Monticello High School hosted the 2022 River Valley Conference Wrestling Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 29 and the Comets came within 14.5 points of claiming their seventh straight title.
The Comets of Coach Ian Alke had won the conference tournament every year since 2015 when the RVC was formed, although cancelled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The highly anticipated 14-team tournament was filled with ups and downs for the West Liberty Comet wrestling team. Even though the Comets sent seven wrestlers to the finals, the team finished second to Wilton in the heated rivalry event.
The Comets did come away with three individual champions in Colin Cassady, Drake Collins and Felipe Molina.
At 106 pounds, #7 state ranked junior Colin Cassady (37-4) received two byes before stepping on the mat for the semifinals. He recorded a 3:01 pin there, to advance to the championship bout.
Cassady met up with freshman Brock Morris, ranked #4 in 1A (43-4) of Cascade. Cassady and Morris had split their two previous matchups and Cassady got the best of Morris this time as well, winning by a 11-2 major decision to win his first River Valley Conference championship.
Wrestling at 113 pounds, freshman Ryan Cassady (14-3) received an opening round bye. He won his next match by a 15-6 major decision. Cassady dropped two straight matches by fall and rebounded nicely with a fall of his own in 2:28 to earn a fifth place finish over Cory Bradtke-Stelken of Cascade.
Sylvia Garcia Vasquez, a freshman from the girls squad, stepped up at 120 pounds to fill an opening for the Comets. She lost by fall to the eventual champion in her first contest and dropped her second match by tech fall to bow out of the tournament.
Freshman Ryker Dengler (22-26) put together a nice tournament with two pins on the backside of his 126 pound bracket to place fifth. His final pin was over Tucker Miller of Mid Prairie in 3:17.
Bryson Garcia (17-30) garnered two wins on the backside of his bracket as well to grab fifth place. Garcia edged out senior Aaron Casey of Anamosa by a 10-3 score in his final match of the day at 132 pounds.
At 138, sophomore Diego Sanchez (21-12) opened his day with a bye before he stuck his next opponent in 4:23. In the semifinals, Sanchez won a tight 6-4 decision over a scrappy Easton Wheeler (33-8) of Anamosa to reach the finals. Sanchez dropped his final by fall to Owen Milder of Wilton and earned second place for the Comets.
Junior Joshua Zeman (30-11) led off his run at 145 with a bye and then a nifty 3:23 fall. Zeman took a 14-1 major decision over Garrett Burkle of Wilton to earn his spot in the finals. There, he lost by fall to undefeated Eric Kinkaid of Camanche to finish in the runner-up position.
Morgan Lehman, a Comet sophomore, (7-13) lost his first match at 152 pounds by fall and his second by tech fall to exit the double elimination tournament.
At 160, Preston Daufeldt started his tournament with a first round bye. He won by fall in 4:25 to reach the semifinals. Daufeldt went on to lose that semifinals match by fall. He regrouped and earned a 1:46 fall over Kempton Sikkema of Bellevue to reach the consolation finals. The junior lost the next match by fall to finish fourth.
Top seed and third ranked Drake Collins (38-3) opened with a lackluster two byes to begin his day in the 170 pound bracket. In the semifinals, Collins, a junior, won by fall in 1:38 over AJ Phelps of Monticello to advance to the finals. Collins led most of that finals match, but fell behind in the third period by a 5-6 score. Collins crafted a heroic reversal late in the period to win 7-6 over Kaden Shirk (34-6) of Wilton to win the Comets second championship.
At 182, senior Felipe Molina (34-10) started with a bye as well. He then made quick work of his next two opponents, winning both matches by fall in :36 and :39 to carve his path to the finals.
Taken down first by Jerry Havill of Tipton, Molina quickly turned it around and eventually won by fall in 3:32 to claim the final Comet championship of the tournament.
Wrestling at 195, senior Jahsiah Galvan (30-6) also opened with a bye. He then won by fall in 1:21 and knocked off the #2 seeded Ronan Poynton of Regina by a 3-1 margin to make the finals. After jumping out to a 4-2 lead over #3 ranked Cael Garvey of Mid Prairie, Galvan got caught and pinned to place second.
Sophomore Joe Akers (8-23) aggressively won his first match at 220 pounds by fall in 1:30. He then lost two matches in a row, one to the eventual champ Logan Wright of West Branch, to exit the tournament.
At 285, sophomore Quintyn Rocha (33-13) started with a bye. He then won by fall in 2:43 and then ground out a fantastic 7-6 match over Alexander Kaufmann of Wilton in a rematch from their final dual meeting just a week earlier, when Kaufmann pinned Rocha. Rocha lost his heartbreaking finals match in the UTB 3-2 to Cole Sigler of Anamosa to finish in the second place position.
Wilton won the team race with 177.5 points, followed by West Liberty (163), Monticello (114), Tipton (102), Anamosa (92), Mid Prairie (80.5), Cascade (77), Regina (71), Camanche (64), West Branch (59.5), Bellevue (42.5), Durant (37.5), Northeast Gooselake (20) and North Cedar (4).
The Comets switch their focus now to the Class 2A Sectional #16, coming up this Saturday, Feb. 5, beginning at noon in Solon. Keokuk, Mount Pleasant, Notre Dame/West Burlington/Danville, Solon, Washington and the Comets will compete for the top two spots in order to advance.