Your Prep Sports

It was quality over quantity for Regina at the River Valley Conference wrestling meet on Saturday.

Regina crowned three champions and had eight of its nine competitors notch top-six finishes on its way to a third-place team finish at the 13-team RVC meet at Northeast High School in Goose Lake.

Champion West Liberty and runner-up Wilton both boasted full lineups, with a wrestler in all 14 weight classes.

Regina had nine wrestlers compete on Saturday but it was enough to roll up 153 team points and finish in a third-place tie with Camanche.

Class 2A fifth-ranked West Liberty had four individual champs and ran away with the team title, finishing with 230 points.

Runner-up Wilton didn’t have a champion but had four individual runners-up and got a top-six finish from all 14 of its wrestlers while finishing with 192 points.

Senior Jared Brinkman and sophomore Nick Milder both repeated as conference champions for Regina while junior Ryan Schott claimed his first RVC crown.

Brinkman was impressive on his way to his second straight conference title.

The top-ranked heavyweight in Class 1A, Brinkman needed just 64 total seconds to collect three pins and earn the 285-pound championship.

Brinkman (30-1) didn’t have a match last longer than 24 seconds on Saturday and pinned Cascade junior Quentin Recker in 23 seconds in the championship.

Milder claimed his second RVC championship in as many tries with an 8-3 decision over West Branch senior Cale Donovan (27-9) in the 170-pound title match.

Milder reached the finals with a pair of pins and improved to 33-2 on the season with three wins on Saturday.

Schott was equally impressive on his way to his first conference title.

The junior record back-to-back first-period pins to reach the 160-pound title match where he earned a 15-1 major decision over Cain Hoffman of Cascade.

Schott ran his season record to 17-2 with his conference title that comes after a runner-up RVC finish two years ago and a fourth-place showing last year.

Senior Mason Simpson (24-7) added a runner-up finish for Regina, falling to top-ranked Bryce Esmoil (33-2) of West Liberty in the 195-pound title match.

Henry May (113) and Rowan Udell (220) each added third place finish for Regina while Tanner Rios was fourth at 138 and Will Bobst was sixth at 132.  

West Branch had five top-six finishes and placed ninth with 66.5 points.

Donovan led the Bears with his runner-up finish at 170 pounds while Nick Madsen placed fourth at 195 and Tyler Siemen (106), Dalton Depoorter (126), Zach Wright (138) all added fifth place finishes.

River Valley Conference Meet

Team scores – 1. West Liberty 230; 2. Wilton 192; 3. Camanche 153; 3. Regina 153; 5. Tipton 123; 6. Bellevue 84.5; 7. Mid-Prairie 73; 7. North Cedar 73; 9. West Branch 66.5; 10. Northeast 64.5; 11. Cascade 62; 12. Durant 21; 13. Monticello 0.

(First place matches, area place winners)

106 – 1. Will Esmoil (WL) maj. dec. Nolan Noonan (CAS) 10-2; 5. Tyler Siemen (WB).

113 – 1. Austin Lenz (TIP) pinned Talen Dengler (WL) 1:45; 3. Henry May (ICR).

120 – 1. Ben Emrich (TIP) dec. Reid Johnson (WIL) 6-0.

126 – 1. Coy Ruess (WL) dec. Cory Anderson (WIL) 9-6; 5. Dalton Depoorter (WB).

132 – 1. Duncan McCain (MP) dec. Jerome Mays (WIL) 5-2; 6. Will Bobst (ICR).

138 – 1. Nate Thoms (CAM) pinned Justis Dengler (WL) :25; 4. Tanner Rios (ICR); 5. Zach Wright (WB).

145 – 1. Baylor Crigger (CAM) dec. Trey Brisker (WIL) 6-3 UTB.

152 – 1. Joe Kelly (WL) pinned Wyatt Schmidt (NE) 1:38.

160 – 1. Ryan Schott (ICR) maj. dec. Cain Hoffman (CAS) 15-1.

170 – 1. Nick Milder (ICR) dec. Cale Donovan (WB) 8-3.

182 – 1. Visouth Peterschmidt (MP) dec. Bryce Oveson (WIL) 3-1 SV-1.

195 – 1. Bryce Esmoil (WL) pinned Mason Simpson (ICR) 3:05; 4. Nick Madsen (WB).

220 – 1. Mason Lyons (BEL) pinned Kolby Snodgrass (CAM) 3:25; 3. Rowan Udell (ICR).

285 – 1. Jared Brinkman (ICR) pinned Quentin Recker (CAS) :23.