Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – It doesn’t take long watching Ben Kueter on a wrestling mat to see that the City High sophomore is special.

A rare combination of size and strength paired with explosive speed and athleticism Kueter has an imposing physical skill set.

In just two abbreviated high school seasons Kueter has already amassed a list of career accomplishments remarkable enough to match his physical attributes.

An undefeated career record, a state title as a freshman, 18 pins in 31 career matches and the list goes on.

None of that is the most impressive thing about Kueter.

The most extraordinary thing about the Kueter according to City High coach Cory Connell is the same thing that makes the City High 195-pounder one of the scariest wrestlers to face at the state tournament this week at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines – a never-ending desire to improve.

“He has a growth mindset on steroids,” Connell said. “He is always asking, ‘how did I do, how can I get better?’. There are some kids where I tell them they have to do something better and they just roll their eyes. Whenever you tell him he can do something better he takes it to heart and he changes it and he gets better.”

Kueter was already plenty good last season when he went 24-0 and pinned half of his opponents while winning the Class 3A 160-pound title as a freshman.

Picturing a better version of the wrestler that knocked off the number one, four and sixth-ranked while becoming the first freshman champion at City High since 2002 last season is a scary proposition for the rest of the Class 3A 195-pound field this week in Des Moines.

Connell says it’s a fact – Kueter is better than before.

Much better.

“He has gotten a ton better,” Connell said. “He is always trying to get stronger, he is always trying to get quicker, he is always trying to get better, he’s always trying to fix the little things.  He loves getting better.”

There have been obstacles for Kueter in his short career.

Last season a broken leg sustained during football season kept Kueter off the mat until January.

This year a Covid-cancellations in the schedule limited Kueter to five regular season matches.

It didn’t stop him from improving.

“It’s been a weird year with the schedule but I think I’ve improved a lot this season,” Kueter said. “I had something similar last year when I broke my leg I think I had 20 matches coming into districts so I kind of knew how to handle it.”

Kueter spent time during quarantine working with legendary Iowa coach Dan Gable and called the two week sessions ‘incredible’.

Inside the City High wrestling room Kueter has found a formidable workout partner in assistant coach Joe Teague.

A former state champion at Algona, Teague spent the past five seasons as a 197-pounder at Iowa State racking up a career 16-19 record.

“I haven’t had 40 matches so it might look different but I work out with coach Teague every day so I get to wrestle a grown man every day and that’s a big challenge,” Kueter said. “He gives me really good feels in practice so I would say I’ve gotten a lot better.”

Kueter enters the state tournament 7-0 with six pins and tech fall and hasn’t had a match last into the third period this season.

With limited mat time this season the workouts with Teague have been important for Kueter who is always looking for a way to improve.

“That’s a guy that just spent five years in a division I program and they’ve had some battles,” Connell said. “It’s been fun and Ben has gotten a ton better because of him and it’s been a lot of fun watching.”

The next step for Kueter is to show off his improvement at the Class 3A state tournament that gets underway at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Kueter will be attempting to become the first back-to-back state champion at City High since Anson won his second and third championships in 2004 and 2005 and will open face Sioux City East junior Victor Bird (18-10) in the opening round.

“I feel really good about where I am at and the improvement that I’ve made,” Kueter said. “I’m looking forward to getting out there and having the chance to wrestle and compete. It’s going to be fun.”

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