Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

The 2023 state wrestling meet kicks off on Wednesday with Class 1A action getting things started at 9 a.m. on Wednesday at Wells Fargo Arena.

There will be 10 Your Prep Sports area athletes in the Class 1A field as West Branch qualified six wrestlers and Regina is sending four wrestlers to the state meet.

Before action gets rolling on Wednesday morning we take a quick look at the Class 1A field with a focus on area athletes.

The Wrestlers

Area qualifiers/Opening round opponents

113 – Timmy Hosier (14-12) Soph., West Branch vs. No. 5 Max Pollock (25-3) Fr., Wayne

120 – No. 4 Lincoln Edwards (38-6) Jr., West Branch vs. Bradyn Burns (42-13) Jr., East Sac County

126 – Cash Hatfield (26-8) Fr., Regina vs. Keagen Riley (25-4) Sr., Sioux Central

132 – Logan Christoffel (32-8) Fr., West Branch vs. Kai Carritt (27-10) Jr., Logan-Magnolia

145 – Will Aitchison (33-16) Soph., Regina vs. No. 5 Gunnar Keeney (46-4) Sr., Alburnett

145 – Cale Seydel (24-14) Jr., West Branch vs. Cody Cox (13-4) Soph., Lake Mills

195 – Christopher Waikel (37-9) Sr., Regina vs. Corbin Hill (22-14) Soph., Denver

Area qualifiers/Second round matches

152 – No. 12 Cooper Gates (34-4) Fr., West Branch vs. Andrew Argo (28-19) Jr., Belle Plaine/Reid Molyneux (27-4) Jr., Sigourney-Keokta winner

182 – Ian Udell (32-11) Jr., Regina vs. Ryan Funke (34-10) Sr., Dyersville Beckman/Tate White (30-12) Jr., Nashua-Plainfield winner

220 – No. 4 Logan Wright (37-3) Jr., West Branch vs. Dillon Inman (28-15) Jr., Southwest Valley/Henry Lund (35-6) Soph., AHSTW winner

Undefeated wrestlers

120 – Brandon Paez (49-0) Sr., Lisbon

126 – Garret Rinken (37-0) Sr., Nashua-Plainfield

152 – Kellen Smith (44-0) Jr., West Hancock

160 – Wyatt Reisz (48-0) Sr., Logan-Magnolia

160 – Dominic Lopez (54-0) Sr., New London

195 – Jackson Dewald (43-0) Sr., Westwood

285 – Wyatt Smith (47-0) Sr., Lisbon

285 – David Hammer (25-0) Sr., Ogden

Returning State Champions

Current Weight Class, Wrestler, School, 2022 Championship Weight Class

113 – Eli Becerra, Jr., Missouri Valley, 113

120 – Brandon Paez, Sr., Lisbon, 120

132 – Gable Porter, Sr., Underwood, 132

160 – Wyatt Reisz, Sr., Logan-Magnolia, 152

170 – Maximus Magayna, Jr., Waterloo Columbus, 160

220 – Jared Thiry, Sr., Don Bosco, 220

First Round Match to Watch

Regina senior Christopher Waikel has had to wait for his state meet debut but will look to make it a memorable one on Wednesday morning.

Waikel (37-9) makes his state meet debut against Denver sophomore Corbin Hill (22-14) in a 195-pound opening round match.

After finishing third at the River Valley Conference meet, Waikel responded with a district title last week defeating WACO senior Drew Diers (33-17) 5-2 in the championship match.

If Waikel can get past his opener on Wednesday he would face another state meet newcomer in eighth-ranked Nodaway Valley freshman Ashton Honnold (45-4) in the second round.

Wrestler to Watch

West Branch 120-pound junior Lincoln Edwards returns to the state meet for the second consecutive season looking to build on his experience from a year ago.

Edwards went 1-2 in his state meet debut a year ago at 113 pounds and started the season at that weight this year.

Since making the move to 120 in January Edwards has gone 16-4 with losses to 2A state qualifiers Colin Cassady of West Liberty and Aldin Swanson of Vinton-Shellsburg and a district loss to 1A fourth-seeded 120 pounder Gabriel Brisker (45-4) of Wilton.

Fourth-ranked Edwards is hoping to make a medal run in his return to Wells Fargo Arena and faces Bradyn Burns (42-13) of East Sac County in the opening round.

If Edwards can win his opener, he would face fifth-seed Dawson Bergan (16-2) of Edgewood-Colesburg in the second round.

Weight Class to Watch

There is always the potential for fireworks at the upper weights and West Branch junior Logan Wright is one of those wrestlers capable of creating those fireworks.

A state medalist a year ago, Wright (37-3) returns to the state meet the fifth seed in the 220-pound bracket and seeking to climb the podium after an eighth-place finish a year ago.

Wright has a bye to the second round where he will face the winner of Southwest Valley junior Dillon Inman (28-15) and AHSTW sophomore Henry Lund (35-6)

The fourth seed in the top half of the 220-pound bracket is Louisa-Muscatine senior Spencer Kessel (38-4) with defending state champion Jared Thiry (38-3) of Don Bosco the top seed.

This bracket has the potential to be among the most entertaining in Class 1A this week and Wright figures to be right in the thick of the race.

The Teams

Regional Champions (State Qualifiers)

Logan-Magnolia (8); Alburnett (9); Don Bosco (11); Interstate 35 (6); Nashua-Plainfield (13); Wapsie Valley (7); Emmetsburg (7); Treynor (6); Lisbon (9); Hinton (6); Kingsley-Pierson (4); Wilton (10)

2022 Top-5 Team Finishers – 1. Don Bosco 161.5; 2. Lisbon 123; 3. Logan-Magnolia 92; 4. Underwood 90.5; 5. West Sioux 81

Last 5 Team Champs

2022 – Don Bosco

2021 – Don Bosco

2020 – Don Bosco

2019 – Don Bosco

2018 – Lisbon

What to Watch in the Team Race

Don Bosco and Lisbon have combined for the last six Class 1A crowns and no other team has finished in the top two at state since Alburnett won the second of its two straight crowns in 2016.

Expect another two-team race this season as top-ranked Don Bosco and second-ranked Lisbon appear again to be the leaders in 1A.

With 10 ranked wrestlers including six ranked in the top five at their weight Don Bosco is loaded again as the 2023 state dual champs seeking a fifth straight title.

Jared Thiry is top-seeded at 220 pounds for Don Bosco and Kaiden Knaack is second-seeded at 145.

The 1A runner-up to Don Bosco each of the past four seasons, Lisbon hasn’t finished outside of the top two since 2015.

Behind top seeds Brandon Paz at 120 and Wyatt Smith at 285 leading a list of seven top-8 ranked wrestlers the Lions are certain to be in the title hunt again.

Keep an eye on third-ranked Wilton. The state dual runner-up Beavers have nine ranked wrestlers among their 10 qualifiers as they seek their first top-three finish since 2015.

Alburnett hasn’t been in the top three since 2016 but the fourth-ranked Pirates have nine qualifiers and seven ranked wrestlers including four ranked in the top five.

Nashua-Plainfield has a pair of top-ranked wrestlers in Jayden Rinken at 106 and unbeaten Garret Rinken at 126 and a 1A-best 13 qualifiers.

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