Fareway Stores, Inc., IAwrestle, and Iowa Corn present the Dan Gable Ms. and Mr. Wrestler of the Year Awards in coordination with the Iowa Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association (IWCOA).
The IWCOA accepted nominations from high school coaches for student-athletes in each of the three state wrestling classes for the men and two classes for the women’s award, Class 1A and Class 2A, regardless of their year in school and weight class. A committee selected by the IWCOA recently provided IAwrestle with a list of 15 finalist candidates for public input.
Fans voted once per list at Facebook.com/IAwrestle for their favorite wrestler in each category from January 21st to February 9th, when the list has been narrowed down to the top 7. The next round of voting, from February 10th to February 23rd, will determine the top 3 finalists, with the winner announced at the banquet on February 27th at the Fareway Conference Center in Boone, Iowa at 11:30AM.
Dan Gable, Mark Ironside and Alex Marinelli will be our special guests handing out awards. Media is encouraged to attend.
The two runner-up student-athletes in each class will each receive finalist award plaques. A duplicate Wrestler of the Year trophy and duplicate Wrestler of the Year runner-up plaques will be provided to each high school where finalists attend, for permanent placement in the high school trophy case.
Please note, the fan vote winners will counted as ONE vote towards the IWCOA’s committee votes in EACH round. (For example: Wrestler A received enough fan votes to place second in the poll, but that does not guarantee them to move on to the next round. IWCOA has selected 12 coaches and officials to serve on the committee. The fan vote is the 13th vote.)
Wrestlers listed in alphabetical order
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1A Girls
- Jillian Worthen – Union
- Molly Allen – Riverside, Oakland
- Reanah Utterback – Sigourney
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2A Girls
- Katie Biscoglia – Raccoon River-Northwest
- Mackenzie Childers – Prairie, Cedar Rapids
- Mahri Manz – Lewis Central
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1A Boys
- Blake Fox – Osage
- Dawson Youngblut – Don Bosco
- Kyler Knaack – Don Bosco
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2A Boys
- Bo Koedam – Sergeant Bluff-Luton
- Jace Hedeman – Union, LaPorte City
- Jase Jaspers – Mount Vernon
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3A Boys
- Christian Castillo – Ames
- Mac Crosson – Indianola
- Nico DeSalvo – Southeast Polk
After the 10 wrestlers in each class are announced, which I assume are chosen by coaches in the state of Iowa, it becomes just a popularity vote by fans. Some may be the top wrestlers in their class. However. My thoughts would be that coaches vote for these wrestlers. When open to the public it doesn’t state criteria. I would say a majority of these people have no idea what wrestler they are voting for.