Members of the West Liberty High School Comet wrestling team had themselves quite an impressive week last week. Their numerous efforts included winning an eighth straight River Valley Conference dual team championship outright by topping Wilton 42-31, winning the Louisa Muscatine Invitational by over 70 points with three individual champs and the girls team competing among the top female talents in the state at the IWCOA Girls State Tournament.
Kicking the week off on Monday, Jan. 17, Amerie Alvarado and Silvia Garcia Vasquez participated in the Solon Girls Tournament.
Alvarado came away with first place after winning her matches by a :26 fall and a 2-0 decision. Garcia brought home fourth place in her tough bracket.
Thursday, Jan. 20 was a monstrous night for the Comet boys team of coach Ian Alke. Durant, Mid Prairie and Wilton all came to town for a River Valley Conference quadrangular, with Wilton looking to spoil senior night for the Comets by stealing the 2021/2022 RVC dual team championship from them on their home court.
The Comets methodically took down Durant 60-21 and Mid Prairie 62-18 to set up the showdown with Wilton. Against Durant, Colin Cassady, Joshua Zeman and Jahsiah Galvan, who was recently ranked 11th in the state by IA Wrestle at 195, all collected wins via fall, while Durant forfeited six weights to the Comets.
Ryker Dengler, Bryson Garcia, Diego Sanchez, Joe Barten, Drake Collins, Felipe Molina and Galvan all pinned their foes against Mid Prairie. Colin Cassady won by 15-4 major decision and Morgan Lehman came out on top of a 12-4 major decision.
Alissa Sanchez had the only girls match and dropped that back and forth affair eventually by fall.
Wilton came out firing on all cylinders against the Comets in the final dual of the evening. The highly anticipated competition started at 113 pounds and Wilton raced to a 12-0 lead as the Comets failed to weigh in a wrestler at 113 or 120.
The neighboring Beavers built their lead to 25-0 with three more wins before junior Joshua Zeman could get the Comets on the board with a 2:00 pin in the 145 pound weight class.
Morgan Lehman duplicated Zeman’s effort with a pin of his own at 152. Joe Barten ground out a 11-7 victory at 160 and Drake Collins earned his 100th career victory with a :37 fall. Felipe Molina won 8-3 at 182 and Bryan Martinez came up clutch with a huge pin in 5:47 of his 195-pound match. Galvan and Colin Cassady both pinned their opponents as Wilton got a pin in between to stop the murderers row momentarily.
The 36-point Comet run, capped off by Cassady’s pin worth another six points to close the dual, pushed the Comets ahead and secured the 42-31 victory in front of a full house of loud and rowdy Comet and Beaver fans.
Girls in state competition
The next day, the Comet girls competed in the IWCOA Girls State Tournament held at the Xtream Arena in Coralville. The team finished in a tie for 31st place out of 179 schools. Over 700 girls converged from all over the state of Iowa to compete at the two-day event.
Alissa Sanchez (3-2), Silvia Garcia Vasquez (3-2), Addi Beaver (0-2), Ava Morrison (3-2), McKinzie Akers (1-2), Laney Esmoil (2-2), Grace Evans (1-2), Nellie Stagg (1-2), Maelyn Wainwright (0-2) and Amerie Alvarado (1-2) all battled during the first day of the tournament with Garcia Vasquez, Morrison, Esmoil and Alvarado advancing to day two before being eliminated.
Alvarado, a sophomore, finished the season as the #5 ranked 220 pound wrestler by IA Wrestle.
Big announcement
Besides the phenomenal efforts put forth by all of the Comet ladies, the biggest take away from the event was the announcement by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union that girls wrestling will be sanctioned as the 11th girls sport to be in the state of Iowa.
The changes will take affect before the 2022-23 season. Per their press release, the IGHSAU intends to follow the National Federation of State High School Associations wrestling rules and guidelines.
To date, 58 schools have committed to sponsoring girls wrestling programs in Iowa. Iowa becomes just the 34th state association to sanction girls wrestling.
Boys win Invitational
On Saturday, Jan. 22 the Comet boys won the Louisa Muscatine Invitational and several wrestlers saw success while doing so.
Seventh ranked at 106, junior Colin Cassady ran his season record to 35-4 as he went on to win the individual title with an impressive 5-3 statement victory over previously undefeated and third ranked Emmitt Newton of Davis County.
At 126, Comet freshman Ryker Dengler recorded three pins to just one loss as he secured a third place medal. Freshman Bryson Garcia also had three pins and one loss to grab a third place podium finish for the Comets.
Diego Sanchez was 4-1 at 138 pounds for West Liberty and ended up in third place after pinning one of his opponents. Joshua Zeman recorded two pins against two losses to claim fourth place at 145.
Preston Daufeldt grabbed a pin as he went 1-3 to finish 4th at 152. At 160, Joe Barten was 2-2 for the Comets with two pins to also finish fourth.
Junior Drake Collins, the third ranked wrestler in class 2A at 170, earned a 16-1 technical fall and a 4:46 pin to win his 170 pound bracket and senior Felipe Molina also cruised to the top of the podium at 182 by pinning all four of his opponents.
Joe Akers, wrestling at 220, pinned his second round foe to finish 1-2 on the day to claim fourth place and Quintyn Rocha took the runner up spot at 285 as he went 3-1 with two pins.
The Comets are off all week until Saturday, Jan. 29 when they are scheduled to compete in the River Valley Conference tournament at Monticello High School. Start time is set for 10 a.m. The meet will help the Comets prepare for Sectional competition to begin on Saturday, Feb. 5.