On Tuesday, Nov. 30, the West Liberty High School Comet wrestling team began its 2021/2022 campaign on the road with a non-conference quadrangular at New London High School along with North Mahaska and Lisbon.
The Comets took the first two duals handily by upending North Mahaska 48-33 and New London 49-29. The team took one on the chin in the final dual of the night, losing to Lisbon by a 15-64 score.
The Comets were powered by Colin Cassady with three falls. Joshua Zeman and Drake Collins both earned two pins. Jahsiah Galvan was a double winner as well with a fall and an upset 4-3 victory over Lisbon’s ranked Jamien Moore. Asael Negrete, Bryson Garcia, Preston Daufeldt, Felipe Molina and Jo Akers all recorded pins in the duals.
Wrestling for the girls team, Ava Morrison won by fall and Silvia Garcia-Vasquez won an overtime battle. Both wrestled against North Mahaska opponents.
Win
home
opener
Just two days later, the Comets hosted a River Valley Conference quadrangular of their own that included Bellevue, Cascade and Iowa City Regina. The Comets came away with three solid dual victories.
The home crowd was entertained with wins of 69-12 over Bellevue, 60-21 over Cascade and 49-24 over Iowa City Regina. Several forfeits were received by the Comets throughout the night, including seven against Bellevue, five against Cascade and four against Iowa City Regina.
The Comets were led by Galvan and Ryker Dengler with two falls apiece. Quintyn Rocha won a close 5-4 decision, secured a victory via injury default over his Cascade foe as well as a fall over Iowa City Regina. Colin Cassady, Negrete, Garcia, Daufeldt and Collins all won matches by fall. Zeman won by a 11-3 major decision and Molina took an 8-2 decision to round out the wins.
In girls wrestling, winning matches were Dionni Garcia-Vasquez by fall and Nellie Stagg by 9-8 victory both over Bellevue opponents. Shayla Madrigal won 13-4 and Laney Esmoil won by fall, both over Regina wrestlers.
Independence
Invitational
As if the two-day turnaround earlier in the week wasn’t tough enough for the Comets, the team took off the very next morning to compete in the two-day Cliff Keen Independence Invitational.
Head Coach Ian Alke was quite impressed with how well-run the tournament was, considering there were 28 teams competing. This was the first time the Comets have ever competed in a two-day tournament during the regular season. Each wrestler got anywhere from four to seven matches over the course of the tournament in their 32-man brackets, with some of them getting 12 or 13 matches for the opening week.
Alke praised his wrestlers for battling with some very high level competitors and said that not one of them complained about the grind of it all. Alke said that the team learned a lot and that they would have plenty to improve on in the coming weeks.
As a team, the Comets finished 15th out of the 28 squads. Lisbon took home the team title.
At 106 pounds, Cassady went 4-2 with a pin, two tech falls and a 7-4 decision victory to place fifth. Negrete finished in sixteenth place and won a 6-1 match at 120 pounds.
Dengler, competing at 126 pounds, recorded a nice 1:07 fall in route to his 28th place finish. Garcia also finished in 28th place at 132 pounds where he earned a quick :25 fall along the way.
At 145, Diego Sanchez garnered a 12th place finish with four pins on the day for the Comets.
Zeman secured a seventh place medal with a 4-2 record that included a pin, a major decision and two regular decision victories at his 145 pound weight. Morgan Lehman placed 23rd with a fall in 2:39 at 152 pounds.
Collins nabbed the lone Comet championship when he breezed through his 170 pound bracket with four pins and a 6-3 decision to grab gold. At 182, Molina placed sixth with three pins during his successful day.
Bryan Martinez also competed in the 182 pound bracket and went 3-2 with two pins and a 3-2 win to place 17th.
Galvan battled to a ninth place position in his very first varsity tournament. Galvan was 4-1 with all four of his victories coming by way of fall at 195.
At 220, Akers finished in 16th place with a win coming by way of medical forfeit over his Solon foe. Rocha ended the day with fifth place podium placement after he recorded three pins and two close 3-2 victories in his heavyweight bracket.
The Comets return to the mat on the evening of Thursday, Dec. 9, for a 5:30 p.m. River Valley Conference quadrangular at Anamosa along with Tipton and Northeast Gooselake.
On Saturday, Dec. 11, the team will compete in the Mount Vernon Tournament with a 10 a.m. start time.