Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

CEDAR RAPIDS – Throughout his prep career West High’s Nelson Brands has been widely considered one of the most dominant wrestlers in the state.

No meet over the past four years has seen more Brands domination than the Mississippi Valley Conference Super Meet.

Brands pinned his way through the 160-pound bracket at the MVC meet on Saturday to become the ninth four-time champion in conference history.  

“He’s gotten better each year and he’s found a way to wrestle well at this tournament,” West High coach Mark Reiland said. “That’s what you want.”

Ranked No. 1 in Class 3A Brands put a big-time exclamation point on his final MVC tournament with a second-period pin of Class 2A top-ranked Josh Ramirez of Dubuque Wahlert in the title match.

Brands (47-1) added first-period pins of Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s Will Stecker and sixth-ranked Wilfred Kadohou of City High on his way to earning Outstanding Wrestlers honors for the fourth straight season.

“I know it’s a tough conference, I knew that when I went to West,” Brands said. “It’s a stepping stone and it will keep pushing me to the next thing and the next thing and the next thing.”

All four MVC titles for Brands have come in a different weight class and each in its own distinctive style.

Brands won his first title with three straight wins over ranked opponents as a sixth-seeded freshman at 126 pounds.

As a sophomore he edged his eventual state title match opponent for the 138-pound crown.

Last season he had a quarterfinal pin and scored 53 points in a pair of tech. falls in the semifinals and finals.

“If you think back to Nelson’s freshman year he came out of the number six seed, sophomore year he had his state finals match in the finals and junior year was probably the easier one of the four,” Reiland said. “This year he gets a kid that is a three-time state champion from Louisiana, a Fargo All-american and that’s a pretty tall order as a senior. It’s supposed to get easier.”

The fourth title for Brands came with his second win over Ramirez in three days.

An Ohio State recruit ranked No. 17 in the nation by Intermat, Ramirez won three Louisiana state titles before transferring to Dubuque Wahlert for this season.

Brands won the first matchup between the two on 6-5 in a dual on Thursday.

The Iowa signee left no doubt with a pin in 3:20 in Saturday’s rematch.

“It was a great match in the finals and was something that I haven’t really done before,” Brands said. “It felt really good to beat a worthy opponent that way.”

Brands scored a takedown 26 seconds into the match for a 2-0 lead but Ramirez evened the score 2-2 with a pair of escapes.

It was 2-2 when Ramirez tried a throw. Instead it was Brands who gained control taking Ramirez straight to his back for the quick fall.

“It felt great,” Brands said. “I felt like he was getting out of position and we came down and I got the pin and that’s all that really matters.”

Brands watched his 6-5 win over Ramirez several times over the past two days identifying strengths and weaknesses.

That knowledge helped him prepare for Saturday’s final.

“I watched the match a couple of times and I went over what he does good and what I do good,” Brands said. “I wrestled my match, I wrestled how I wrestle every time out there.”

Brands became the first four-time champion since Justin Koethe and Jack Hathaway of West High accomplished the feat in 2012 and the seventh to win a fourth MVC title at West High.

Brands now turns his focus to trying to win a third consecutive state title next month.

“That’s the plan, that’s the hope,” Reiland said. “He’s had the opportunity to see a lot of the best kids in the state now and hopefully he is prepared for it.”

Before Brands secured his fourth MVC title freshman Graham Gambrall won his first conference crown.

Gambrall scored four takedowns in an 11-3 major decision of seventh-ranked City High senior Lance Bormann in the 132-pound title match.

The ninth-ranked Gambrall (39-16) edged fourth-ranked Will Foreman of Cedar Rapids Washington 11-10 in tiebreaker one in the semifinals.

“He has been knocking on the door with some of these goods kids and the reality is he finally put it together,” Reiland said. “It was a very good tournament for him. He had three guys that are ranked ahead of him and he wrestled really well.”

West High got runner-up finishes from Will Hoeft at 182 and Francis Duggan at 220 while finishing fourth in the team standings with 162.5 points.

Hoeft (41-11) dropped a 5-1 decision to No. 8 Cade Parker of Cedar Rapids Kennedy in the title match while Duggan (8-2) was pinned by Class 2A top-ranked Boone McDermott in 5:09 in the 220-pound championship.

MVC Super Meet

Team scores – 1. City High 221; 2. Cedar Rapids Prairie 203; 3. Dubuque Hempstead 193.5; 4. West High 162.5; 5. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 155; 6. Cedar Falls 140; 7. Dubuque Senior 118; 8. Linn-Mar 115; 9. Dubuque Wahlert 97.5; 10. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 88.5; 11. Waterloo East 70; 12. Cedar Rapids Xavier 62; 13. Waterloo West 53.5; 15. Cedar Rapids Washington 52.

(Championship matches; Area placewinners)

106 – 1. Ethan Wood-Finley (ICH) pinned Austin Kegley (CRP) 1:08; 5. Hans vonRabenau (ICW)

113 – 1. Dillon Gottschalk (DH) dec. Jakey Penrith (CF) 4-0; 7. Garrett Bormann (ICH)

120 – 1. Conrad Braswell (CRP) major dec. Keegan Schultschik (CRX) 12-2; 6. Michael Santoro (ICH);  

126 – 1. Joe Pins (DH) major dec. Cam Shaver (CRK) 20-8; 3. Reece Caven (ICH); 8. Keaton Speicher (ICW)

132 – 1. Graham Gambrall (ICW) major dec. Lance Bormann (ICH) 11-3  

138 – 1. Trenten Wennermark (CRP) major dec. Joey Harney (ICH) 13-3

145 – 1. Mat Connolly (DS) pinned Jaxon Bentley (WE) :38; 7. Jack Anson (ICH); 8. Collin Leavy (ICW) 1:10

152 – 1. Kyle Hefley (ICH) pinned Jacob Oliver (WW) 3:09; 5. Jo Dixon (ICW) 3:17

160 – 1. Nelson Brands (ICW) pinned Josh Ramirez (DW) 3:20; 3. Wilfred Kadohou (ICH)

170 – 1. Ben Sarasin (CRK) dec. Jacob Wempen (LM) 7-4; 6. Brandon Lalla (ICH); 8. Ashton Stumpf (ICW)

182 – 1. Cade Parker (CRK) dec. Will Hoeft (ICW) 5-1

195 – 1. Tyrell Gordon (WE) major dec. Jacob Dykes (ICH) 12-4; 6. Enutifia Gamia (ICW)

220 – 1. Boone McDermott (DW) pinned Francis Duggan (ICW) 5:09; 7. Jason Lemus (ICH)

285 – 1. Dylan Olson (DH) pinned Josh Vis (CRK) 1:19; 3. Guy Snow (ICW); 4. Jacob Murry (ICH)