Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

Mississippi Valley Conference Meet

When: Saturday, 10 a.m.

Where: Waterloo West High School

Ranked teams: No. 5 City High; No. 9 Linn-Mar

What to watch: Linn-Mar ran away from the rest of a tightly packed field to win the 2022 MVC title and the ninth-ranked Lions figure to be right in the thick of the conference title chase again on Saturday.

Dubuque Hempstead and Cedar Rapids Prairie are likely to be among the teams attempting to prevent a Linn-Mar repeat.

City High took a hit with the loss of top-ranked 126-pounder Cale Seaton to an injury sustained last week but still has a pair of unbeaten, top-ranked wrestlers in Gabe Arnold and Ben Kueter and another defending MVC champion in junior Kael Kurtz.

Kueter (28-0) enters top-ranked at 220 pounds and seeking a third Mississippi Valley Conference title.

The three-time defending state champion hasn’t had a match go the distance posting 26 pins, including 20 first-period pins, a tech fall and a forfeit in 28 wins.

Kueter could face a rematch with second-ranked Joseph Lewis in the 220-pound title match.

Kueter defeated Lewis by tech fall in last year’s 220-pound championship match and has an 18-2 tech fall and a second-period pin of Lewis in two meetings this season.

Arnold (30-0) has been nearly as dominant in his first season at City High.

The 182-pound senior has 14 pins and 10 tech falls in 30 wins this season and is on a collision course for a third meeting this season with second-ranked Linn-Mar senior Tate Naaktgeboren.

Arnold defeated Naaktgeboren 8-3 on December 2 and won a 3-1 decision over Naaktgeboren on January 5 in Marion.

Kurtz (28-4) is third ranked at 132 pounds and has his own potential finals rematch with a familiar foe on Saturday.

Kurtz defeated Linn-Mar senior Brayden Parke in the 126-pound MVC title match last season and appears poised for a third meeting with Parke this season in the 132-pound championship match.

The two have split a pair of matches this season with Parke winning 5-2 on December 2 and Kurtz winning a 6-3 decision earlier this month.

West High was runner-up at the MVC meet a year ago and while the Trojans will have a hard time matching that team success on Saturday have several wrestlers capable of putting up stellar performances.

Freshman 106-pounder Alexander Pierce (32-2) enters riding a 16-match winning streak and has been one of the most impressive freshman in the state this season.

The lone in-state loss for Pierce came to top-ranked Southeast Polk sophomore Carter Pearson and the West High freshman has four wins over ranked opponents in the MVC 106-pound bracket during his current winning streak.

Pierce pinned fourth-ranked Brennan Geers of Cedar Rapids Washington earlier this month, has wins of 13-6 and 11-4 over fifth-ranked and defending MVC champion Mitchell Pins of Dubuque Hempstead and a 7-2 win over ninth-ranked Dylan Munson of Cedar Rapids Prairie.

Kyler Scranton (27-10) enters ranked seventh at 170 pounds while Justin Avila (31-6) is ranked third at 160 pounds.

Liberty High was ninth at the MVC meet last season and has one ranked wrestler in tenth-ranked 195-pound senior Vincenzo Lima.

Who to watch: With a top-three ranked wrestler in eight weights many of the brackets on Saturday are crowded at the top.

One bracket that appears to be among the most wide open is at 195 pounds where Liberty High senior Vincenzo Lima (26-5) is the lone ranked wrestler.

Tenth-ranked Lima was a third-place MVC finisher last season and has demonstrated this season he is capable of running through the 195-pound bracket on Saturday.

Weight class to watch: It’s no surprise to see loaded brackets at the MVC tournament.

This season all but one weight class has a ranked wrestler, 10 weights have multiple ranked wrestlers and five different brackets have three or more ranked competitors.

Of all the loaded brackets on Saturday none are more intriguing that 160 pounds.

Half of the 12 ranked 160 pounders in Class 3A are from the MVC including top-ranked Dubuque Hempstead senior Josiah Schaetzle (26-2) who enters as the favorite.

The competition to get to the final should be fierce.

West High sophomore Justin Avila (31-6) is among the long list of competitors seeking to stand alone atop the 160-pound podium.

Third-ranked Avila has just one loss to in-state competition this season coming at the hands of fifth-ranked Urbandale junior Gabe Carver.

Seventh-ranked Nevin Pins of Western Dubuque, eighth-ranked Beau Healey of Dubuque Senior, No. 11 Collin Falck of Cedar Rapids Kennedy and No. 12 Gerald Norton of Cedar Falls round out the ranked wrestlers.

Ranked wrestlers

106: No. 2 Alexander Pierce, Fr., West High

No. 4 Brennan Geers, Sr., Cedar Rapids Washington

No. 5 Mitchell Pins, Soph., Dubuque Hempstead*

No. 9 Dylan Munson, Soph., Cedar Rapids Prairie

113: No. 12 Evan Bratten, Soph., Dubuque Hempstead

120: No. 4 Blake Gioimo, Sr., Cedar Rapids Prairie*

126: No. 1 Cale Seaton, Jr., City High*

No. 8 Alex Bumba, Jr., Cedar Rapids Prairie

132: No. 3 Kael Kurtz, Jr., City High*

No. 4 Brayden Parke, Sr., Linn-Mar

No. 12 Tyler Lee, Jr., Cedar Rapids Prairie

138: No. 2 Kane Naaktgeboren, Jr., Linn-Mar*

No. 9 Jake Mitchell, Jr., City High

No. 12 Dawson Fish, Jr., Dubuque Hempstead

145: None

152: No. 3 Grant Kress, Jr., Linn-Mar*

No. 12 Ronan Thomas, Jr., Cedar Rapids Xavier

160:  No. 1 Josiah Schaetzle, Sr., Dubuque Hempstead

No. 3 Justin Avila, Soph., West High

No. 7 Nevin Pins, Sr., Western Dubuque

No. 8 Beau Healey, Sr., Dubuque Senior

No. 11 Collin Falck, Jr., Cedar Rapids Kennedy

No. 12 Gerald Norton, Sr., Cedar Falls

170: No. 6 Drew Burds, Soph., Western Dubuque

No. 7 Kyler Scranton, Jr., West High

182: No. 1 Gabe Arnold, Sr., City High

No. 2 Tate Naaktgeboren, Sr., Linn-Mar*

No. 10 Logan Massey, Sr., Western Dubuque

195: No. 10 Vincenzo Lima, Jr., Liberty High

220: No. 1 Ben Kueter, Sr., City High*

No. 2 Joseph Lewis, Sr., Dubuque Hempstead

285: No. 8 Carter Dawley, Sr., Cedar Rapids Prairie

No. 9 Cohen Pfohl, Sr., Dubuque Senior

*-Denotes defending MVC Champion

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