Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Having three wrestlers with the same name bunched around the same weight classes has caused a few slightly confusing moments in the City High wrestling room.

Seniors Cale Seaton, Kael Kurtz and Kael Voinovich have exchanged a few glances when City High coach Cory Connell yells out their names during practice.

“We all look if he says ‘Kael’,” Kurtz said. “We usually know who he is talking to but sometimes we just guess.”

The names may cause a little confusion at times but one thing that is crystal clear when it comes to the City High Cale/Kael trio is their goals.

State titles.

“That’s the goal for sure is to win a title,” Kurtz said. “I need to start working hard and having Kael (Voinovich) and listening to what the coaches tell me.”

All three are decorated wrestlers though Seaton is the only of the three with a state title.

Seaton broke through last season winning the 3A 126-pound championship after back-to-back third-place finishes.

Now Seaton who had offseason knee surgery is seeking a second consecutive crown.
“It goes from wanting to win a title to wanting to go out and dominate while winning one,” Seaton said. “I just want to put an exclamation point on it.”

Like Seaton, Kurtz is a three-time medalist and is coming off a second consecutive fourth-place finish.

After going 37-7 last season Kurtz has his sights set on a title to conclude his career.

“It was definitely a mindset last year, I was told by guys like Cale, Gabe (Arnold), Ben (Kueter) that I could do it and I started really believing that I could,” Kurtz said. “That was a big thing last year was just believing.”

Voinovich is the new Kael in the group, a transfer that was a state finalist at 150 pounds in Oklahoma as a junior.

He has spent the last several months drilling with and learning from Seaton and Kurtz.

“I’ve learned from them in the rook but it extends out of the wrestling room with how they carry themselves around the school and academically,” Voinovich said. “Especially the first couple of days I was looking at them with how to do certain drills or warmups and they kind of led me through the ropes tonight on match day.”

All three of the Kaels had a hand in helping City High to a 64-9 win over Waterloo West in a season-opening Mississippi Valley Conference dual on Thursday at City High.

Seaton and Kurtz opened the dual with consecutive pins and Voinovich won by forfeit in his City High debut.

That trio will be at the center of what everyone at City High believes will be a potent point scoring lineup this season.

“They are great kids,” Connell said. “They do everything right, they are in there working their butts off and they kind of set the tone in the room with their energy and leadership and it’s a lot of fun to watch them.”

For Seaton and Kurtz the addition of Voinovich has added another talented training partner as well as an additional source of knowledge.

“It’s another guy to learn stuff from and another perspective,” Seaton said. “He was in Oklahoma for a while so he’s picked up a lot of stuff from there so I’ve picked up a lot of stuff from Kael already. We’ve gotten really close and we’ve been wrestling a lot same with Kael (Kurtz) and I think it’s really helped all of us.”

City High won 12 matches in its season-opening dual win on Thursday getting four wins by forfeit, four pins and two tech falls.

Mason Tilley posted a pin at 175 pounds and Shaaban Naim had a pin at 285 for City High while Jake Mitchell won a 16-1 tech fall at 144 and Kendall Kurtz won a 15-0 tech fall at 113.

“I liked our aggressiveness,” Connell said. “Whether we won or lost we were aggressive and I loved that we were attacking and we were getting to our positions and trying to score points.”

City High 64, Waterloo West 9

106 – James Knight (WW) pinned Tegan Jones 1:36

113 – Kendall Kurtz (ICH) tech. fall Guvan Wilson 15-0

120 – Sylvester Kotoe (WW) dec. Chris Davis 13-10

126 – Edgar Mhoon-Lopez (ICH) dec. Josiah Wendland 15-9

132 – Cale Seaton (ICH) pinned Jace Knight 2:56

138 – Kael Kurtz (ICH) pinned Ryan Lindaman 3:14

144 – Jake Mitchell (ICH) tech. fall Luke Lindaman 16-1

150 – Gabe Egeland (ICH) won by forfeit

157 – Kael Voinovich (ICH) won by forfeit

165 – Obed Dominguez (ICH) won by forfeit

175 – Mason Tilley (ICH) pinned Romeo Mejia 4:53

190 – Drew Nye (ICH) won by forfeit

215 – Raphael Etuma (ICH) dec. Dalten Aldrich 9-8

285 – Shaaban Naim (ICH) pinned Daniel Liston 2:57

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