Keith Young Preview

When: Saturday, December 6th, 2014

Where: Cedar Falls High School
1015 Division St
Cedar Falls, IA 50613

Follow: [twitter-follow screen_name=’IAWrestle’ show_count=’yes’ text_color=’00ccff’] (We will have upsets and live results from finals)

Teams: Bettendorf (3A), Union (2A), Cedar Rapids Jefferson (3A), North Scott (3A), West Des Moines Dowling (3A), Cedar Falls (3A), Cedar Rapids Kennedy (3A), Charles City (2A), Denver-Tripoli (2A), Don Bosco (1A), Mason City (3A),Pleasant Valley (3A), Waterloo Columbus (2A), Waterloo West (3A), Waverly-Shell Rock (3A), West Des Moines Valley (3A)

The 2014-2015 Iowa High School Wrestling Season will be in full swing this Saturday as Cedar Falls High School hosts its annual Keith Young Invitational. All 15 teams that participated in last years event will be back with the addition of Union La Porte City making their first trip to the Keith Young. Union will add 5 ranked wrestlers to an already deep tournament. Bettendorf will look to defend their 2014 Keith Young title bringing 8 ranked wrestlers into this years tournament. It will be no easy task for Bettendorf as Cedar Rapids Jefferson also brings in 7 top 10 wrestlers. Newcomer Union as well as Dowling could have something to say about the team title as they both return a lot of talent from last season.

Three of the top matchups everyone will be looking forward to will be potentially the finals matches at 145, 160, and 170. At 170 we could see 1x champ and 1x 4th place finisher Jacob Holschlag of Union against 1x champ Isaiah Patton of Dowling. At 160 we will find out very early who is the front runner for the 3A 160 title where we could have returning champ Bryce Steiert of Waverly and Minnesota State Champ Dayton Racer of Bettendorf. Racer transferred in to Bettendorf from Apple Valley at the beginning of the year. This could be the first of 2 finals matching up nationally ranked wrestlers. At 145 we could see 2x state champ and 1x runner-up Fredy Stroker of Bettendorf against 3x state champ Max Thomsen of Union. The two have never met , but they were both at the same freestyle weight this summer in Fargo. They had one commen opponent with almost exactly the same outcome. This could be the best match of the season and in the first weekend of wrestling.

Every year this tournament has an incoming freshman step up to the challenge of high school wrestling. This year that freshman could be Joel Shapiro at 126lbs of WDM Valley, who won AAU state last year and placed 2nd as a 7th grader. You could see as many as 58 of IAWrestle’s Preseason Ranked Wrestlers with 11 being top ranked. Of those 58 ranked wrestlers, 7 of them are ranked in the Intermat’s National High School Rankings.

Weight by weight preview and predictions: (These rankings are based off our rankings on 11/17/14. Weights are subject to change.)  

106

#3 Nate Lasher Charles City

#4 Jacob Schipper North Scott

#8 Andrew Busch Denver-Tripoli

#10 Sergio Orozco Dowling

Schares’s Finals prediction: Busch over Lasher in a district wrestleback rematch where Lasher won 2-1

113

#1 Jack Wagner Bett

#3 Brandon Baker Jeff

#5 Derek Holschlag Union

#10 Ryan Roth Cedar Falls

Schares’s Finals Prediction: Baker over Wagner in a rematch of last years Keith Young Finals where Baker won 4-2

120

#1 Jacob Schwarm Bett

#3 Nolan Hromidko CR Kennedy

#4 Johnny Etherington Charles City

#8 Austin Yant WSR

#10 Jake Watters Dowling

Schares’s Finals Prediction: Schwarm over Hromidko. Look for the returning state champ Schwarm to pick up where he left of last year at state

126

#3 Spencer Nevills Pleasant Valley

#9 Jakson Gallagher Bett

Schares’s Finals Prediction: Nevills over Gallagher. Look for Nevills to bounce back from a tough 1-2 performance at state where his only losses were to the champ and the 4th place finisher

132

#1 Paul Glynn Bett

#2 Michael Zachery Dowling

#3 Maxwell Forsyth Charles City

#6 Nathan Sands WSR

#7 Nick Mangrich Don Bosco

Schares’s Finals Prediction: Glynn over Zachery. This will be a state semifinal rematch that Glynn won 3-1 in sudden victory.

138

#1 Daniel Kelly Cedar Falls

#4 Mac Spotts Mason City

#6 Kyle Briggs CR Jeff

#8 126 Cole Fox Don Bosco

#9 Jacob Ridgeway North Scott

Schares’s Finals Prediction: Kelly over Spotts. This is another state rematch from first round last year where Kelly pinned Spotts. Kelly nearly pinned Stroker in last years Keith Young Final. Look for Kelly not to be denied in the finals this year.

145

#1 Fredy Stroker Bett (#2 145 Intermat)

#1 Max Thomsen Union (#5 145 Intermat)

#5 Jack Koethe WDM Valley

#7 Matt Culver CR Jeff

Schares’s Finals Prediction: Thomsen over Stroker. Most would consider this an upset.

152

#1 Jacob Woodward Bett (#16 152 Intermat)

#5 Tavian Rashed CR Jeff

#10 138 Chris Paulsen Don Bosco

Schares’s Finals Prediction: Woodward over Paulsen. Woodward is the heavy favorite at this weight

160

#1 Bryce Steiert WSR (#7 160 Intermat)

#2 Dayton Racer Bettendorf (#12 160 Intermat)

#5 Trevor McLaughlin Union

#6 Jakubb Fahrenkrug North Scott

#9 Luke Sedlacek CR Jeff

Schares’s Finals Prediction: Steiert over Racer. Yet another returning state champ will be starting the season off here no matter who takes the top spot.

170

#1 Isaiah Patton Dowling (#10 170 Intermat)

#1 Jacob Holschlag Union

#9 Brock Sorenson Denver-Tripoli

Schares’s Finals Prediction: Holschlag over Patton. Look for Holschlag to win this battle of two returning state champs.

182

#2 Rocky Lombardi WDM Valley

#6 Izaak Shedenhelm Denver-Tripoli

#5 David Carr Pleasant Valley

#6 Kelly May CR Jeff

Schares’s Finals Predication: Lombardi over May. Lombardi has shown that even though he is a underclassman he can still compete in the upper weights.

195

#1 Colin Kreiter North Scott (#20 195 Intermat)

#6 Joe Brett Dowling

#6 Jace Hadacheck Union

#8 Dylan Meister Denver-Tripoli

#9 Ben Campos WDM Valley

Schares’s Finals Prediction: Kreiter over Brett. Both wrestlers placed at last years state tournament. Brett finished 8th while Kreiter finished 3rd.

220

#3 Cordell Eaton North Scott

#5 Brady Smith WDM Valley

Schares’s Finals Prediction: Eaton over Smith. The returning runner-up is the favorite to win this weight class.

285

#2 Dalton Kuehl CR Jeff

#5 Zachary Matt WDM Valley

#6 Eli Alger Dowling

#6 Brady Heusinkvelt Denver-Tripoli

#8 Max Erpelding Bett

#10 Alec Staudt Cedar Falls

Schares’s Finals Prediction: Kuehl over Erpelding. It’s not very often you see the most ranked wrestlers at 285 making this weight class wide open.

Team Champ Prediction: Bettendorf. A lot of good teams and great wrestlers at this tournament which could make this tournament tight for a while but at the end of the day Bettendorf just has too many horses who will be contending for the title.

Big thanks to Eric Schares for helping with the preview. Look for him to be helping the IAwrestle team in the future!