A tournament featured by Mark Kreidler's book, Four Days to Glory, went off this past weekend with yet another edition that lived up to expectation from start to finish. In a Class 3A quarterfinal matchup on Thursday night, you had an undefeated defending state champ battling a two-time defending state champ. Both wrestlers come from great lineage, as many do in the Hawkeye State.
The Iowa State-bound Kyven Gadson (Waterloo East) -- ranked 10th nationally -- came through with the pin late in the first period against the sixth-ranked Evan Knight (Urbandale), who is bound for Cornell. Gadson would cement a second consecutive undefeated state championship -- this time up one weight class at 189 pounds -- with a 6-4 overtime victory over Brandon Abernathy (Indianola) in the semifinal, and a 12-2 major decision over Matt Riley (Des Moines Roosevelt) in the final.
Also highlighting the state tournament was Nick Moore (Iowa City West) with three wins by fall, and an 11-6 decision over Spencer BeLieu (Indianola), to cement an undefeated season on his way to becoming the 19th grappler in Iowa history to win four state titles. Moore is the No. 2 wrestler at 160 in the nation.
On the track of winning four state titles, Cory Clark (112) from Southeast Polk and John Meeks (125) from Des Moines Roosevelt both won second state titles as sophomores, and each has yet to lose a match in two seasons of scholastic wrestling.
However, the team that stopped the show in the big-school Class 3A tournament was Waverly Shell-Rock. The Go-Hawks had four state champs, three of whom were undefeated -- Jacob Ballweg (140), Cody Caldwell (145), and Cody Krumwiede (215) -- and eight total placers in scoring 163 team points. Second in Class 3A went to Bettendorf with 138 points, which had nine state placers but only two champions in Brody Berrie (285) and the undefeated Bo Schlosser (135). Urbandale took third, also getting over 100 points, scoring 101. Fourth in the nation Mike Moreno (171) finally reached the top step of the podium, cementing an undefeated season with a 12-2 major decision victory over No. 8 Walt Gilmor (North Scott). Joining Moreno as high placers for Urbandale were Colby Knight (103) taking second, Gabe Moreno (140) taking third, and the previously mentioned Evan Knight finishing in third place.
Denver-Tripoli used dominance in the opening four weight classes to take home the team championship in Class 2A. They had championships from all four wrestlers, three of whom finished undefeated on the season. Dylan Peters (103), Brandon Sorensen (119), and Levi Wolfensperger (125) all went 51-0 on the year; while Gunnar Wolfensperger (112) was the black sheep of the bunch going 36-3. Blake Sorensen (152) and Noah Minikus (160) placed third to round out their assault on the standings with 148 points.
Davenport Assumption and Ballard Huxley were next in the standings with 109 and 103 points respectively. Each had a lone champion, which went undefeated on the season -- Landon Williams (160) standing on the top step for Assumption, while Tanner Weatherman (152) was standing on top of the podium for Ballard. In the only clash of ranked wrestlers in the Class 2A finals, it was 17th ranked Mikey England (Centerville) upending Ballard's Brock Weatherman -- ranked 14th nationally -- 3-1 in overtime at 171 pounds.
Perennial powers Don Bosco won the Class 1A small-school title, and were the only team to reach the 100 point mark with 119. Cole Welter (135) and Taylor Kettman (189) earned state championships. Alburnett was the only other team with multiple individual champions -- Tyler Shulita (112) and Chris Halblom (119).
Results: http://www.iahsaa.org/wrestling/2010%20Tournament/10wrresults.html
Bronco brigade on Assembly Hall
The second year of three-class wrestling brought about a lot of intrigue. However, the medium school Class 2A served as the exception with Montini Catholic yet again dominating the festivities with four champions and two runners-up. Winning titles for the Broncos were Kevon Powell (103), Colton Rasche (130), Stephen Robertson (140), and Brandon McBride (152). Eric Powell (135) and Frank Baer (145) earned runner-up honors.
Crystal Lake Central and Marmion Academy also had some highlights in the medium school division. Despite having Cadet National freestyle champion Gage Harrah finishing in just fourth at 215 pounds, the Wizards still had four in the finals and three champions. Trevor Jauch (125), Joey Kielbasa (145), and Austin Mardsen (189) stood atop the podium -- while Taylor Servant (140) finished in second place.
Ben Whitford, ranked eighth nationally for Marmion Academy, capped off an undefeated freshman season with a 22-7 technical fall in the state finals match against Kyle Graumens (Troy Triad). The hype is already starting to mount about him making a run at four titles without a career loss -- never done before in the Land of Lincoln. Nico Jimenez (171) was also a state champion for the Cadet, who will be making even more a dent into the Illinois and national landscape in the coming years.
The small school Class 1A tournament in Illinois was remarkable in that from the 14 state champs, 14 different schools were represented. The team with the most to show out of the unscored state tournament was Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley, which had four wrestlers in the final. However, only Guy Kirby (140) stepped atop the podium while Dylan Donner (103), Stephan Birt (171), and Cody Flynn (189) were runners-up.
The big-school division continued its long standing tradition of terrific balance, electric competition, and unexpected upsets. Only three teams had multiple finalists, while one was alone in having multiple champions. It was again Oak Park-River Forest stealing the show at Assembly Hall with three state champions -- Chris (135) and Nick (140) Dardanes, along with Sam Brooks (160).
The only other teams with multiple finalists were Providence Catholic and Hinsdale Central, and each had both finalists fall short in the championship match. For the Celtics -- Edwin Cooper (130) lost to Keith Surber of O'Fallon Township by a 15-4 major decision in a matchup featuring a pair of ranked wrestlers, while 18th ranked Eddie Klimara was upset 3-2 by Danny Sabatello of Lincolnshire Stevenson. After upsetting 8th ranked Nick Proctor (Neuqua Valley) 8-6 in overtime during the 160 pound semifinal, Joe Strocchia fell to defeat 5-3 in the final. The other runner-up for Hinsdale Central was Jack Allen, falling short by a 3-1 score against Jeffrey Brown (Evanston Township).
In an instant classic, it was a battle of dynamite undefeated wrestlers at 145 pounds. Sophomore Max Schneider (Lane Tech) came out on top against Demetrios Mitchell (Arlington Heights Hersey), as the bloodied and wounded warriors fought to almost death. Unfortunately, Mitchell had to default after a significant injury, sliding Schneider one step higher on the podium than last year.
Finally, Lee Munster (Fox Lake Grant) -- ranked first nationally -- was able to avenge his loss by fall in the sectional tournament last week, earning a 5-2 victory over 18th-ranked Sterling Hecox of Machesney Park Harlem. This was a third state championship for Munster.
Results: http://www.ihsa.org/activity/wr/2009-10/web/1ahome.htm
Undefeated wrestlers story in single-class Indiana
Twenty-five different wrestlers entered the championship weekend undefeated during competition over the course of the year. Only two of the weight classes did not have a single undefeated individual. Eight young men exited Conseco Fieldhouse with undefeated records for the season to date -- as the team championships remain next weekend.
Tenth ranked Sean McMurray of Portage became the 24th wrestler to ever win three state titles, dominating the competition at 160 pounds with a pin and then three consecutive shutout decisions against competition that had a combined record of 124-3 going into their matches with McMurray at state.
Crown Point had a pair of undefeated champions, with Jason Tsirtsis (130) and Eric Roach (145) both having to beat a pair of fellow undefeated on the way to their respective titles. Tsirtsis, a sophomore ranked fifth nationally won by pin and major in his first two matches then defeated previously undefeated sophomore Connor Mullins (New Castle) by 8-0 major decision before defeating another undefeated sophomore -- Devon Jackson (Yorktown) -- 4-0 in overtime for the championship. The junior Roach won an elusive state title, as he beat opponents with an aggregate 79-0 record in his last two matches.
The other school with multiple champions was Warren Central, as both Brandon Wright (125) and Michael Johnson-Jones (189) struck gold at Conseco; this was the second career championship for Wright.
Cody Phillips of Union County joined Tsirtsis with winning a second state title in their sophomore season, as he capped an undefeated season with an 8-3 victory over fellow undefeated sophomore Paul Petrov (Hanover Central) in the final at 103 pounds. The last of four two-time state champions this year was Francisco Porras (Hobart), champion at 140 with a 5-1 win over Justin Beck (Leo) to avenge a semi-state loss.
There were four other undefeated state champions, and all had to defeat one wrestler without a prior loss on their way to the title. Brock Norton (Fort Wayne Carroll) defeated Mason Berryman (Anderson Highland) 3-1 in a battle of seniors during the 135 pound state final. Sam Bennett (Anderson Highland) upended Chad Welch (Castle) 4-3 in overtime during the 152 pound state semifinal, and then beat Zachary Corpe (Elkhart Memorial) 6-2 for the title. Nathan Cleveland (Lowell) defeated Dylan Green (Kokomo) 2-1 in an all-senior semifinal at 215 pounds, before beating Christian Lentz (Mishawaka) for the third time this season in the final -- the score was 2-1 in the ultimate tiebreaker. Finally, Ross Janney (Yorktown) won an all-senior final at 285 pounds 3-2 against James Travis (Merrillville).
Results: http://www.ihsaa.org/dnn/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=rRLJj1SFHMc%3d&tabid=38
Other state championships from the past week:
Individual unless marked
Missouri: http://www.mshsaa.org/Activities/ChampionshipEvents.aspx?activity=23
Colorado: http://www.chsaa.org/sports/wrestling/wrestling.asp
Florida: http://www.fhsaa.org/wr/
Georgia: http://www.ghsa.net/wrestling
Kentucky: http://www.khsaa.org/wrestling/2010/state/khs2010home.htm
Nebraska: http://www.nsaahome.org/wr.php
Nevada: http://www.niaa.com/Sports/Winter/Wrestling/Wrestling_Link_Page.htm
New Mexico: http://www.nmact.org/wrestling_state_championship
North Dakota: http://www.metrotournament.com/2010StateWrestling/index.htm (individual & dual meet)
Tennessee: http://www.tssaa.org/2009Champions/StateWrestling/home.htm
Virginia: (Class 3A) http://virginiawrestling.com/Assets/10PostSeason/State_PDFBrackets.pdf
(Class 2A) http://bluedemonwrestling.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/2010-VA-State-AA-Brackets.pdf
Washington: http://wiaa.com/subcontent.aspx?SecID=681
Arizona: (Class 5A)
Arizona: (Dual Meet) http://www.aiaonline.org/athletics/brackets.php
Arkansas:
Louisiana:
-- Divisional tournaments in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont
The week ahead ...
-- Dual Meet state championships: (tonight) Maryland, Delaware (this weekend) Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Michigan
-- Individual Brackets: National Prep, Delaware, Hawaii, New York, Idaho, Kansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and New England Regional states
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