Sigourney-Keota senior, Owen Menke, finishes wrestling career with fifth-place finish at State
By Mark Schafer | The News-Review
DES MOINES – It was almost too quick of an ending.
Everything seemed to happen all too quickly, but as it was happening, time, at least for him, seemed to slow down.
As Sigourneuy-Keota’s Owen Menke took the mat for his fifth-place match at the 2026 State wrestling tournament, he was just focused on what had gotten him to this place. Trusting himself and what he was capable of.
Within seconds of the opening whistle, Menke looked more like a matador than a wrestler. His opponent, Treynor’s Maverrick Kalb, pushed Menke to the far side of the mat and then charged at him, full speed. Menke, read the move perfectly, and side-stepped the charging Kalb, who missed, and ran, into his coaches.
Menke, looking calm, returned to the center of the mat as Kalb turned around. Kalb gave another charge, but this time Menke caught the junior under is left arm and was able to send him to the mat.
That was all it took.
Kalb plummeted to the mat and Menke landed on top of him. After adjusting their positions, Menke had trapped Kalb on his back.
Then came the countdown. Just a few seconds later the referee tapped the mat, and just like that, Menke had claimed fifth-place in the State.
“From the whistle the kid came out aggressive and I felt like he was just trying to get something big, really early on,” Menke said. “If he didn’t get something big early on then he was going to be done. Once he went to his back I think he might have just been ready to be done. You have to be ready to wrestle. I wanted to go out there and push the pace. It was a quick match and it happened fast.”
His final match was a quick one. He needed just 51 seconds to finish the match and claim the fifth-place spot overall in the class 1A 285-pound weight class.
After the referee ended the match, Menke stayed on the mat for a second and covered his face with his hands, letting out all of the emotions of the last four years of wrestling hit him. As he walked over to his coaches, tears streaming down his face, he knew he could walk off the mat with a lot of pride in the work he has done for himself and Sigourney-Keota wrestling.
“It kind of hit me once they raised my hand, this was my last high school match, maybe my last-ever match in wrestling,” Menke said. “I don’t know. Maybe. You never know what the future brings. It was a bittersweet moment. It was fun there at the end.”
Just before he exited the competition floor a group of Sigourney-Keota fans called out his name. He looked up, gave his fans a hearty wave and one of his signature smiles, and then disappeared into the depths of the Casesy’s Center.
“Anytime the heavyweight can be a leader it is great,” Cory VanDenHeuvel, the Sigourney-Keota head wrestling coach said. “He had to put in a lot of hard work to get where he is. When you make it to the finish line like he did you have something to be proud of. He was one of our leaders for sure. He wasn’t afraid to get after the kids when they needed it, but he also knew when to pump up his teammates too. A lot of good things are going to come out of him in the future.”
A lot of good things have already come out of Menke, and that was on full display during the three-day long State wrestling meet.
The senior had to wait to start his tournament, as he had a first round bye. When he did finally take to the mat in the second round, he wasted little time showing what he was capable of.
He needed just 27 seconds to earn a pin in the first round, the fifth-fastest fall of the first two rounds, of all classes, in the State wrestling meet, according to IAwrestle.com.
That sent Menke to Friday, and the quarterfinals. Although Menke had a strong start to the match, eventually his Janesville opponent pinned Menke in the third period.
The senior wasn’t about to go out on back-to-back losses.
In his first consolation round match Menke suffered an early takedown, but he was able to reverse the move and get two points. In the closing seconds of the first period Menke nearly recorded a pin, but he took the lead 6-3 after the opening two minutes.
It turns out the score wouldn’t matter much, for long.
In the second period Menke dominated. He was on offense the whole time, and eventually was able to get a pin 41 seconds into the second period.
That ensured that Menke was going to place at the State meet, the question was how high would he go.
In the consolation quarterfinal round Menke wrestled an MFL Marmack wrestler. In the first period Menke recorded a takedown and nearly had a pin, but he ran out of time. Neither wrestler had any offense in the second period.
In the third period Menke added two more points. Both of them off of stalling maneuvers by the MFL Marmack opponent. That gave Menke the 9-0 win, and a berth in the consolation semifinals.
In the semifinals Menke battled against an Emmetsburg wrestler. From the whistle the Emmetsburg opponent went on offense. Menke was pinned in 1:21, but would return on Saturday for the fifth-place match that he eventually won.
“I think I wrestled good,” Menke said. “Not to the best of where I could have. I lost a few matches that I should have won. I could have improved positions better than I did. You have to get over them sometime. I got a medal and was able to get a win in my last-ever high school match is great.”
Menke finishes his career with over 100 wins. He went 41-5 overall in his senior season.
Photos by Mark Schafer
