A Quick Look at the River Valley Conference Wrestling Meet
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
River Valley Conference Meet
When: Saturday, 10 a.m.
Where: West Branch High School
Ranked teams: Class 1A No. 3 Wilton
What to watch: It once again appears to be a two-team race atop the River Valley Conference with defending champion Wilton a heavy favorite to add to its conference title count.
The 1A third-ranked Beavers are deep (10 ranked wrestlers) and talented (five wrestlers ranked in the top 5) and appear to once again be the class of the conference.
West Liberty was just 14.5 points off the pace of Wilton last season and should lead the pack of teams chasing the Beavers on Saturday.
Regina was eighth a season ago and West Branch was 10th but keep an eye on the Bears on Saturday who in addition to having the luxury of hosting also have their most complete team in recent history.
The Bears have four ranked wrestlers led by defending RVC champion and third-ranked Logan Wright at 220 pounds.
Wright (32-3) joins sixth-ranked 120-pounder Lincoln Edwards (32-4), eighth-ranked 285-pound Quintyn Rocha (25-6) and No. 12 152-pound freshman Cooper Gates (31-4) as ranked wrestlers for the Bears.
West Branch has four other wrestlers that enter with 20 wins including freshman Logan Christoffell (27-6) at 132 and freshman Maddux Rushton (21-16) at 126.
Sophomore Tate Frantz (23-9) should be a factor at 182 pounds and junior Cale Seydel (20-12) will try to make noise in a strong 145-pound bracket.
Regina has several wrestlers to keep an eye on Saturday including a pair of underclassmen in Cash Hatfield and Will Aitchison.
Hatfield (21-6) has been impressive in his debut season at 126 pounds while Aitchison (31-15) has won 30 matches at 145 as a sophomore.
Junior Ian Udell (29-9) should be in the conference title conversation at 182 pounds opposite third-ranked and 2022 RVC runner-up Kaden Shirk of Wilton.
Senior Christopher Waikel (34-7) is No. 10 in 1A at 195 pounds.
Who to watch: Regina senior Christopher Waikel has steadily worked himself into a state meet caliber wrestler while emerging as a senior leader on young Regina roster.
Waikel came up one win shy of a trip to the state meet last season, reaching the district final before dropping back-to-back matches.
This season has been the best yet for Waikel (34-7) who is ranked No. 10 in Class 1A at 195 pounds.
Waikel was fourth at the RVC meet at 182 pounds last season and would like nothing more than to start his postseason run with a conference crown.
Waikel is the lone ranked wrestler in the 195-pound field and is unbeaten this season against RVC competition.
Weight class to watch: There are several weight classes that should be exciting on Saturday including 285 which features a trio of top-10 ranked wrestlers.
However, the deepest and perhaps most intriguing class is a 113-pound bracket that features five ranked wrestlers and could produce a rematch of last year’s 106-pound championship match.
2A third-ranked Colin Cassady of West Liberty is the highest ranked of the wrestlers and defeated 1A fourth-ranked Cascade sophomore Brock Morris in the 106-pound title match a year ago.
Edwards (6th in 1A), Wilton sophomore Austin Etzel (7th in 1A) and Mid-Prairie senior Mose Yoder (12th in 2A) are all ranked wrestlers.
Three of the four losses for Edwards this season have come to RVC wrestlers with one loss each to Yoder, Etzel and Cassady.
Cassady (15-5) has a 3-2 win over Morris earlier this season, Etzel (36-5) defeated Morris 7-5 in sudden victory and Yoder (26-8) and Etzel have each pinned each other in two meetings.
Don’t count out last year’s runner-up at 113 Jonah Luensman (33-5) on Monticello.
Ranked wrestlers
106: 1A No. 5 Mason Shirk, Fr., Wilton
113: 2A No. 3 Colin Cassady, Sr., West Liberty*
1A No. 4 Brock Morris, Soph., Cascade
1A No. 6 Lincoln Edwards, Jr., West Branch
1A No. 7 Austin Etzel, Soph., Wilton
2A No. 12 Mose Yoder, Sr., Mid-Prairie
120: 1A No. 5 Gabriel Brisker, Fr., Wilton
126: 1A No. 4 Brody Brisker, Jr., Wilton*
132: 1A No. 5 Jordan Dusenberry, Soph., Wilton*
138: 1A No. 7 Trae Hagen, Sr., Wilton
145: 2A No. 8 Kale Hansen, Sr., Monticello
2A No. 11 Hudson Scranton, Fr., Anamosa
2A No. 12 Joshua Zeman, Sr., West Liberty
152: 1A No. 11 Cooper Gates, Fr., West Branch
160: 2A No. 7 Austin Scranton, Soph., Anamosa*
1A No. 9 Owen Milder, Soph, Wilton*
170: 2A No. 3 Drake Collins, Sr., West Liberty*
1A No. 11 Gaitlin Rogers, Fr., Wilton
182: 1A No. 3 Kaden Shirk, Sr., Wilton
195: 1A No. 10 Christopher Waikel, Sr., Regina
220: 1A No. 3 Logan Wright, Jr., West Branch*
285: 1A No. 7 Alexander Kaufmann, Sr., Wilton
1A No. 8 Quintyn Rocha, Jr., West Branch
2A No. 9 Cole Sigler, Sr., Anamosa*
*-Denotes defending RVC Champion
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