Where: Cedar Falls High School
When: Saturday December 5th
Time: 10:00 am
Teams: Bettendorf, Cedar Falls, Waterloo Columbus, Charles City, Cedar Rapids Jefferson, Waterloo West, Cedar Rapids Kennedy, North Scott, Denver-Tripoli, Don Bosco, Waverly-Shell Rock, WDM Valley, WDM Dowling, Pleasant Valley, Mason City, and Union
The month of December is upon us which means the beginning of a new high school wrestling season. Perennial powers from across the state will waste no time diving right into some stiff competition. Even though its the first weekend of the wrestling season, these wrestlers will need to be in mid season form or they might find themselves watching the later rounds from the stands.
All 16 teams from the 2014 tournament are returning to this years event. Last year was La Porte City, Unions first year in the tournament. The Knights took advantage of having a strong senior loaded team and captured the team title, edging out Bettendorf by 5.5 points (199.5 to 194). Max Thomsen and Jacob Holschlag led the way for Union winning their respective brackets and both knocking off nationally ranked wrestlers in the process.
This years field looks to be about as wide open as its ever been from not only a team perspective but the individual side as well. Here is a list of teams that made IAWrestles Preseason Tournament Rankings
3A
#3 WDM Valley
#4 Pleasant Valley
#7 Cedar Rapids Kennedy
#8 Cedar Rapids Jefferson
#9 Bettendorf
2A
#10 Union
1A
#7 Don Bosco
The Keith Young field could feature as many as 53 wrestlers who made the IAWrestle Preseason Individual Rankings. Here is a weight by weight breakdown of what to expect out of this great day of wrestling.
***Breakdowns and predictions are a best guess of what each weight will look like. Keep in mind wrestlers may sit out this early in the year or might be up a weight class***
106
#2 1A Gable Fox (Don Bosco) SO
#6 2A Blake Steege (Denver-Tripoli) SO
Finals Prediction: Fox over Steege. After a strong freshman season, Fox will be back down at 106 again for his second year. Look for him to win this tournament and many more to come this year.
113
#5 3A Spencer Hutchinson (WDM Valley) JR
#8 3A Joseph Sibomana (CR Jeff) SR
#9 3A Derick Wyatt (WSR) SR
#10 3A Jacob Schipper (North Scott) JR
Finals Prediction: Hutchinson over Sibomana. Hutchinson was in a stacked district last year and failed to qualify for state. Dont expect that to be the case this year. Look for him to start his Junior season out strong.
120
#1 3A Jack Wagner (Bettendorf) SR
#3 3A Brenden Baker (CR Jeff) SR
#4 2A Derek Holschlag (Union) JR
#10 3A Mason Shannon (North Scott) JR
Finals Prediction: Baker over Wagner. Upset Alert! Look for 2 great matches at this weight with Holschlag/Baker in the semis then the winner facing Wagner. Wagner got the best of Baker at state last year, but Baker is more than capable of winning this tournament.
126
#1 3A Grant Stotts (WDM Valley) SO
#3 2A John Hellman (Union) SR
#8 1A Jeremy Schmitz (Don Bosco) JR
#10 3A Matt Robertson (CR Jeff) SO
Finals Prediction: Stotts over Hellman. Stotts will only be up 1 weight from last year, while the other 3 ranked wrestlers at this weight will be up 2 or 3 weight classes. Thats a big jump in weight for these lighter weight classes, so it will be interesting to see how they handle it. Look for the Valley wrestler to pick up right where he left of last year with his state runner-up finish as a freshman
132
#2 3A Nolan Hromidko (CR Kennedy) SR
#4 3A Austin Yant (WSR) JR
#4 1A Nick Mangrich (Don Bosco) SR
Finals Prediction: Hromidko over Yant. This could be another weight class where it will be interesting to see how the 2 or 3 weight class jump from last year will fair for Hromidko and Yant. Mangrich will be in the mix, but it’s tough to give him the nod this early in the year when he was in football pads less than 2 weeks ago.
138
#2 3A Christian Foote (Pleasant Valley) SR
#3 3A Jackson Gallagher (Bettendorf) SR
#7 2A Austin Staudt (Charles City) SR
Finals Prediction: Gallagher over Staudt. We have heard that Foote might not be wrestling this year so look for Gallagher to come out on top here if that is the case.
145
#1 3A Michael Zachary (WDM Dowling) SR
#2 3A Spencer Nevillis (Pleasant Valley) SR
#3 3A Joel Shapiro (WDM Valley) SO
#5 2A Maxwell Forsyth (Charles City) SR
Finals Prediction: Zachary over Nevillis. Zachary was your 3A state champ at 132lbs last year while Nevillis took 4th. Look for a great finals match here as both wrestlers had wins over each other last year with Nevillis winning 1 but Zachary winning the last 2. Dont sleep on Shapiro in the semis against Nevillis. Not many freshman place at state above 106-113lbs but Shapiro managed to finish 5th at 126 last year.
152
#3 3A Kyle Briggs (CR Jeff) SR
#5 3A Logen Rodriguez (CR Kennedy) SR
#6 3A Mac Spotts (Mason City) SR
Finals Prediction: Briggs over Spotts. Briggs will be wrestling up 20lbs from last year. How will he handle the jump? Rodriguez had some nice wins last year, but had a rough go of it at this tournament last year. He is still more than capable of having a say in who the champ will be at this weight. Spotts is coming off a nice 6th place finish at state.
160
#2 3A Jack Koethe (WDM Valley) SR
#3 3A Seth Walker (WSR) SR
#4 3A Ben Sarasin (CR Kennedy) SO
#5 3A Tavian Rashed (CR Jeff) JR
#5 1A Chris Paulsen (Don Bosco) SR
#9 3A Jacob Carlson (Mason City) SR
Finals Prediction: Koethe over Paulsen. This might be the most wide open weight. Rashed beat Walker twice last year but Walker got him at districts. Paulsen has wins over Walker.Then throw in Sarasin up from 138lbs last year. It could be interesting seeing how this weight gets seeded.
170
#8 3A Austin Stotts (WDM Valley) SR
#9 3A Matt Culver (CR Jeff) JR
#9 2A Creed Krueger (Denver-Tripoli) SR
Finals Prediction: Stotts over Culver. Dont be surprised to see someone other than Stotts, Culver, and Krueger find their way into the finals here.
182
#2 3A David Carr (Pleasant Valley) SR
#4 3A Isaac Bartel (Mason City) JR
#6 3A Jamir Moore (WSR) SR
#7 3A Chris Patricio (Bettendorf) SR
#7 2A Will Reiter (Union) SR
#9 3A Kaden Sauer (WDM Dowling) JR
Finals Prediction: Carr over Reiter. Carr is the top returning state place winner at this weight finishing 6th at 182. Bartel was 7th at 170. Look for Reiter to have a good tournament as he was putting together a solid season last year until it was cut short by injury.
195
#1 2A Izaak Shedenhelm (Denver-Tripoli) SR
#3 3A Chance Cary (Pleasant Valley) SR
#3 2A Nick Jacobs (Charles City) SR
#6 3A Rocky Lombardi (WDM Valley) JR
#7 3A Jacob Zachary (WDM Dowling) JR
#8 3A Garrett Kubovec (CR Kennedy) JR
Finals Prediction: Lombardi over Shedenhelm. Here is another upset special. In a weight class where 6 guys have a shot to win it, look for Lombardi to come out on top. It’s kind of crazy to think Kubovec is only the 6th highest ranked wrestler at this weight when he was a double fargo Cadet AA this summer.
220
#3 3A Wyatt Wriedt (North Scott) JR
#8 2A AJ Maloy (Charles City) JR
Finals Prediction: Wriedt over Maloy. Wriedt will be down to 220 this year after finishing 3rd at state in the 285 weigh class last year.
285
#4 3A Korbin Caves (North Scott) SR
#5 2A Michael Ahrendsen (Union) JR
#7 3A Dalles Jacobus (CR Kennedy) SR
Finals Prediction: Caves over Ahrendsen. Caves had trouble finding a spot in the lineup last year with how stacked North Scotts upper weights were, but he has some solid wins from a few spot starts last year. Look for Caves to make a name for himself this year.
Team Champ Prediction: WDM Valley. Valley will come in as the favorite and they should leave the champs. Pleasant Valley has a shot at pulling this off, but their chances will be hurt without Foote wrestling. Usually this tournament has 2 or 3 teams that are in a class of their own from the rest of the field. This year will be quite different with how even the teams 2-8 are. Expect the order of the team standings to look a lot different round to round.