West Liberty’s boys’ wrestlers broke a brief one-season podium drought and took home two medals from this year’s IHSAA State Championships in Des Moines at Wells Fargo Arena.
Senior Ryker Dengler and sophomore Kaden Wiele took home sixth-place honors in the 165-pound and 157-pound weight classes in the Class 2A competition.
While Wiele entered his bracket seeded and ranked tenth, he made a sensational run to the championship semifinals.
He first won a 4-0 decision against Elias Bieschke of Benton Community. Then, he upset No. 7 seed and No. 6 ranked Dirk Boyles of Burlington Notre Dame with another 4-0 decision to advance to the quarterfinals.
There, Wiele pulled off another upset, stunning No. 2 seed and No. 4 ranked Taylor Mahler of Hampton-Dumont-CAL with a third-period pin, guaranteeing a top-six finish at the tournament.
Mahler beat Wiele in last state tournament’s blood round. Here, Wiele got his revenge in oh-so-sweet fashion.
The Comet’s unbeaten run came to an end in the semifinals where Tucker Wheeler of PCM Monroe scored a 19-3 technical fall.
Wiele would fall twice more, both by pin to Lucas Kral of Garner-Hayfield/Ventura and Owen Klocke of Carroll to finish in sixth place.
For Dengler, he entered the competition representing West Liberty’s highest seed. He slotted in at No. 3 in his bracket.
Dengler received a first-round bye and quickly wrapped up his Wednesday with a second-period pin over Camanche’s Olyver Fuller.
However, Dengler’s state title bid ended early with a quarterfinal defeat to No. 6 seed and No. 9 ranked Degan Miller from Greene County.
Dengler won in the blood round against Blake Johnson of Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont with an 8-0 major decision to win his first state medal.
He won again in the consolation fifth round again against Fuller, this time with a 7-1 decision win.
It would be Dengler’s last win of the tournament. He fell in the consolation semifinals against William Fulhart of Decorah via third-period pin and got tagged again by Miller with a 4-2 decision loss.
Senior Ryan Cassady concluded his Comet wrestling career with his best finish at the state tournament. While he did not place, he finished as one of the 12 best wrestlers in 2A-113.
While he fell in the blood round against Quinn Arellano of Van Meter via 55-second pin, Cassady still claimed three wins at the tournament.
In the championship first round, Cassady defeated Charlie Foster of Williamsburg via 67-second pin. Later, in the second and third rounds of consolations, Cassady pinned Brayden Jara of AP-GC at 1:29 and Brayden Jara of Greene County at 3:16.
Lastly, sophomore Briggs Collins also made the consolation fourth round but fell one match short of winning a state medal.
Collins, seeded No. 12, won his first two matches of the tournament to boost himself into the quarterfinals.
He pinned Mason Johnson of Mediapolis at 1:14 and defeated Ashton Moreno of Algona via 6-5 decision.
In the quarterfinals, Collins fell to Anamosa’s Hudson Scranton by first-period pin. Then, he lost in the fourth round of consolations to Jax Jensen of Winterset by 15-6 major decision.
Overall, West Liberty placed 24th out of 81 teams represented at the Class 2A tournament. The Comets scored 39.0 team points.
Burlington Notre Dame won the event with 129 team points. Only two other Class 2A schools made it over the 100-point mark — Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont (107.5) and Union LaPorte City (103.5).
While West Liberty is graduating senior firepower in Dengler and Cassady, the Comets are only graduating five seniors in total before next winter.
Dengler, Cassady, Triston Teel, Tytan Griffith and Bryson Garcia will get to cheer from afar as this young Comets squad builds on a successful 2024-25 season and regroups for next year.