Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

DES MOINES – For good or bad there are certain dates that a person never forgets.

February 21st was one of those days for Will Hoeft.

That was the day the West High senior had surgery to repair a torn ACL in his right knee.

February 21, 2019.

On Friday Hoeft turned his February 21st memories from somber to celebratory.

One year to the day after undergoing knee surgery Hoeft secured a spot in the Class 3A 182-pound state title match with a 6-2 semifinal win over third-ranked Blake Underwood (39-5) at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

“One year ago today I was getting knee surgery, February 21, I’ll never forget that day,” Hoeft said. “I made that realization and it’s a pretty important day to me. It’s an important day to me now in a couple of ways.”

Hoeft sustained his knee injury last January during the Mississippi Valley Conference meet.

A few weeks later he braced up the injured knee and won a district title.

The torn ACL that required postseason surgery couldn’t stop Hoeft from finishing fifth at the state meet at 182-pounds last season.

The injury did cause Hoeft to injury default his final two matches at state and more painfully cost him his entire offseason normally filled with traveling and training with friends.  

“The hardest part was not being able to wrestle to be honest,” Hoeft said. “After surgery I was all bitter because I was going to rehab and my buddies were going to Fargo and having fun. That was the toughest part I think.”

A year after the surgery Hoeft changed the way he’ll think of the anniversary of the date forever.

Hoeft (22-1) won consecutive 6-2 decisions over ranked opponents on Friday to reach the state finals for the first time.

He defeated fifth-ranked Destin Schroder of Newton in the quarterfinals before his 6-2 win over Underwood in the semifinals.

Hoeft will face No. 6 Taner Harvey (41-4) of Boone in Saturday’s title match after Harvey upset top-ranked Waukee sophomore Griffin Gammell in the other 182-pound semifinal.

“There are so many times that you sit back and dream about what it’s going to be like,” Hoeft said. “You always have the ideal outcome in your mind and it feels really great to get it done.”

The win by Hoeft capped a perfect semifinal round for West High which sent all three semifinalists to Saturday’s finals and had two wrestlers advance to Saturday with consolation wins.

West High surged to fifth in the 3A team standings with 80.5 points, trailing Linn-Mar by 5.5 points for fourth.

“It feels amazing,” Hoeft said. “Those are some of my best friends over there and knowing that all the work we did together paid off means a lot to me.”

Top-ranked sophomore Hunter Garvin and fifth-ranked 145-pound junior Graham Gambrall each secured spots in the state finals before Hoeft.

“I knew both of them and that was pretty big for me to get that confidence boost,” Hoeft said. “Winning is infections.”

Class 3A State Meet

At Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines

Team scores (Top 10; area teams) – 1. 1. Waverly-Shell Rock 147; 2. Fort Dodge 104; 3. Southeast Polk 97; 4. Linn-Mar 86; 5. West High 80.5; 6. Ankeny 64; 6. Bettendorf 64; 8. Cedar Rapids Prairie 51; 9. Johnston 47.5; 10. Norwalk 43

Semifinal Round (Area Wrestlers Only)

132 – Hunter Garvin (West High) dec. Joel Jesuroga (Southeast Polk) 4-3

145 – Graham Gambrall (West High) dec. Deven Strief (North Scott) 9-7

182 – Will Hoeft (West High) dec. Blake Underwood (West Des Moines Valley) 6-2

Third Round Consolation

106 – Grant O’Dell (West High) dec. Nathan Canfield (Davenport Central) 8-0

170 – Ashton Barker (West High) dec. Zachary Campbell (North Scott) 12-6

Saturday’s Championship Matches

132 – No. 1 Hunter Garvin (32-3) Soph., West High vs. No. 3 Aiden Riggins (32-2) Soph., Waverly-Shell Rock

145 – No. 5 Graham Gambrall (35-5) Jr., West High vs. No. 3 Sam Kallem (35-4) Sr., Ankeny

182 – No. 2 Will Hoeft (22-1) Sr., West High vs. No. 6 Taner Harvey (41-4) Jr., Boone