Iowa high school wrestling notebook (1/30/2024)
The girls in Iowa took center stage recently with a series of super regionals contested around the state.
At the eight sites, the Topn4 in each weight division punched their ticket to the upcoming state tournament, which takes place February 1-2 from Coralville and the Xtream Arena.
Defending team state champion Waverly-Shell Rock features seven wrestlers in Abby Doyle, Camille Schult, Lilly Stough, Makana Miller, Kiara Djoumessi, Karissa Oldenburger and Madison Hinrichs.
East Buchanan was second last year and has seven qualifiers with Decorah, who finished third, pushing nine.
Cedar Falls earned 11 qualifiers with Raccoon River-Northwest and Southeast Polk securing nine each. Ankeny and Bettendorf will have eight while Mason City, Vinton-Shellsburg and West Marshall each have seven.
Several returning state champions will also be competing after earning bids including Katie Biscoglia of Raccoon River-Northwest, Jillian Worthen from Union LaPorte City, Jasmine Luedtke from Ottumwa, Molly Allen of Riverside Oakland, Abigail Meyrer of Pleasant Valley, Mackenzie Childers from Cedar Rapids Prairie, Maeley Elsbury of South Tama County, Djoumessi, Skylar Slade of Southeast Polk, Naomi Simon of Decorah and Olivia Huckfelt of Spencer.
Fort Dodge runs the IAC, claims gold
Ahead of the upcoming postseason grind, Fort Dodge put in work at the Iowa Alliance Conference Invitational, scoring 248.5 points to run past Ottumwa and the rest of the field.
The Dodgers put nine in the finals with Dru Ayala, Sam Davidson, Kane Butrick and Dreshaun Ross all earning titles. Koy Davidson, Rylee Brown, Damarion Ross, Cal Hartman and Luke Fierke were runners-up.
Ayala, a future Iowa Hawkeye to join his brother, Drake, racked up two technical falls and a pin in his three matches at 120 pounds. Ross, a defending state champion and one of the top recruits in the state for both wrestling and football, finished his two matches in under two minutes total.
One of the featured championships was at 138 where Jabari Hinson of Ames scored a 4-2 sudden-victory over Koy Davidson in the finals. Hinson, a junior, moved to 32-5 on the year with the win and positioned himself in a deep and talented weight class for state.
The 157-pound finale saw Xayvion Anderson from Marshalltown get the better of Daniel Zeoh from Des Moines East, 1-0. Three-time state champion Maximus Maganya earned his first IAC title, as the Waterloo East senior topped Damarion Ross. Maganya won his championships at Waterloo Columbus before transferring this year.
Bettendorf, Cedar Rapids Prairie, Waverly-Shell Rock also claim league titles
Bettendorf ruled at the MAC Tournament, scoring 310.5 points with Jake Knight, Timothy Koester, Jayce Luna, Cody Trevino, Duncan Harn, Kendall Kerr, Lincoln Jipp, Armon Williams and Brayden Koester all winning titles.
North Scott was second and Pleasant Valley finished third.
Cedar Rapids Prairie held off Linn-Mar and Iowa City West for the MVC Tournament crown, scoring 201.5 points. Dylan Munson was an individual champion with Tyler Lee, Aiden Kirk and Wyatt Vlasek each placing second.
Waverly-Shell Rock was crowned champions of the NEIC Tournament with 278.5 points over Decorah. The Go-Hawks saw Alex Hornyak, Ryker Graff, Zane Behrends, Bas Diaz, Ethan Bibler, Braxton Westendorf and Caden Wetherell all finish first.
--Dana Becker I @SBLiveIA
