Iowa’s first four-time state champion was honored on the 50th anniversary of his accomplishment. Bob Steenlage wrested for Britt High School and became the first four-time champ in 1962. It would be another 17 years before the feat was duplicated.

“In some ways I didn’t comprehend what it was all going to mean, and sometimes the pressure was just tremendous,” Steenlage said. “But it seem like every time I ran into a problem, the circumstances changed because I chose to look at the positive side and got advice to turn things around. Otherwise, it was pretty overwhelming.”

There were several close calls along the way and Steenlage even had to overcome an injury to win as a senior. He has a 2-1 match as a freshman and lost a 9-8 match to an Osage wrestler during the season and had to meet him again in the tournament after being injured.

Steenlage is proud of his accomplishment and has been thrilled by the growth in the tournament over the years. He says when he wrestled it was at the small gym at the University of Northern Iowa.

Steenlage said wrestling has been a blueprint for his life. “Everything that you have to do on the mat it’s either you, you are going to fail or you are going to succeed. So you’ve got to prepare. And it’s the same thing in life, life is not very fair, but you have to learn to overcome whatever comes along,” Steenlage said.

Steelange resides near LaCrosse, Wisconsin and is a motivational speaker.

The state high school wrestling tournament resumed today with the opening round in class 3A and two competitors vying for a fourth state title advanced. Southeast Polk’s Cory Clark scored a technical fall over Jonathan Lozano from Sioux City North at 126 pounds while Jon Meeks of Des Moines Roosevelt beat Dakota Gray of Fort Madison 10-2 at 132 pounds.

Meek’s high school record is now 165-0. Urbandale’s Colby Knight is bidding for a second straight title and he opened at 120 pounds with a 14-5 victory over Jake Gotto of Western Dubuque. Knight recorded seven takedowns and was looking for an extended match.

“I didn’t want to pin him the first period and get it over with, I wanted to get tired in that match…making weight is hard and everything, to feel good you have to blow your lungs out real hard,” Knight said.

Knight says being the defending champion does not make it an easier. “You’ve just got to look at every tournament the same no matter who you are, you still have to beat good guys,” Knight said.

Knight does feel more confident this time because he has been there before and says that allows him to just go out and wrestle.

At 152 pounds Ethan Lara from Sioux City East advanced with a 4-0 victory over Derek Rose from Keokuk. Rose said he just wanted to get the first take down and that set him up for the win.

Lara says it was a long wait between the weigh in and his first match. “I’m so nervous and I just want to get that first match over with and then win the next one and know that I’ve placed, that’s my goal,” Lara said.

Bettendorf has the early team lead in 3A. Linn-Mar is second.

The 2012 State High School Wrestling Tournament gets under way at 9:00 this morning with class 3A first round matches. Last night, three schools won dual team titles.

Bettendorf coasted to the class 3A dual team championship with a 75-6 victory over West Des Moines Valley. It’s the Bulldogs first team title after finishing second in 2011. Last year’s champion, Iowa City West, finished third this year.

The class 2A championship dual came down to the final match, which the Davenport Assumption wrestler won – giving his team a 32-30 victory over Manchester West Delaware. The Assumption Knights repeated as state dual champs. Atlantic beat Creston for third in 2A.

Nashua-Plainfield handed Underwood their first loss of the season in the 1A championship by a score of 53-16. It’s the Huskies first dual team title since 2004. West Branch took third in 1A.

Clarion-Goldfield’s Zeke Rosenbaum pins Don Bosco’s Jacob Schmit at 106 lbs.

Tonight’s championship matches are set for the State High School Dual Team Wrestling Tournament.

Audio   Radio Iowa’s Pat Curtis reports. :46

The 3A championship dual will involve Bettendorf and West Des Moines Valley. Bettendorf beat Iowa City West in the semi-finals, avenging their loss to the Trojans in last year’s finals. Davenport Assumption will try to repeat as team champs in class 2A championship.

 The Knights will face Manchester West Delaware. And the class 1A championship dual will feature undefeated Underwood against Nashua-Plainfield. The Eagles are a perfect 33-0 in dual meets this season, while the Huskies knocked off Gilbertville Don Bosco, ending the Dons run of appearing in seven consecutive team dual finals.

 The championship duals – along with matches involving teams vying for 3rd and 5th place – will begin at 7 p.m.

The state high school wrestling tournament opens in Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines on Wednesday with a brand new format. The opening day will feature the state dual team tournament and the traditional tournament begins on Thursday.

Since 1994, the dual team tournament had been held a week after the traditional tournament. Alan Beste of the Iowa High School Athletic Association says the move was made to bring more attention to the dual team tournament at the state and local level. He says there has been a concern nationwide that there was less emphasis on the dual team.

“The individual tournament will always be what individual athletes aspire to, but we also know there are students out there who wrestle who probably don’t have the opportunity to compete in the state individual tournament or win a championship in the state individual tournament, but they can contribute to their team winning a championship,” Beste says. “That’s our goal to try and put more emphasis on that, and this is one way that we can do it.”

With the new format Beste says there are a lot of things they will be looking at to see if any changes need to be made in the future. He says the timing of when the dual tournaments are held are all on the table. Beste says education has to come first and that’s part of the reason they put the dual tournament on Wednesday, because fewer teams compete in the dual tournament.

Beste says Wednesday’s format will include action on eight mats with the 3A and 2A quarterfinals, then the 1A quarterfinals and consolation rounds begin. The semifinals begin at 1 p.m. and then the championships begin at 7 p.m.

One thing that won’t change. Saturday night’s championship session will be as tough of a ticket as there is in the state. “It’s the only reserved seat ticket event that we have out of any of our championships, boys or girls,” Beste says.