Let the Games Begin – Part III The Conculsion

It is time to wrap up the series by looking at the final two ranked wrestlers, as well as a non-ranked trio. I figured we better get this out, before all of the Iowa guys commit.

Part I – Stroker, Hellickson, Thomsen (now a UNI commit), Steiert (also UNI commit, damn Schwab is cleaning up Iowa recruits so far)

Part II – Marnin, Wilcke (Iowa commit – more to come on him), Shaw, Patton, Holschlag

Necessary side note : (Let’s remember what was said previously. While it would be nice for all of these guys mentioned below to stay in state, the reality is that they are going to take the best opportunity for their lives as they see it. Just as Iowa will pull wrestlers from states like Illinois, Minnesota, etc. They tend to return the favor sometimes.)

Steve Hollaway of Mediapolis currently ranked #18 by Flowrestling at 195. He pretty much dominated his way to the state finals as he wrestled a total of 1:32 in his first two matches (Falls in 1:17 and one in :15(!!) seconds), and then he scored a 8-0 major. In the finals he won a 3-2 decision over Isley of Albia. His high school weight sets him up perfectly to be a 197 recruit for college and that’s where we start looking at his instate options. Iowa has Broc Berge, who is entering his first season of eligibility after taking his redshirt year. Berge was a pretty sought after recruit from Minnesota, but his results were a little bit underwhelming this past year (9-7 with no Division I wins). Something to note about heavier weights is that the adjustment period from high school to college wrestling takes a bit longer for some recruits. With most improvements occurring after a wrestlers second year in the program, Berge could still be learning the ropes. Which means Hollaway committing to Iowa would be a good fit, as he would sit and learn a few years behind Berge himself.

Iowa State doesn’t appear to be a good fit, as they added Waterloo West state champion Marcus Harrington, who was a very solid recruit. That would be some pretty stiff competition for Hollaway to break through on that front, so that leaves UNI. The Panthers have Jared Bartel and Kyle Beale (fans may remember his brother Blaine was a HWT starter for UNI a few years back). Both will be sophomores for the upcoming season, so if Hollaway decided to commit to the Panther Train, he will have to sit for at least a year. As we discussed with the Iowa situation, that is not a necessarily a bad situation for him to be in. To recap, only Iowa and UNI appear to be viable options, with Iowa State adding an elite recruit just a year ago.

Ryan Parmely rounds out the ranked squad as he is the nations #7 ranked 220 wrestler. The Maquoketa Valley product won his first state title this past February going 56-1 (it’s worth mentioning that the loss was again to Tyler Hoffman who beat Wilcke at Preseason Nationals). After pinning his way to the finals, Parmely pulled out a 4-3 decision to win the 1A title. Parmely then competed in folkstyle nationals where he took home second place, pinning Cadet National champion Ethan Andersen in 18 seconds.

Parmely could probably bulk up and be a decent heavyweight in college, but as we mentioned last week with Marnin in state options may be limited. To rehash that UNI brought in a top ten heavyweight Adarios Jones, and Iowa added a top 15 overall recruit at heavyweight Sam Stoll in this last recruiting class. Iowa State has Quean Smith, but he would only have one year of eligibility once Parmely comes off his redshirt. If Parmely can get down to 197 for college, the option in state open up a little more. At 197 Iowa State doesn’t have an opening (Marcus Harrington), but UNI and Iowa would have more flexibility to him finding a starting spot.

Other wrestlers in Iowa who don’t have any ranking love right now, but have potential college wrestling futures:

• Chase Straw of Independence sticks out as a interesting high school prospect. Straw looked to be one of the favorites to claim the 2A 145 state title coming in to February, and all was going to plan until he ran into another Chase (Schiltz) and Straw fell to the backside and ended up 3rd. Straw has also competed in some freestyle and Greco-Roman tourneys this summer, taking 5th at Cadet folkstyle nationals. In a bracket with Oklahoma State’s head coach’s son (Joe Smith), an Iowa recruit (Tagen Lambotte), and a top 10 pound-for-pound wrestler (Zahid Valencia), taking 5th in that bracket is a pretty good accomplishment. He also won the Western freestyle regional tournament in Vegas, and took 2nd in the Greco-Roman portion of the tournament as well. Straw is likely headed for 152 for the upcoming season, and has potential 157 in him.
• Aaron Meyer should be an interesting prospect as well. If you are thinking that the name sounds familiar, it’s because he is the brother of 174/184 wrestler at the University of Iowa Alex. Aaron is a bit smaller than his brother wrestling the previous year at 138 for the Southeast Polk Rams. He was pretty solid on his way to the finals where he ran into Iowa recruit Logan Ryan in the finals, where he lost 6-4. He has spent this off season up at 145, where he won state freestyle and Greco-Roman titles. Meyer was on the team that won the Red/Blue pool at Junior freestyle national duals where he went 4-3. He isn’t as big as his brother was (Alex finished his senior year at 171), but I think Meyer will probably be at 157 for college, but only he really knows if he thinks he can hold 149 for college.
• Cole Erickson of Mediapolis finished 4th in the 2A 145 bracket, losing to previously mentioned Chase Straw in the 3rd place match.