Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – When Fred Lima took as Liberty High wrestling coach prior to last season he knew what it would take to build the program.

Lima was looking for talented wrestlers of course but was more focused on finding hard workers, focused leaders and great teammates.
Basically, Lima was looking for wrestlers like Gavin Benton.

“He’s the guy you need on your team, you couldn’t ask for a better teammate,” Lima said. “When he was hurt he was in the room coaching, when he’s in the room healthy he’s leading by example. He’s just a great kid.”

The lone senior in the Liberty High lineup for Thursday’s Mississippi Valley Conference dual with Cedar Rapids Prairie that was won 58-20 by the Hawks, Benton has battled back from a knee injury last season to become a leader for a Liberty High program on the rise.

Benton sustained a serious knee injury in the second game of his junior football season in 2022.

Surgery to repair his knee in November threatened to end what Benton figured would be a breakthrough junior wrestling season before it even began.

The first two seasons of wrestling for Benton produced a combined 29-18 record and consecutive fifth-place finishes at the district meet.

The injury during football and following surgery likely should have shelved Benton for all of his junior wrestling season.

He simply wouldn’t allow that to happen.

“We have a great coaching staff and they kept me engaged our coaches push us and they love us,” Benton said. “They all push us and want us to be our best but they genuinely care about us and that helped me go because it’s not easy to come back from an injury but having that support from a great coaching staff and my teammates around me it’s easy to get up and push for them.”

Benton came back from his injury in time to secure his first ever trip to the state meet by going 2-2 and finishing third at the Class 3A district meet.

In his state meet debut Benton dropped both matches but gained experience and more importantly confidence that he could compete against the best in the state.

“It does help a lot, it helped with my confidence and I think that showed what I can do,” Benton said. “I trained for maybe two weeks (last year) so I said ‘imagine what I can do in a whole season’.”

This winter Benton has already built on his late-season success from a year ago.

The senior is off to an 8-2 start at 190 pounds and posted a first-period pin in his season debut at 175 pounds on Thursday.

“He really focuses and he doesn’t put himself in situations that he doesn’t know very well,” Lima said. “He used to wrestle anywhere, which is great to develop but now we want to be an expert in a few positions and he’s really realizing that as he’s getting into the home stretch.”

Benton needed just 49 seconds to pin Elijah Kent of Cedar Rapids Prairie on Thursday.

The senior scored a takedown 17 seconds into the match and had Kent on his back immediately.

“I’m just more confident and I have more tools to use,” Benton said. “We have a wide array of coaches and they teach all different stuff. They don’t try to coach you a certain style they see your style and they want to push you to expand on your own style and I think that’s huge.

Benton joins sophomore 165 pounder Landon Bell, senior 215-pounder Vincenzo Lima and senior 138-pounder Tien Phan as returning state qualifiers for Liberty High.

That competition at the upper weights has Benton and the Lightning seeking big things this season.

“Wresting state qualifiers every day for 40 minutes live it’s not easy,” Benton said. “Landon Bell and Vinny Lima are great and they push me every day.”

Cedar Rapids Prairie 58, Liberty High 20

106 – Chase Watkinson (CRP) pinned Connor McGonegle 1:36

113 – Benjamin Rosen (ICL) tech. fall Ethan McManus 20-5

120 – Teagan Kendall (CRP) pinned Cameron Benton 1:01

126 – Christos Panos (ICL) pinned Brantley Jones 5:29

132 – Braydin Wilcox (CRP) pinned Landon Adams 2:43

138 – Tyler Lee (CRP) pinned Pryor Reiners 2:34

144 – Alex Bumba (CRP) tech. fall Mason Karam 20-5

150 – Casey Kelley (CRP) tech. fall Connor Mason 17-2

157 – Wyatt Vlasek (CRP) pinned Finn O’Toole :35

165 – Landon Bell (ICL) dec. Rigley Koch 3-1

175 – Gavin Benton (ICL) pinned Elijah Kent :49

190 – Collin Velky (CRP) pinned Ethan Barber 2:37

215 – Conner Bistricty (CRP) won by forfeit

285 – Jace Tonne (CRP) pinned Blake DuBois 1:38

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