Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The strategy behind facing a stacked schedule early in the season is that those challenging matches will pay dividends down the road.

Few wrestlers have seen a stouter schedule this season than Garrett Bormann and the City High senior is already reaping the benefits of his early season slate.

Bormann used the experience from four early loss to ranked wrestlers to use on Thursday in an impressive 11-5 win over Cedar Rapids Prairie junior Austin Steuhm in a Mississippi Valley Conference Mississippi Divisional dual in Iowa City.

“Last year I had a lot easier schedule until the end when I started wrestling some tougher kids so it was a good wakeup call this year,” Bormann said of his tough schedule. “I know that I have to keep improving to get better and to get to the top so I can place at state.”

The 11-5 win at 126 pounds moved Bormann to 8-4 on the season, with all four losses coming to ranked opponents and was one of the highlights of the night for City High in a 57-12 loss.

Bormann joined Ethan Wood-Finley, Gable Mitchell and Mohammad Abdallah in winning decisions on Thursday as the Little Hawks dropped to 1-2 in MVC matches.

“We had several matches in there that we could have won or should have won by more,” City High coach Cory Connell said. “We just have to wrestle for six minutes.”

Bormann was one of the City High wrestlers to close things out on Thursday.

The senior entered Thursday ranked 10th in 3A at 120 pounds with losses to the top-ranked wrestlers in Class 2A and the No. 3, 5 and 10th ranked 3A wrestlers.

“He’s wrestled a number one ranked kid in the state, the number three ranked kid in the state the number seven kid in the state and up a weight,” Connell said of Bormann. “That’s a kid that is doing a lot of good things.”

Bormann didn’t see the early losses as setbacks rather as an opportunity to improve.

That mindset helped him on Thursday against Steuhm who took away Bormann’s patented double leg shots.

“Normally I shoot double legs but today that wasn’t there so I got to my single leg and was able to finish,” Bormann said. “I’ve been developing better take downs, I have more than one and that comes from wrestling good competition.

Bormann finished with three takedowns, including one just 40 seconds into the match, to go with a pair of nearfalls in his 11-5 win.

The senior scored nine points in the final two periods to secure the win.

“He’ll be fine,” Connell said of Bormann. “He just needs to get comfortable at his weight and have a good break and I’m sure he’ll come back ready to go.”

Mitchell racked up four takedowns in a 10-4 win over Blaine Stepanek at 152 pounds.

The sophomore improved to 5-2 on the season with the win.

“Gable Mitchell finished that match, I saw him get to another level in that third period,” Connell said. “That is something that we’ve been talking about and that was a good job of not just finishing the match but finding another level and trying to wrestle tougher.”

Abdallah scored a first-period takedown and held on for a 3-1 win over Nick Smith at 160 pounds and sixth-ranked Ethan Wood-Finley improved to 10-1 with a 7-0 win over Hunter Kalous at 113 pounds.

Wood-Finley went 9-1 with nine pins at 120 pounds before making his season debut at 113 on Thursday.

“The plan was always to go down to 113 this week so he’ll wrestle there three days in a row and then get two pounds after break,” Connell said. “I was proud of him the first two periods but he has to finish that third period.

Cedar Rapids Prairie 57, City High 12

106 – Blake Gioimo (CRP) pinned Zach Fern 1:04

113 – Ethan Wood-Finley (ICH) dec. Hunter Kalous 7-0

120 – Austin Kegley (CRP) pinned Isaiah Svoboda 1:01

126 – Garrett Bormann (ICH) dec. Austin Steuhm 11-5

132 – Austin Nicewanner (CRP) pinned Reese Hayden 3:30

138 – Brady Nicewanner (CRP) dec. Ariel Collins 7-0

145 – Johnny Washburn (CRP) pinned Elias Schroder :24

152 – Gable Mitchell (ICH) dec. Blaine Stepanek 10-4

160 – Mohammad Abdallah (ICH) dec. Nick Smith 3-1

170 – Nicholas Pearson (CRP) pinned Jack Carrell 1:18

182 – Clayton Scott (CRP) pinned Nick Marker 2:38

195 – Asthon Stoner-DeGroot (CRP) pinned Fritz Spencer :42

220 – Carter Dawley (CRP) pinned Jason Lemus 2:56

285 – Jordan Jacobus (CRP) won by forfeit

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