Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

Wrestling season is underway.

Practices started for teams across the state last month and Monday marks the first day of competition.

Your Prep Sports area teams hit the mat this week with every wrestling eyeing a spot at the state tournament that is scheduled for February 19-22 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Before the season gets rolling we take a look at several wrestlers to watch in the area this season.

Alexander Pierce

Junior, West High

Already a two-time state finalist, Pierce has established himself as one of the top wrestlers in the state.

A Virginia recruit, Pierce won a state title at 106 pounds as a freshman and finished runner-up at 113 pounds as a sophomore last season.

Pierce owns a career 77-4 record after posting a 35-2 mark last season that included Mississippi Valley Conference and district titles.

Cale Nash

Senior, Clear Creek Amana

One of the most decorated wrestlers in Clear Creek Amana history Nash is a three-time state qualifier and earned his first career state medal last season.

Nash has 123 career wins and is coming off his best season when he went 48-6 while placing seventh at 120 pounds at the Class 3A state tournament.

An Upper Iowa recruit, Nash has at least 36 wins in each of the past three seasons and is 87-14 over the past two seasons.

Jordan Schmidt

Senior, Solon 

A three-time state qualifier and two-time medalist Schmidt is seeking to end an impressive career with a bang.

It has been a steady climb for Schmidt who was a state qualifier as a freshman, placed seventh at 132 pounds as a sophomore before placing fifth at 138 pounds a year ago.

Schmidt has 120 career wins and is coming off a 48-8 season a year ago when he won a district title and went 3-2 at the state meet on his way to a fifth-place finish.

Justin Avila

Senior, West High

A three-time state qualifier and two-time state medalist Avila should be in the state title hunt in his final prep season.

Avila has won at least 30 matches in each of the past three seasons while amassing a 106-26 career record.

A state medalist at 170 pounds as a freshman, Avila was a state qualifier at 145 pounds as a sophomore.

Last season Avila won Mississippi Valley Conference and district titles before going 4-2 on his way to a fifth-place finish at 150 pounds at the 3A state meet.

Cooper Gates

Junior, West Branch

A two-time state qualifier, Gates will look to build on what has been impressive two-year stretch to open his career.

Gates is 67-11 over the past two seasons and earned a state medal placing eighth as a freshman at 152 pounds.

Last season Gates went 31-4 at 165 pounds and finished runner-up at the River Valley Conference and district meets before going 1-2 at the Class 1A state meet.

Lucas Feuerbach

Sophomore, Solon

One of the top freshman upper weight wrestlers in the state last season Feuerbach put together an impressive debut season a year ago.

Feuerbach went 41-12 and advanced to the Class 2A state meet at 215 pounds.

Coming off an all-state football season, Feuerbach will look to build on last seasons’ success that included a 2-2 mark in his state meet debut.

Nolan Howell

Senior, Clear Creek Amana

Howell joins Nash as leaders on a Clear Creek Amana team seeking to build on its success of the past several seasons.

A two-time state qualifier Howell has won 80 matches over the past two seasons while reaching the state meet each year.

Last season Howell went 44-16, including a 5-2 mark at the Class 3A state meet that produced a seventh-place finish at 138 pounds.

Kendall Kurtz

Senior, City High

Already a two-time state qualifier Kurtz earned the first state medal of his career last season finishing eighth at the Class 3A state meet.

Kurtz was a state qualifier as a sophomore at 106 pounds and earned his first career state medal a year ago at 113 pounds.

Kurtz finished 31-13 last season including a 3-3 mark at the state meet.

Landon Bell

Junior, Liberty High

Already a two-time state qualifier Bell will look to take a big step forward this season after reaching the state meet the past two seasons.

Bell has won 20 matches each of the past two seasons while racking up 49 career wins.

After reaching the state meet at 152 pounds as a freshman Bell returned to the state meet last season at 157 pounds.

Bell finished with a career-high 29 wins last season and should improve on that number this season.

Ethan Humphrey

Sophomore, West Branch

Humphrey made an immediate splash in his first season in the West Branch lineup and will look to take a big step forward in year two.

Humphrey went 32-5 last season and finished eighth at the Class 1A state meet last season in his first varsity season.

Prior to earning the first state medal of his career Humphrey finished runner-up at the River Valley Conference meet and won a title at the 1A district meet.

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