Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

25 wrestlers from the Your Prep Sports area will be competing in the Class 3A state wrestling tournament that gets underway at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Before the action gets underway Your Prep Sports takes a quick look at the Class 3A tournament and offers a few things to watch with area competitors.

The Wrestlers

Area qualifiers/Opening round opponents

106 – No. 11 Kendal Kurtz (25-17) Soph., City High vs. No. 12 Brennan Geers (22-9) Sr., Cedar Rapids Washington

113 – Cale Nash (36-6) Soph., Clear Creek Amana vs. No. 11 Shandrel Thompson (31-13) Soph., Johnston

113 – Chris Davis (22-22) Fr., City High vs. No. 9 Cody Vandermark (38-11) Jr., Ankeny Centennial

120 – Jose Mendieta (18-27) Fr., Clear Creek Amana vs. No. 7 JJ Maihan (23-11) Sr., Ankeny

126 – Nolan Howell (33-16) Soph., Clear Creek Amana vs. Kane Shimp (28-16) Sr., Cedar Falls

132 – Tien Pham (21-7) Jr., Liberty High vs. No. 6 Logan Gard (20-5) Sr., Dallas Center-Grimes

132 – No. 10 Braden Doyle (30-17) Jr., West High vs. Henry Bagby (18-11) Fr., Urbandale

132 – Jay Halverson (20-12) Soph., Clear Creek Amana vs. No. 7 Cael Wiener (38-10) Sr., Ankeny Centennial

138 – No. 12 Jake Mitchell (25-6) Jr., City High vs. Levi Johnson (24-9) Soph., Spencer

145 – Zach Fern (21-15) Sr., City High vs. Nolan Riddle (38-10) Jr., Fort Madison

145 – Beck Arant (32-11) Sr., Clear Creek Amana vs. Casey Kelley (27-16) Jr., Cedar Rapids Prairie

152 – Landon Bell (20-13) Fr., Liberty High vs. No. 8 Ethan Bibler (29-14) Soph., Waverly-Shell Rock

160 – Ryan Ott (7-2) Sr., City High vs. No. 10 Hayden Lucas (35-12) Sr., Carlisle

170 – Benjamin Haughey (25-25) Soph., Clear Creek Amana vs. No. 8 Kaia Fox (29-8) Sr., Johnston

170 – Gavin Benton (3-2) Jr., Liberty High vs. No. 4 Braylon Kammrad (39-6) Sr., Council Bluffs Lewis Central

182 – Kaden Phan (32-12) Soph., Clear Creek Amana vs. Wyatt Weter (21-13) Jr., Newton

195 – No. 10 Vincenzo Lima (33-6) Jr., Liberty High vs. Harrison Tripp (20-21) Soph., Norwalk

195 – Ethan Williams (25-14) Jr., Clear Creek Amana vs. Derek Hoerner (29-12) Jr., Western Dubuque

Area qualifiers/Second round opponents

106 – No. 2 Alexander Pierce (38-2) Fr., West High vs. Kendal Kurtz (25-17) Soph., City High/ Brennan Geers (22-9) Sr., Cedar Rapids Washington winner

126 – No. 1 Cale Seaton (33-4) Jr., City High vs. Caden Ervin (25-18) Jr., Pleasant Valley/Landon Reisen (19-9) Sr., Dubuque Hempstead winner

132 – No. 3 Kael Kurtz (34-5) Jr., City High vs. Braden Doyle (30-17) Jr., West High/Henry Bagby (18-11) Fr., Urbandale winner

145 – No. 6 Justin Avila (38-7) Soph., West High vs. Aydan Cary (24-16) Sr., North Scott/Luke Jennings (28-12) Sr., Clinton winner

152 – No. 10 Kyler Scranton (34-11), Jr., West High vs. Logan Redig (31-21) Sr., Cedar Rapids Prairie/Logan Stotts (32-8) Sr., Waukee Northwest winner

182 – No. 1 Gabe Arnold (37-0) Sr., City High vs. Kaden Phan (32-12) Soph., Clear Creek Amana/Wyatt Weter (21-13) Jr., Newton winner

220 – No. 1 Ben Kueter (35-0) Sr., City High vs. Asher Smith (30-15) Sr., Cedar Rapids Kennedy/Griffin Schultz (24-16) Jr., Linn-Mar winner

Undefeated wrestlers

138 – Ryder Block (41-0) Sr., Waverly-Shell Rock

152 – Jacob Helgeson (39-0) Soph., Johnston

160 – Owen Helgeson (9-0) Sr., Johnston

160 – Danny Diaz (20-0) Sr., Waverly-Shell Rock

182 – Gabe Arnold (37-0) Sr., City High

220 – Ben Kueter (35-0) Sr., City High

220 – Jaxson Hildebrand (41-0) Sr., Denison-Schleswig

285 – Maddux Borcherding-Johnson (29-0) Sr., Norwalk

285 – Carson Hagan (19-0) Sr., West Des Moines Dowling

Returning State Champions

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

120 – Timothy Koester, Soph., Bettendorf, 106

120 – Koufax Christensen, Jr., Waukee Northwest, 113

132 – Carter Freeman, Jr., Waukee Northwest, 120

138 – Ryder Block, Sr., Waverly-Shell Rock, 138

182 – Tate Naaktgeboren, Sr., Linn-Mar, 170

195 – McCrae Hagarty, Sr., Waverly-Shell Rock, 195

220 – Ben Kueter, Sr., City High, 220

First Round Matches to Watch

A pair of Clear Creek Amana wrestlers will face intriguing opening round matches on Wednesday evening.

Sophomore Cale Nash (36-6) and senior Beck Arant (32-11) have been among the most consistent wrestlers in the Clipper lineup this season and have played a large role in breakthrough season for Clear Creek Amana.

Both would like to get off to a strong start at the state tournament as they attempt to end excellent seasons on a high note.

A state qualifier last season, Nash returns with state meet experience after going 0-2 a year ago with losses to a pair of eventual placewinners at 106 pounds.

Nash faces a talented state newcomer in the 113-pound opening round in Johnston sophomore Shandrel Thompson (31-13).

The winner between Nash and Thompson will face top-seeded Dru Ayala (34-2) of Fort Dodge in the second round.

Arant (32-11) faces an opening-round rematch with Cedar Rapids Prairie junior Casey Kelley (27-16) after the two met in the second-place match at the District 3 meet on Saturday.

Arant defeated Kelley 10-8 in sudden victory on Saturday for his second win over Kelley this season.

Arant also won a 5-4 decision over Kelley back on November 29.

Expect another tight match between the two on Wednesday with the winner facing third-seed Braden Blackorby (30-2) of Johnston in the second round.

Wrestler to Watch

Over the course of his incredible prep career City High senior Ben Kueter has always been a wrestler to watch.

Now the world champion will attempt to make history this week at Wells Fargo Arena.

Kueter is attempting to complete an unbeaten high school career as the 32^nd four-time state champion in state history and second from City High joining Jeff McGinness who won four straight from 1990 to 1993.

Among the most dominant wrestlers in state history Kueter has been essential untouchable the past two seasons.

Of his 72 wins the last two years 51 have come by fall, including 31 pins this season in 35 victories.

This season Kueter has 25 first-period pins and hasn’t had a match go the distance adding two tech fall victories and a pair of forfeits.

Weight Class to Watch

The 106-pound bracket is setting up for a rematch between two of the best young lightweights in the state in top-ranked Southeast Polk sophomore Carter Pearson (38-1) and West High freshman standout Alexander Pierce (38-2).

Top-seeded Pearson finished third at 106 pounds a year ago and is unbeaten against in-state competition this season.

That unblemished record against Iowa foes includes a first-period pin of Pierce back on December 17 to account for the only loss to in-state competition for Pierce.

Pierce has won 21 consecutive matches since the loss to Pearson, with 14 of those wins coming via fall or tech fall.

A rematch would come in the 106-pound title match.

There are plenty of familiar faces for Pierce on the bottom half of the 106-pound bracket starting with second-round matchup against the winner of No. 11 Kendal Kurtz of City High and No. 12 Brennan Geers of Cedar Rapids Washington.

Pierce could face three consecutive Mississippi Valley Conference foes en route to the 106-pound final.

Dylan Munson (38-7) of Cedar Rapids Prairie is the seventh seed and Dubuque Hempstead sophomore Mitchell Pins (28-6) is the third seed.

Pierce is a combined 8-0 against Geers, Kurtz, Munson and Pins this season with four wins over Pins and a pair of 7-2 decisions over Munson.

The Teams

District Champions (State Qualifiers)

Bettendorf (14); Carlisle (10); Waverly-Shell Rock (12); Fort Dodge (10); Johnston (12); Linn-Mar (10); Pleasant Valley (10); Southeast Polk (13)

2022 Top-5 Team Finishers – 1. Southeast Polk 160; 2. Waukee Northwest 157; 3. Waverly-Shell Rock 147; 4. West High 93; 5. Bettendorf 90

Last 5 Team Champs

2022 – Southeast Polk

2021 – Waverly Shell-Rock

2020 – Waverly Shell-Rock

2019 – Waverly Shell-Rock

2018 – Fort Dodge

What to Watch in the Team Race

Since 2007 only four different teams have won a Class 3A state title with Southeast Polk, Waverly-Shell Rock and Bettendorf accounting for 14 of the last 15 3A champions.

Only Fort Dodge in 2018 has been able to stop those three teams from reigning supreme in the state’s biggest class.

Expect the regular suspects to battle it out once again over the next four days at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Southeast Polk stopped a string of three consecutive titles for Waverly-Shell Rock last season with its first title since winning the third of three consecutive title in 2017.

Top-ranked Southeast Polk is once again a title contender with 13 qualifiers, 11 of which are ranked.

Second-ranked Waverly-Shell Rock was third a year ago and qualified 12 wrestlers for state and has a trio of top-ranked wrestlers in defending champions Ryder Block and McCrae Hagarty and sophomore Bas Diaz.

Third-ranked Fort Dodge could jump back into the mix led by top-seeds Dru Ayala at 113, Damarion Ross at 160 and freshman sensation Dreshaun Ross at 195.

Keep an eye on Bettendorf which qualified all 14 wrestlers and will look to make a push back into title contention after a fifth-place finish a year ago.

Led by top-seeds Cale Seaton at 126, Gabe Arnold at 182 and Kueter at 220 City High has the front-end firepower to make a run at a top-five finish.

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