Wrestling season is just around the corner and I cannot wait for
it. The season will officially start for me in 11 days with the Council Bluffs
Classic. I've covered pretty much every high school sport, but wrestling is
probably my favorite. Maybe it's because I got my start in broadcasting by
calling John J. or maybe it's the atmosphere of a meet. I don't know.
We are just days away from the
journey to Des Moines beginning. I have many questions about the area wrestling
that will take place this season, so here are my 10 most pertinent questions
(at least to me) about this upcoming season.
1. Is this the
year Red Oak qualifies for state duals?
Words cannot describe how much
I admire the job Red Oak Coach Tiegen Podliska has done with his squad. The Tigers
had zero state qualifiers in 2016. In 2017, they qualified for a regional dual
despite having just one state qualifier. The Tigers broke through in 2018,
qualifying for another regional dual, qualifying five to Des Moines and placing
two (Justin McCunn and Thomas Bentley). Those five state qualifiers? They all
return. I'm not sure there are many (if any) teams in the state that return as
many state qualifiers as Red Oak does this year.
This year they will be led by
Thomas Bentley, who has placed fourth and third the past two seasons. It's
unclear whether Bentley will wrestle at 182 or 195, but either way, I think
he's a championship contender. We should also keep an eye on Justin McCunn and
Carter Maynes this season. Last year, McCunn placed eighth at 152 pounds as a
sophomore while Maynes was just one win away from joining his teammates on the
medal stands. I also expect Colton Kinnison and Jonathan Erp, Red Oak's other
two state qualifiers, to pick up where they left off, and I would not be surprised
to see someone else breakthrough for Red Oak.
I think I've answered my own
question. This is the year Red Oak qualifies for state duals. You can book it.
2. Will anyone
be able to take down Gabe Pauley?
AHSTW's Gabe Pauley was a force
last year. The bruiser took down everyone in his way on his path to a state
championship at 1A-170. Pauley finished his state championship season with a
record of 56-0. The most impressive part of his championship campaign is the
fact that Pauley did not surrender a takedown until the final period of his
state championship victory over Lisbon's Bryce Werderman. Will somebody take
down Pauley this season? You would think maybe, but that's a task that it is
obviously much easier said than done. Just ask anyone who tried to do it last
season.
3. How will
Underwood look without Alex Thomsen?
I had the privilege of watching
Underwood's Alex Thomsen for the last three season. It was a treat to say the
least. The Underwood lightweight capped off his prep career with just one loss
and four state championships. Thomsen is now at the University of Nebraska, but
the cupboard definitely is not bare at Underwood. Alex's younger brother, Blake
comes into his junior year with a pair of state medals including third place at
120 pounds last season. It is unclear what weight he will wrestle at for sure,
but he begins the season ranked third at 138 pounds by IAWrestle.
I have a feeling that fellow
lightweight Logan James will come into this season with something to prove.
Last year James took home seventh at 132 pounds, but I got the vibe that he was
not satisfied with that finish. Nobody can truly replace Alex Thomsen, but I
think James has the potential to pretty much pick up right where Thomsen left
off.
Throw Michael Baker into the
mix, who qualified at 152 pounds to go along with a pair of district qualifiers
(Kyler Rodenburg and Tanner Owens) and I think Underwood will be just
fine.
4. Which
Atlantic/CAM wrestler(s) will break through?
I have the feeling that many
people are expecting a down year from Atlantic this year. While they have lost
some stalwarts like John McConkey, Kole Hansen and Carter Cox over the past few
years, I don't think this will be a down year by any means. Actually, I think
this could be a year we see a handful of Atlantic wrestlers break through. The
Trojans will most likely be led Chase McLaren at 138 pounds, the Grand View
commit finished seventh at 132 last season but he has his sights set on bigger
goals this season.
Connor Pellet was a pleasant
surprise for Coach Tim Duff's Trojans, earning his way to Des Moines and
winning a match before coming up shy of earning a medal. Atlantic will be
pretty set in the lightweights this season with Joe Weaver, who wrestled at 106
last season and Aybren Moore at 113. I'm not sure whether those guys will bump
up, but I have feeling that those two will pick up where they left off and
potentially wind up in Des Moines with a few of their teammates.
5. How much
will the area lightweights entertain us?
There were some really good
lightweights in our area last year, particularly at 106 and 113 pounds. Kuemper
Catholic's Benjamin Schmitz finished third in Class 2A at 106, Mount Ayr's
Bryce Shaha got on the medal stand as a freshman at 1A-106 and Tri-Center's
Connor Atkisson qualified for state, but came up short of returning to the
medal stand. Lewis Central freshman Tanner Wink won a match at the state
tournament before bowing out and is just a sophomore this season. You also
can't forget about Riverside's John Schroeder, who qualified for districts last
season and is ranked eighth at 106 by IAWrestle in their preseason rankings or
the aforementioned Joe Weaver from Atlantic/CAM
At 113 pounds, the show was
stolen by Logan-Magnolia's Briar Reisz. I don't know that anyone expected Reisz
to have the state tournament he did, but he took the state by storm, advancing
all the way to the state final before dropping to West Sioux's Adam Allard.
Mount Ayr's Trae Ehlen qualified for the state tournament in his freshman
campaign and comes into the 2018-19 season ranked eighth at 120 pounds coming
into this season. I mentioned Moore earlier and he deserves to be mentioned
again. Creston/OM's Kaden Bolton was a state qualifier last year at 120 and is
back this year as a sophomore. Lewis Central's Taber Dominguez won the Hawkeye
Ten tournament at 113 last year, but he's listed at 126 this season and
Missouri Valley's Sam Kyle has received some preseason love, coming into this
season ranked 10th at 113 in Class 1A.
I think it's safe to say the
106-126 range is going to be a ton of fun to watch this year. Given the
proximity some of these wrestlers are to each other, I think we are in store
for some really good matches and I am going to make three bold predictions', 1)
Mount Ayr's Bryce Shaha and Trae Ehlen will both reach the medal stand this
season, 2) Briar Reisz will prove that his tournament performance last season
was no fluke, 3) Benjamin Schmitz will improve on his third place finish.
6. Which team's
performance will surprise us the most?
As I mentioned earlier, Red Oak
has surprised people the past few years, but this year it will only be a
surprise if they don't have success and I don't see that happening. So which
team will surprise me like Red Oak has the past few years?
I think the most likely
candidate is AHSTW. The Vikings are led by the aforementioned state champion
Gabe Pauley, but he was not the only state qualifier for the Vikings last
season. The Vikings qualified six for state last season and they return five of
them. Not to mention the fact they had a total of 10 district qualifiers. This
could be a huge year for Coach Evan McCarthy’s team.
I think you also have to throw
Mount Ayr into the mix. The Raiders will be led at the lightweights by Shaha and
Ehlen, but they return another state qualifier in Josh Cox at 285, who is
ranked fourth by IAWrestle to begin the season.
7.
Which team will win the John J. Harris Invitational this season?
The John. J. Harris
Invitational in Corning on January 18th & 19th is a tournament that is near
and dear to my heart. It's also in my opinion, the most entertaining tournament
I cover outside of the CB Classic and obviously the state tournament. An excess
of 20 teams take to Corning for this tournament and put on a two-day show that
is well worth the price of admission. Creston took home team titles from 2014
to 2016, a stacked New Hampton squad took the crown in 2017, but 2018 belonged
to Missouri Valley. This year, the title is completely up for grabs.
Missouri Valley returns some
key pieces from last season but they lost their heavy hitters in Nathan Haynes
and Tom Rief, but I still expect the Big Red to contend for the team title. As
I mentioned earlier, Mount Ayr could surprise some people this year, I would
not be surprised to see them compete well, same with Tri-Center and Creston/OM.
However, I think the favorite
this year will be Red Oak. I don't think it's crazy to say the Tigers could
have five wrestlers competing in the finals, which goes a long ways in a small
school tournament like John J.
8. Which
non-state qualifiers from last year will wrestle with a vengeance this year?
I always try to pay attention
to which wrestlers don't make the state tournament, but have a good shot of
getting there the next year. There are a handful of area wrestlers that came up
just shy of wrestling in Des Moines that I think are going to be really hungry
to get there this season.
Shenandoah heavyweight Tyler
Courtier spent most the season ranked at 220 pounds, but finished third in his
district to narrowly miss qualifying for state, Courtier comes into his junior
campaign ranked sixth at 220 by IAWrestle and will have some extra motivation
after coming up short last year.
Fellow heavyweight Thomas
Wilson (Southwest Iowa) also qualified for districts, but fell short. This
year, the 285-pounder begins the season ranked fifth in Class 2A at 285 pounds.
Wilson has been a force on the offensive line in football the past few years.
Can he be the same force on the mat this season?
Missouri Valley's Nick Haynes
medaled his freshman season, but finished fourth in his district last season
and did not qualify for the state tournament. I don't know for sure, but I'm
guessing that had to be a disappointment to him and will most certainly be his
motivation this season. I have a feeling that he will pick up where his brother
Nathan left off last season and will finish his season in Des Moines.
9. Which team
will win the Hawkeye Ten Tournament?
The Hawkeye Ten tournament has
seen a different champion each of the past three seasons, Creston/OM in 2016,
Atlantic in 2017 and Glenwood in 2018. I think there's a really good chance
that this year's tournament champion is the fourth different team in as many
years. As I've mentioned, I think you have to consider Red Oak as one of the
favorites given how much they return from last year, but you cannot sleep on
Lewis Central either because the Titans always seem to find a way to perform
well at Hawkeye Ten. However, recent champions Creston/OM, Atlantic/CAM and
Glenwood cannot be counted out either. Creston was pretty young last year and
still showed many signs of promise, Atlantic will reload and Glenwood will do
the same after losing a very talented senior class. This tournament will be
buckets of fun when these teams take to Shenandoah on January 26th.
10. What will a
seeded state tournament look like?
The 2019 Iowa High School State
Wrestling Tournament will be the first under a "seeded" format. The
top four wrestlers determined by criteria set by the state will be seeded and
put on opposite sides of the brackets to avoid matches occurring prior to the
semifinals. The reaction to this announcement was met with mixed reaction. On
one hand, you have to win your matches to win a state title regardless of when
and where they happen, but I don't know that it's a great idea to have your
brackets randomly created and run into the scenario where the top ranked
wrestlers are competing in the second round. That problem occurred on multiple
occasions last year and I'm sure it's done so many times over the past, it was
not the end of the world, but it did raise the question.
This year we should not have to
worry about that. Which brings me to my question. State wrestling provides tons
of great matches, will seeding the top four in a bracket really make the state
tournament that much better or any worse?
Only time will tell. Why don't
we just begin the season?
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