Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The 2024 edition of the annual cross-town wrestling showdown between City High and West High came with an emotional opening and an unprecedented finish.

After 14 matches and a nearly five-minute deliberation it was City High that was celebrating.

On a night that began with West High dedicating its wrestling room to late head coach Mark Reiland City High earned a 38-37 victory via criteria over the Trojans in a wild, back and forth dual that featured nine pins.

“We’ve never had something like this against these but I knew coming in it would be close,” City High coach Cory Connell said. “I thought we could have wrestled a lot better in some matches but like I always tell our kids I’d rather win and learn than lose and learn.”

The evening began with a standing ovation West High dedicating its wrestling room to Reiland, the legendary coach that led the Trojans to seven state titles and passed away in 2021.

It ended with the score locked at 37 and the gym nearly silent as officials spent several minutes going down the list of tiebreakers before City High earned the victory via fewer forfeits.

“I don’t know how far down it was but I think it was ‘F’ or ‘G’ or something like that,” Connell said. “It was far down the list, too far.”

Seniors Cale Seaton, Jake Mitchell and Kael Kurtz won consecutive matches for City High last as the Little Hawks won four of the final five matches to pull even at 37-all.

Then the Little Hawks waited.

“We knew the matches were tied so it was going to come down to the third, fourth or even the fifth criteria,” Kurtz said. “We were just waiting to hear.”

The tiebreaker that finally went the way of the Little Hawks was fewer forfeits.

West High forfeited at 126, the only forfeit of the night.

“It’s quite the way to end it on criteria,” Mitchell said. “To win the final one this way it makes it pretty cool.”

The two teams were even from the outset.

The dual started at 157 and the teams traded pins over the first four matches and the dual was tied at 15 after six matches.

“The whole week we knew the dual was close,” Kurtz said. “Counting it any way it was always one or two points.”

City High won four of the final five matches to close the dual at 37-all.

The Little Hawks trailed 31-21 after freshman Matthew Tran pinned Zyaire Washpun in 3:12 at 120 pounds.

After Chris Davis won by forfeit at 126, top-ranked Cale Seaton pinned Wyatt Schultz in 85 seconds at 132 pounds.

Mitchell followed with a first-period pin of Campbell Janis at 138 pounds to give City High a 33-31 edge.

“I knew that I needed the pin in order for us to have a chance,” Mitchell said. “I was fortunate enough that the cradle was there and I hit it and I wasn’t letting go.”

Fourth-ranked Kurtz came up with a takedown in the final seconds to secure a 10-2 major decision over No. 9 Braden Doyle at 144 pounds to give the Little Hawks a 37-31 cushion going into the final match.

With less than 10 seconds remaining in the match Kurtz nearly secured a takedown of Doyle to go up by eight points but didn’t get the call from the referee.

Kurtz re-shot and took Doyle to the mat with two seconds remaining to earn the major decision.

“I can feel the crowd a lot more when time gets shorter and I had that clock in my head,” Kurtz said. “As time was getting down I knew I had to set one up and I was trying to make it a clean shot and make sure I didn’t have to scramble.”

Fourth-ranked Justin Avila pinned Gabe Egeland in 2:54 at 150 pounds to even the dual at 37-37 which put into effect the tiebreakers.

“I’m three and one against West in my career and to win this last one it feels really good,” Kurtz said. “I’m grateful I’ve had the teammates I’ve had to be able to have success.”

City High 38, West High 37

106 – Charles Barnhouse (ICW) pinned Tegan Jones :40

113 – Alexander Pierce (ICW) major dec. Kendall Kurtz 12-3

120 – Matthew Tran (ICW) pinned Zyaire Washpun 3:12

126 – Chris Davis (ICH) won by forfeit

132 – Cale Seaton (ICH) pinned Wyatt Schultz 1:25

138 – Jake Mitchell (ICH) pinned Campbell Janis :45

144 – Kael Kurtz (ICH) major dec. Braden Doyle 10-2

150 – Justin Avila (ICW) pinned Gabe Egeland 2:54

157 – Kael Voinovich (ICH) pinned Gordey Gambrall 2:10

165 – Sterling Warren (ICW) pinned Obed Dominguez 3:56

175 – Mason Tilley (ICH) pinned Zion Shaw :32

190 – Kyler Scranton (ICW) pinned Raphael Etuma 1:09

215 – Juan Martinez (ICH) dec. Serafim Surguladze 10-3

285 – Asthon Honore (ICW) dec. Trey Dervrich 3-1

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