Earlham Echo

February 10, 2026

Every high school wrestler wants to make it to the state tournament, but to get there, you must get the job done at districts first. Finish 1^st or 2nd in your weight class and your ticket is punched. Anything less than that and you go home.

After completing a fine dual season, the Cardinals have set their sights on the district tournament this Saturday in Truro and will have a good chance to advance multiple wrestlers to state. Earlham has three wrestlers in the individual state rankings, but even the Cardinals without numbers after their names will look to make their mark. The Cardinals lineup is strong throughout.

“That’s kind of what we’ve been trying to build for the last few years,” said Coach Strandberg. “For the first couple of years we were recruiting the hallways, throwing kids in there that didn’t know wrestling, and were just trying to learn as they went. But I knew, going into this season, that we were looking like a team that was not going to be easy outs.”

Four wrestlers are the most that the Cardinals have ever sent to state in one year. On paper, the Cards look like they can do better than that this season. Of course, matches are decided on the mat, not on paper.

“If we’re firing on all cylinders, we have an opportunity to qualify more than we’ve ever qualified,” said Coach Strandberg. “But that being said, its districts, so a lot falls into play. It’s one of those things that you think you know where you’re going to be, but we just need to show up and make sure we perform that day and do our best. Some of those guys, it’s a walk in the park. They just have to go through it and make sure that they do things right. The other ones, some of them are going to have to step up to the challenge and beat somebody that’s beaten them. So, it’s a bit of a grind.”

Freshman Colter Lenze (113) and junior Max Millage (126) might just have that ‘walk in the park’ Saturday. Lenze is 37-1 and Millage is 31-1 this season.

Lenze was an accomplished AAU wrestler and has made a seamless transition to high school wrestling. He has a million moves and he knows how to use them.

“He’s very good with his mis-directions,” said the coach. “He makes you think he’s going to go one way and he goes the other. That just comes from a lot of mat time. That’s a lot of props to his dad and his club coaches, getting him to that point so he was ready to walk into the high school room. He’s a coachable kid, too. He’s always coming up to me saying, ‘Hey, what can I do here? What can I do there? How did that kid do that?’”

Millage is looking to make his third trip in a row to the state tournament. He’s wrestled some tough competitors this season and his experience of wrestling the best of the best at state the past two seasons is invaluable. Millage knows how to wrestle a full 3 periods and doesn’t get stressed if he falls behind—but that hasn’t happened a lot.

“Once Max settles in, you just kind of let him. He’ll get there,” said Coach Strandberg. “It’s a six-minute match. Six minutes doesn’t seem like it’s that much time, but sometimes it feels like an eternity when it’s a close one. Max doesn’t have many matches without putting somebody on their back. So it’s very doable for him to get back into matches if they do get away from him a little bit. He’s had a few more matches that go into the third period and take 6 minutes to get it done. But you want to see the kids have those because pins are few and far between when you get into the later rounds of the state tournament.”

Junior Keegan Long has built a 42-9 record against good competition. Long is a nearly ideal combination of sheer strength and technical ability.

“I haven’t had a lot of heavyweights that can pick up other full-grown heavyweights and then put them down like Keegan does,” said Coach Strandberg. “So he’s definitely a special kind of kid, strength wise and the wrestling ability. He only started in middle school, so he’s gone out there and closed the gap on some of these kids that have been wrestling for a long time.

Long is ranked #3. The #1 wrestler at 285, Ashton Honnold (47-0) of Nodaway Valley, will also be at the district tournament in Truro.

Senior Josh Winey made it to state his freshman year, just missed going his sophomore year, and was out all last season due to injury. It took him a little while to get going this season, but he’s been in top form lately.

“One of the conversations we had early was, ‘Hey man, you’ve had a whole year off. It’s not a sprint here. We have time. We need to kind of settle into it,’” said Coach Strandberg. “And I think the last two weeks have really been kind of a coming out moment for Josh. He was getting wins, but now he’s getting dominant wins over decent kids. He’s really turning a corner at the right time.”

There are a handful of other talented Cardinals that look like they are peaking late in the season and will be a factor at districts.

Sophomore Konner Keller (120) missed time at the beginning of the season with a concussion, but he is determined and hard-nosed, and has compiled a 21-9 record. He qualified for state last season. Sophomores Colton Nixt (32-18 at 175) and Bishop Hammen (35-18 at 132) are both gritty and well-schooled and capable of making a run. Junior Cole Eitel (29-19 at 133) is scrappy and strong. Junior AJ Dunsky (13-11) has been solid at 13-11 in his first year wrestling with the varsity program.

Senior Konnar Stiles (165), sophomore Dylan Frazier (157), and junior Carson Winey (138) all have sub-.500 season records, but have had their moments this season and can put good matches together.

Junior Cooper Morrison (106) joined the team after Christmas break and is learning on the job.

The team will go into the tournament relatively healthy, with only the normal seasonal ailments bothering some of the wrestlers. Coach Strandberg admittedly sounds a bit like a surgeon general when he doles out health tips and advice to his team this time of year.  

“I’m pretty much a broken record when it comes to that at the end of practice,” he said. “You know, ‘Make sure you get enough sleep; get some vitamin C in you; take your vitamins; wash your hands; use hand sanitizer.’ So I think they get sick of hearing me say that all that, but they’re high school kids and they’re exposed to stuff on a regular basis.”

There is big gap between regional duals and the district tournament, and that’s a long time to go without wrestling competitively. Coach Strandberg could have gotten the team in a tournament last week but chose to concentrate on practicing.

“I think a break’s good,” he said. “We get a chance to fine tune some things. We always say, ‘the hay is in the barn.’ It’s one of those situations where you’re probably not going to be a better wrestler in a week. You’re probably not going to be in any better shape. But as coaches, we can watch video and we can break things down and we can go in there with the kids and get a little bit more individualized.”

Earlham, I-35, and Nodaway Valley will be the favorites for the team district title. Other schools at the tournament in Truro are Central Decatur, East Union, Griswold, Joshua Christian Academy, Mount Ayr, Pekin, Southeast Warren/Melcher-Dallas, and Wayne. Action starts at 10 a.m.