* Waverly-Shell Rock, ranked No. 21 nationally by Amateur Wrestling News, won its third consecutive 3A title. No. 26 Bettendorf finished second.
* Denver-Tripoli rolled to its first team title in Class 2A, with Davenport Assumption finishing second. Third place went to Ballard, which began the season nationally ranked and favored to win a third consecutive team crown.
* Class 1A powerhouse Don Bosco won its fifth consecutive team title, a feat accomplished by only one other team.
* A full house with more than 16,000 fans packed Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines for Saturday’s final-round matches, which also were televised live across the state. It was the 21st consecutive sellout for the 90-year-old event.
* The season concludes this weekend with the 24th annual state dual team tournament at U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids.
Weight-by-weight highlights
103: A pair of wrestlers hit the mat looking to become undefeated state champions. Sophomore Dylan Peters (51-0) of Denver-Tripoli closed the deal, sticking Colton McCrystal of Sergeant Bluff-Lutton for his fourth consecutive pin of the tournament. However, freshman Colby Knight of Urbandale (40-1) lost by fall to Tyler Willers of Pleasant Valley (40-1) in the 3A final.
112: In 3A, nationally ranked Cory Clark of Southeast Polk won his second consecutive state title and improved to 84-0 for his career, blanking Connor Ryan of North Scott, 7-0. In 2A, Denver-Tripoli sophomore Gunnar Wolfensperger beat previously undefeated Kalen Greiner of Sigourney-Keota, 11-5.
119: The 3A crown went to Waverly-Shell Rock’s Eric DeVos. The sophomore already has three individual titles. He won also state crowns his seventh- and eighth-grade years at Apple Valley, Minn. In 1A, junior Christopher Halblom of Alburnett (46-0) won his second straight title, edging Don Bosco’s Ben McMahon, 2-1 in overtime. Denver-Tripoli freshman Brandon Sorenson (51-0) majored Logan Thomsen of Union-La Porte City, 25-12.
125: Nationally ranked Levi Wolfensperger (51-0), a Northern Iowa recruit, pinned Tyler Patten of Webster City in 1:50 to give Denver-Tripoli a perfect night. It was Wolfensperger’s second consecutive title. Des Moines Roosevelt’s nationally ranked sophomore John Meeks won the second title of his career. He beat Adam Perrin of North Scott, 7-4, in the 3A match and improved to 39-0.
130: In 1A, nationally ranked senior Derrick Thomas of Newman Catholic captured his third straight title. He ended the undefeated season of Prairie Valley sophomore Brandon Taylor with a 10-8 decision. In 2A, Jake Marlin of Creston/Orient-Macksburg became the second freshman champion of the night, edging Jake Keller of Columbus Junction, 5-3.
135: Junior Bo Schlosser was a 3-1 winner over Gradey Gambrall of Iowa City West. Schlosser (21-0) placed fourth last season competing for Mount Zion in the Illinois 2A tournament. In 1A, senior Cole Welter of Don Bosco won his second straight title, improving to 44-0 with a 17-4 major decision over Hudson’s Ben Huber.
140: Nationally ranked Jake Ballweg of Waverly-Shell Rock picked up his third consecutive individual crown, blanking Lewis Central’s Elijah Sullivan, 5-0. Ballweg, an Iowa recruit, is 42-0. Northern Iowa-bound Seth Noble of Columbus Junction won the 2A bracket with a 5-2 decision over East Marshall/GMG’s Blake Meling and finished his final high school season a perfect 47-0.
145: In 3A, junior Cody Caldwell improved to 25-0 with a 5-2 decision over Gustavo Martinez of Marshalltown. Caldwell, son of Waverly-Shell Rock coach Rick Caldwell, won the title last season at 125.
152: Nationally ranked Michael Kelly of Cedar Falls prevailed in one of the evening’s most exciting bouts. The future Iowa Hawkeye edged Bettendorf’s Joey Trizzino, 8-7, in triple overtime. In 1A, Eddyville-Blakesburg’s Dimitri Boyer downed Corning’s Tyler Ogburn, 4-2, for his second straight individual championship.
160: The story of the night was nationally ranked Nick Moore of Iowa City West becoming the 19th Iowa wrestler to win a fourth individual state title. Moore, an Iowa recruit who is 179-1 for his career, held off Indianola’s Spencer BeLieu, 11-6. Moore had pinned his previous 22 opponents. Levi Peters of Twin River Valley Bode stuck Jason Frain of Riverside Oakland for the 1A crown. Twin River Valley Bode has just five team members, but two made it into the state final round.
171: Perhaps the premier matchup of the night was in 2A, where Iowa State recruit Mike England of Centerville knocked off nationally ranked and Northern Iowa-bound Brock Weatherman of Ballard, 3-1 in overtime. Weatherman had pinned his first three opponents in the tournament during the first period and was shooting for a third consecutive title. In 3A, nationally ranked Michael Moreno of Urbandale beat nationally ranked Walt Gillmor of North Scott to win his first title. The Iowa State recruit was runner-up his sophomore and junior seasons.
189: Nationally ranked recruit Kyven Gadson of Waterloo East improved to 30-0, dominating Des Moines Roosevelt’s Matt Riley in the final. The Iowa State recruit pinned nationally ranked Evan Knight of Urbandale in the quarterfinal round. Knight ended up placing third.
215: Waverly-Shell Rock had its fourth individual champion crowned as nationally ranked Cody Krumwiede improved to 89-0 over the last two seasons with a 5-2 victory over Josh Lambrecht of Cedar Rapids Prairie. The 1A individual crown went to Coon-Rapids-Bayard’s Jon Meyers (50-0), who beat Aplington-Parkersburg’s Jordan Simon, 7-2.
285: Williamsburg junior Austin Blythe, who has scholarship offers from Iowa and Iowa State for football, picked up his second straight individual title. He nipped Crestwood Cresco’s Adam Praska, 3-2. It was the only loss of the season for Praska, a South Dakota football recruit.
Nebraska state wrestling tournament in review
* Nationally ranked Grand Island easily repeated as Class A team champion, beating second-place Kearney by 67 points. The Islanders had 11 placewinners in the tournament, one fewer than their total at last year’s meet.
* Skutt Catholic extended its streak of Class B team titles to 13. The SkyHawks had three individual champions and seven who placed in the top four.
* Class C team honors were shared by Madison and Mitchell, which had matching team totals of 122 points. Madison nearly won the team title by itself but fell short when Isiah Williams lost his 215-pound match to North Bend Central’s Eli Vosler in overtime.
* The Class D team title went to Amherst, which has finished first or second the last five years.
* An announced crowd of 9,212 at Omaha’s Qwest Center and a statewide cable television audience watched Saturday’s final round.
Weight-by-weight highlights
103: Junior Daniel Dominguez-Jimenez of O’Neill upset undefeated and state-No. 1 Trent Mertes of Auburn, 5-1, in the Class B final. In Class C, junior Christian Nielsen pinned Cody Pariset of Centennial to finish the year 41-0.
112: Undefeated wrestlers battled it out for the Class C and D titles. The Class C crown went to Central City’s Connor Bolling (37-0), who beat Mitchell’s Keagon Blanco, 6-2. In Class D, Eric Coufal of Howells (40-0) beat Heath Teel of Southwest, 5-2. In Class B, nationally ranked Thomas Gilman of Skutt Catholic won by fall over Blair’s Brandon Lincoln.
119: Dreams of an undefeated season for Millard South’s Jake Miller ended when the senior lost 2-1 in the Class A final to Andrew Riedy of Grand Island. It began a run of four straight champions for the Islanders, who crowned five individual titlists overall. McCook’s Nathanael Morgan (35-0) won in Class B and three-time champion Shawn Nagel of Kimball dominated Austin Starkey of St. Paul, 17-2, for the Class C crown.
125: Sophomore Blake Fruchtl picked up Grand Island’s lone victory by fall in the championship round. The repeat champion pinned Omaha North’s Kenneth Martin in 5:10.
130: Oakland-Craig’s Tyler Mathison beat Mullen’s Jordan Simonson, 8-4, to win the Class D title and finish 23-0. After finishing third the last two seasons, Boys Town’s Kavan Jones beat Adam Joseph of Adams Central, 10-6, for his first state title in Class B.
135: Senior Ryan Pohlman of Raymond Central topped previously unbeaten Josh Eisenman of Madison, 6-3, for the Class C championship. Pohlman reached the state final match each of his four years and also won a championship in 2008. Bennington senior Seth Stender pinned Auburn’s Darian Haynes for the Class B crown. Stender was also an individual champ at 119 his freshman year.
140: In Class B, Andy Hollins of Skutt Catholic picked up his second straight crown, dominating Schuyler’s Klayton Kasik, 14-5. Kyle Ruh of Madison dashed Kenneth Chacon’s hopes for a repeat Class C title. Ruh edged the Fort Calhoun senior, 4-2.
145: Lincoln High’s Chase White ended the year undefeated (42-0) after beating Millard South’s Tyler Harris, 12-3, in the Class A finale. Class C honors went to undefeated defending champion Austin Wilson of Hastings St. Cecilia, an easy 16-0 victor against David City’s Tanner Wemhoff. In Class B, Skutt Catholic’s Christian Loges won his second straight title with a 3-0 shutout of Schuyler’s John Svoboda.
152: Nationally ranked Ravaughn Perkins of Omaha North ended the year with a 38-0 record after pinning Papillion-La-Vista South’s Aaron Diaz. It was Perkins’ third title in a row at three different weight classes. In Class C, Kurt Ruh of Madison joined his brother Kyle as a state champion after a 6-3 defeat of West Point-Beemer’s Clay Konicek.
160: Lincoln Northeast’s Logan Molina, who finished the regular season unbeaten and top-ranked in the state, surprised no one by winning the Class A individual crown. The junior topped Omaha North’s Christopher Tyler, 5-2, in the championship round.
171: Howells junior Cory Brester beat Alex Comte of Aquinas Catholic, 3-1, to finish 40-0, but the Bobcats fell short in their bid to win four consecutive Class D team titles. Gretna sophomore Andy Janovich had not lost all season before he was pinned in 1:35 by defending champion Wil Brown of Chadron in the Class B final.
189: The Class B championship featured a battle of unbeatens with Tanner Sturgeon (39-0) of Cozad getting the best of Blair’s Ryan Randall, 9-3. Randall had pinned his previous 31 opponents. Jordan Debus finished 47-0 and won his second consecutive Class C crown, hammering David City’s Lucas Kastl, 12-2. Palmer senior Riley Santin (43-0) pinned Bryant Borgmann of Stanton for a repeat title in Class D.
215: Grand Island senior Nate Westerby successfully defended his title in Class A with a thrilling 3-1 overtime victory over previously unbeaten Jordan Heiderman of Norfolk. Boys Town’s Shaquil Barrett made quick work of Crete’s Brock Sherman with a pin in 1:20 for the Class B title. It was the third individual champion of the night for the Cowboys, who placed second in the team scoring.
285: Nationally ranked Ronald Coleman of Omaha North won his fourth individual title, pinning Creighton Prep’s Jeffrey Uher in 3:44. Coleman, who finished 34-0, has signed with Southeast Missouri State to play football. Uher is expected to walk on at Nebraska. Sutton sophomore Michael Shoff, who stands 6-foot-7 and weighs 278 pounds, finished 36-0 this season. It was capped off by a 4-1 victory against Plainview’s Brandon Wills in the Class D final match. North Dakota State football recruit Jesse Hinz won the Class B crown.
Jamie DeMoney has covered high school sports and recruiting for more than 15 years. He is editor and founder of PrepNation.com. You can reach him at PrepNation@aol.com.
