score of 70-46. A 22-10 third quarter for P-O-P broke the game open and gave the Irish a 54-32 lead. For Midland, Jensen Dodge had 12 points and six rebounds. Iziek Soper had 11 points. Wilson Buckwalter added nine points and five assists.

     Against Lisbon Feb. 14, Soper had a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds in a 51-48 triumph for Midland. Buckwalter had 13 points, and Zain Sauer had 11. Midland outrebounded Lisbon 30-28. Sawyer Hansen, Dodge and Sauer had four rebounds apiece.

     “Once we settled in a little bit in the second quarter, we went on a huge run,” Midland coach Dalton Harms said. “We were patient on offense. I challenged our guys to rebound the ball against a much bigger Lisbon team, and the boys responded.”