West liberty Wrestling

Comets heat up as postseasons approach

Boys' and girls' teams post two more undefeated duals weeks

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Fans around eastern Iowa were beginning to take notice of West Liberty’s boys’ wrestling dominance at duals. Soon, the entire state might be on watch.

Ranked No. 15 in the first edition of the Iowa High School Athletic Association’s dual team rankings, the Comets might see a move up in the second edition after three more convincing wins last Thursday against Beckman Catholic (53-27), Maquoketa (61-17) and Monticello (58-24).

Across the three duals, there were 27 contested matches. West Liberty won 19 of them for a 70.4 percent win rate. There were 14 total forfeited matches with West Liberty receiving 11 wins and surrendering three times.

Three sophomore Comets went 3-0 on Thursday night: Briggs Collins at 150, Tully Griffith at 126 and Kaden Wiele with two matches at 157 and one match at 165.

Collins recorded two pins and one technical fall. Griffith had two technical falls and one pin. Wiele had two pins and one decision victory.

Senior Ryan Cassady (113) and sophomore Gable Underbakke (144) picked up two wins on the night. Cassady had a pin and technical fall while Underbakke had two pins.

Six more Comets earned one victory in the quadrangular. Five earned pins: senior Tytan Griffith (175), junior Robinson Paredes Morado (132), sophomores Landon Wainwright (157), Isaac Aragon (120) and freshman Mason Alke (138).

Not to forget freshman Marcus Cardona who scored a 17-0 technical fall in his match against Nathan Kluesner of Beckman Catholic.

Two days later, the Comets trekked out to Benton Community for a 17-school tournament. Here, West Liberty finished 11th in the team points standings.

Wiele at 157 and senior Ryker Dengler at 165 each finished third at the meet going 3-1 on the day.

Dengler won two decisions in his final two matches to boost himself onto the podium, defeating Christopher Meyer of Independence 7-3 in the consolation semifinals and Blayke Heying of Benton Community 11-6 in the third-place match.

Wiele, in turn, used two pins in his last two matches. They came in the first period of the consolation semifinals against Owen Miller of Independence and in the second period against Cayden Mayfield of Dallas Center-Grimes in the bronze medal bout.

Three other Comets placed at the meet. They were Cassady at 113 (sixth place), Alke at 138 (eighth place) and Collins at 150 (eighth place).

This week, West Liberty will travel to West Branch for a triangular with the Bears and Camanche Storm. Then, they will head to Solon High School for the always-tough Ed Hadenfeldt Wrestling Invitational.

Medical emergency halts Highland tournament

West Liberty’s girls’ team were ready to take home more hardware, this time at the Highland Girls Wrestling Tournament in Riverside.

Unfortunately, due to a serious medical emergency involving a spectator, the tournament was canceled after the 120-pound final.

With many Comets unable to wrestle in their championship and third-place matches, the tournament scores stand as they were at that point in time.

At this point in the competition, West Liberty was in fourth place out of 21 schools with 135.5 team points. Only Iowa City Liberty (180), Mid-Prairie (160.5) and Fort Madison (142).

Multiple Comet wrestlers were preparing for their gold medal match at the time of the cancelation including sophomore Bricsia Garcia-Vasquez at 235 and freshman Aileen Aragon at 125.

Senior Silvia Garcia-Vasquez at 120 and sophomore Alivia Garcia at 115 both wrestled in their first-place matches but ended on the wrong side of the result.

Junior Jacquelin Molina won her third place match at 135. Freshman Sofia Garcia completed her tournament at 100, finishing in fourth place.

The Comets got to put this tournament in the rear-view mirror on Monday when it participated in a River Valley Conference quad meet with Northeast, Tipton and Camanche.

However, matches were few and far between with more than 80 percent of the potential matches resulting in forfeits in some form.

The Comets still won all three contests, beating Northeast 60-6, Tipton 66-12 and Camanche 66-6.

Against the Storm, Silvia Garcia-Vasquez (120) and Aragon (125) pinned their opponents in the only two matches to go off.

Against Tipton, Silvia Garcia-Vasquez (120) and Alivia Garcia (115) did the same.

Four matches took place in the dual against Northeast with West Liberty winning three of them. Those wins, all via pin, were authored by junior Kiley Collins at 135, Molina at 140 and Bricsia Garcia-Vasquez at 190.

This week, the girls will have a rare back-to-back tournament slate. On Thursday, there is the Cascade Varsity Girls’ Invitational. Then, on Friday, Mid-Prairie will host its girls’ tournament.

After these meets, it will be postseason wrestling time with the RVC tournament in West Liberty on Jan. 24 and the Class 1A regional competition in Williamsburg on Jan. 31.

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