On Thursday, Dec. 9 the West Liberty Comet wrestling team hit the road for a River Valley Conference quadrangular at Anamosa High School. Northeast Gooselake and Tipton joined the Comets along with the host Raiders in the conference contest.
The Comets rolled through Tipton 64-15 and Northeast Gooselake, 78-6, before handling Anamosa, 45-24, to complete the sweep.
Tipton surrendered six forfeits against the Comets and Northeast Gooselake gave up a bizarre nine open weights to the Comets. Many of the Comet grapplers only ended up with one contested match throughout the event.
Leading the way for the Comets were Drake Collins and Bryan Martinez with two falls apiece. Felipe Molina wrestled all three times and recorded two pins and a 11-3 major decision victory.
Colin Cassady, Ryker Dengler, Preston Daufeldt, Jahsiah Galvan and Quintyn Rocha all notched wins by fall. Diego Sanchez earned a pin and a 3-0 victory. Ryan Cassady won a 11-7 match and Joshua Zeman gutted out a 4-2 victory to round out the Comet scoring.
Girls compete
On the girls’ side, Ava Morrison paced that squad, winning both of her matches, one by pin. Dionni Garcia Vasquez, Alissa Sanchez and Silvia Garcia Vasquez all won a match as well.
The Comet girls were also in action earlier in the week when they competed in the Waverly Shell Rock Go Hawk Girls Invitational on Tuesday, Dec. 7. Seven Comets competed with Amerie Alvarado finishing the highest with fourth place.
Alvarado was 1-2 and recorded a 3:44 fall. Alissa Sanchez placed sixth with a 1-2 mark, also collecting a pin in 1:52 along the way. Grace Evans finished with a 1-2 record as well, including a pin in 1:30 on her way to seventh place. Laney Esmoil was 2-3 with a :53 pin to finish eighth.
Nellie Stagg didn’t find the win column but battled tough in all three of her matches to finish eighth. The Garcia Vasquez sisters were both 0-2 in their respective brackets of the state tournament quality event.
Five Comet girl team members went on to compete in the Marion JV tournament on Saturday, Dec. 11. Not enough girls entered the tournament from other participating schools so most of the Comets were placed in all-boys four-man round robin brackets.
Silvia Garcia Vasquez, Esmoil and Evans were all 1-2 and each recorded a pin to finish with third place medals in their separate brackets. Dionni Garcia Vasquez and Alvarado both placed fourth.
Place seventh at Mt. Vernon
That very same day, the Comet boys competed in the always-tough Mount Vernon Invitational just down the road along Highway 30. Traditional powerhouses Lisbon & Davenport Assumption along with Marion, Wapsie Valley, Sigourney-Keota, Wapello, East Buchanan, Cedar Rapids Xavier, Muscatine, Washington and Cascade all competed in the day-long event.
Wrestling with just nine of the 14 weight classes represented, the Comet boys placed seventh out of the 15 teams with 94 team points. Lisbon ran away with the team trophy with 264.5 points. Host Mount Vernon placed second with 167 and Davenport Assumption grabbed third with 131.
Colin Cassady wrestled as well as anybody in the tournament field when the junior reached the finals with a speedy :48 pin and a workmanlike 16-5 major decision at 106 pounds. Cassady went on to avenge an early season loss to Brock Morris of Cascade in the finals by a gritty 5-3 score to claim his championship medal.
At 126, wrestling in a six-man round robin format, Dengler earned a 1:56 pin on his way to a fifth place finish. Bryson Garcia finished his day with a 1-2 record that included a nice 5-2 victory over his East Buchanan foe in the 132 pound division.
After pinning his first opponent at 138, Diego Sanchez lost in the semifinals to highly ranked Cade Siebrecht of Lisbon. Sanchez won his next match by a 5-4 score to place third for the Comets. Hunter Klier and Daufeldt were both 0-2 in their 152/160 divisions but improved with each match wrestled.
At 170, Collins breezed through his first two matches, recording pins in :34 and :51, barely breaking a sweat. This progression would set Collins up for a showdown with undefeated Jack Clarahan of Sigourney-Keota in the championship match.
The matchup did not disappoint as it was thrilling all the way through the six plus minutes of action. At the end of regulation, the score was tied up at 1-1. In overtime, Clarahan scored a two point takedown to edge Collins out of the win and Collins took home the silver medal.
Molina finished with a 2-2 record at 182 pounds with a pin and a 7-1 victory and Rocha picked up a fifth place finish at 285 pounds with a 2-1 record that included two pins to conclude the Comet scoring.
Upcoming meets
The Comets are right back in action this week with a Monday night (Dec.13) triangular at Muscatine along with Highland Community. The team will also compete on Saturday, Dec. 18 at the Doug Philipp Duals at Cedar Rapids Xavier to complete its 2021 competition beginning at 9 a.m.
The Comet girls compete Monday as well at the first City High Girls Tournament in Iowa City beginning at 5 p.m. and will also finish up the first half of their season when they go to the Wilton Girls Tournament on Saturday, Dec.18, which begins at 10 a.m.