Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The star power in the City High lineup is well documented.

Highlighted by Iowa recruits and nationally ranked seniors Ben Kueter and Gabe Arnold the Little Hawks have four top-four ranked wrestlers.

If City High is to reach its full potential this season it could be up to the rest of the wrestlers in the Little Hawk lineup.

On Wednesday in its final competition of 2022 City High was solid from top to bottom.

City High won 12 matches, earning bonus points in 10 on its way to a 61-3 win over Liberty High in a Mississippi Valley Conference match in Iowa City.

“Everyone is developing whether its Gabe or Ben or someone like (sophomore) Kendall Kurtz,” City High coach Cory Connell said. “It was a good night, it was a good team win and I am just proud of them and how they are attacking and how they are being aggressive.

The City High stars were as impressive as ever on Wednesday.

Three-time defending state champion Kueter needed just 48 seconds to pin Vincenzo Lima at 220 pounds.

Top-ranked Arnold, second-ranked Cale Seaton and fourth-ranked Kael Kurtz combined for 38 takedowns while recording second-period tech falls.

“Those guys that went out there competed hard and they were aggressive,” Connell said. “That’s the biggest thing I told them when they went out there is I want to see guys be aggressive and take their style of wrestling to them.”

On Wednesday the City High domination didn’t stop with those top four.

Nick Marker opened the dual with a 5-0 win over Damien Garrett at 160 pounds.

After a scoreless opening period Marker took control of the match with an escape and a takedown in the opening minute of the second period.

“We’ve talked a lot about effort and attitude and brining the fight,” Marker said. “I think tonight we had great energy and our effort was really good.”

The win by Marker started a string of 12 consecutive victories for the Little Hawks.

“Connell told me before the match to set the tone, kick it off,” Marker said. “It’s a great opportunity to be able to go out there and set the tone for the rest of the night and get the team hyped up.”

Drew Nye followed with a 14-4 major decision over Ethan Barber at 170 pounds and after wins by Arnold and Kueter and a forfeit victory by Juan Martinez at 195 Trey Dervrich produced a 28 second pin of Carter Burns at 285 pounds.

“I’m really excited,” Dervrich said. “You know the big four are going to win but everyone was fighting, everyone was cheering and if you work on the small things it adds up to the big things and we worked all the small things all week.

Kurtz pinned Christos Panos in 2:16 at 113 pounds and Jake Mitchell earned a hard-fought 7-1 win over Anyhlan Peoples at 138 pounds for City High.

“Every weight the effort was there,” Marker said. “Up and down the lineup we were tough.”

The win for Liberty High came from Landon Bell with a 6-3 win over Graham DeBerg at 152 pounds in the final match of the evening.

City High now gets a break for the holiday before returning to action with a dual at Linn-Mar on January 5^th.

“We are all about development and we want to be better,” Connell said. “We want to be better when we get back from break than we are right now and we need to keep developing every single day we step on the mat and that’s a top down approach.”

City High 61, Liberty High 3

106 – Double forfeit

113 – Kendall Kurtz (ICH) pinned Christos Panos 2:16

120 – Chris Davis (ICH) won by forfeit

126 – Edgar Mhoon-Lopez (ICH) won by forfeit

132 – Cale Seaton (ICH) tech fall. Mason Karam 26-11

138 – Kael Kurtz (ICH) tech fall Tien Phan 25-9

145 – Jake Mitchell (ICH) dec. Anyhlan Peoples 7-1

152 – Landon Bell (ICL) dec. Graham DeBerg 6-3

160 – Nick Marker (ICH) dec. Damien Garrett 5-0

170 – Drew Nye (ICH) major dec. Ethan Barber 14-4

182 – Gabe Arnold (ICH) tech. fall Eduardo Zepeda 26-11

195 – Juan Martinez (ICH) won by forfeit

220 – Ben Kueter (ICH) pinned Vincenzo Lima :48

285 – Trey Dervrich (ICH) pinned Carter Burns :28

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