Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Jason Lemus laughs at the mention of the new nickname City High head coach Cory Connell has saddled him with.

“Big daddy,” Lemus says through a sheepish chuckle. “Big daddy Lemus.”

The name might be a funny but there is nothing funny about what Lemus has done on the wrestling mat since his head coach challenged his senior 220-pound to live up to the nickname.  

Lemus stretched his personal winning streak to 15 with a dominating 5-0 performance on Saturday that helped City High to a runner-up team finish at its own Bean City Duals.

“I call him big boy Lemus and I told him he needed to start going out there and being physical,” Connell said. “I started telling him to act like Big Boy Lemus don’t be little boy Lemus and he’s really taken that to heart and gone out there and competed.”

The Big Boy moniker has become a motivational point for Lemus who maintains a reserved demeanor away from wrestling.

Being Big Boy for the Little Hawks is a sort of alto ego for the otherwise modest Lemus.

“I haven’t always had that confidence of Just going out there and feeling that I’m honestly the baddest person out there,” Lemus said. “Now I just go out there and feel like I’m the baddest guy. It’s just going out there and saying that I can beat anybody that I wrestle against.”

Is the nickname silly? Sure.

Effective? You bet.

Lemus is perfect in 2020 and hasn’t lost a match since December 19.

He has nine pins in his last 12 matches after posting four first-period falls during his 5-0 effort on Saturday that improved his season record to 22-4.

“I’ve been really happy with him the last several weeks,” Connell said. “He’s going out and competing hard, he’s hand fighting hard he’s wrestling hard and when he does that good things are going to happen.”

Lemus started his week with a 4-0 performance and an individual title at the J-Hawk Invitational on Monday.

He won the 220-pound title on Monday with a first-period pin of Dubuque Hempstead’s Alex Hudson.

That momentum carried over to Saturday as Lemus pinned his first four opponents in the opening period before a 20-9 major decision over Hudson in the championship dual against Dubuque Hempstead.

“That definitely boosted me coming into today,” Lemus said. “I was like there is nobody that can beat me here. I saw the guy from Dubuque Hempstead and I knew that I had already pinned him.”

Lemus rolled up six takedowns in his major decision over Hudson, something that wasn’t a mindset for the senior at the start of the season.

“At the beginning of the season I didn’t have that confidence but what has really helped my confidence is just shooting, getting confidence shooting,” Lemus said. “I would shoot in practice but then in matches I wouldn’t and shooting in matches gave me the confidence that I can take anyone down now.”

Lemus earned first-period pins in dual wins over Oskaloosa (52-30), Clear Creek Amana (52-26), Decorah ((47-28) and Muscatine (38-36) as City High went 4-1 on its way to the runner-up finish.

Dubuque Hempstead got pins in the final two matches to secure a 41-28 win over City High in the title match, finishing the day 5-0.

“The first couple of duals we looked pretty good,” Connell said. “In those first three matches there were a lot of good things, we weren’t firing on all cylinders against Muscatine and against Hempstead we battled. We put ourselves in a position to win but there were some close matches and we have to win them.”

Isaiah Svoboda, Garrett Borman and Ben Kueter all joined Lemus in going unbeaten on Saturday.

Svoboda went 4-0 with four pins at 113 pounds while filling in for Ethan Wood-Finley while Bormann went 5-0 at 120 pounds.

Freshman Ben Kueter improved to 13-0 on the season with a 5-0 performance at 160 pounds that featured three pins and a tech fall.

“(Freshman Ryan) Ott is doing a good job, Kueter looked unbelievable and Lemus and Bormann did their jobs,” Connell said. “Svoboda was all tournament and that’s awesome for him. He went 4-0 so I like what those guys did today.”
Clear Creek Amana went 1-4 dropping duals to Decorah (60-15), City High, Oskaloosa (59-15), and Cedar Rapids Xavier (44-34) and defeating Keokuk (48-24).

Bean City Duals 

At City High 

City High 50, Oskaloosa 30

106 – Ryllie Siroky (OSK) pinned Zach Fern 5:09

113 – Isaiah Svoboda (ICH) pinned Connor Harbour 1:02

120 – Garrett Bormann (ICH) tech. fall Trey Miller 15-0

126 – Reese Hayden (ICH) pinned Phillip Abrahamson 3:11

132 – Zack Beebe (OSK) pinned Ariel Collins 1:54

138 – Leland Evans (OSK) pinned Diego Salinas 1:19

145 – Wyatt Krier (OSK) pinned Elisa Schroder :20

152 – Gable Mitchell (ICH) pinned Aden Scott 5:59

160 – Ben Kueter (ICH) pinned Cody Gunn 4:36

170 – Blake Westercamp (OSK) pinned Mohammad Abdallah 3:17

182 – Nick Marker (ICH) dec. Will Campbell 6-2

195 – Fritz Spencer (ICH) pinned Sebastian Probst 2:27

220 – Jason Lemus (ICH) pinned Warren Feudner 1:43

285 – Avery Goodrich (ICH) pinned Kegan Mitts-Butler 2:51

City High 52, Clear Creek Amana 26

106 – Beck Arant (CCA) tech. fall Zach Fern 15-0

113 – Eli Rummelhart (ICH) won by forfeit

120 – Garrett Bormann (ICH) major dec. Jayden Massey 13-0

126 – Reese Hayden (ICH) won by forfeit

132 – Kael Scranton (CCA) pinned Kale Clark :50

138 – Caden Baxter (CCA) dec. Ariel Collins 7-4

145 – Ryan Ott (ICH) pinned Bela Upchurch 4:59

152 – Nate Beckman (CCA) pinned Gable Mitchell 3:24

160 – Brett Lund (CCA) pinned Mohammad Abdallah 2:28

170 – Ben Kueter (ICH) pinned Kalvin Mendieta 1:19

182 – Nick Marker (ICH) pinned Mark Cabrera 1:15

195 – Fritz Spencer (ICH) won by forfeit

220 – Jason Lemus (ICH) pinned Tyler Steines 1:32

285 – Avery Goodrich (ICH) pinned Tyler Wulfenkuhle 3:03

City High 47, Decorah 28

106 – Eli Rummelhart (ICH) won by forfeit

113 – Isaiah Svoboda (ICH) pinned Knute Hovden 4:23

120 – Garrett Bormann (ICH) dec. Austin Wilkins 5-2

126 – Reese Hayden (ICH) pinned Lane Rolfs 5:30

132 – Brady Stille (DEC) major dec. Ariel Collins 19-7

138 – Ryan Ott (ICH) pinned Ben Wymer 1:24

145 – Reece Caven (ICH) dec. Jackson Rolfs 12-11

152 – Gable Mitchell (ICH) won by forfeit

160 – Ben Kueter (ICH) tech. fall Garrett Lovstuen 18-2

170 – Nate Rolfs (DEC) pinned Mohammad Abdallah 1:39

182 – Elijah Mitchell (DEC) pinned Nick Marker 1:29

195 – Dawson Palmer (DEC) pinned Fritz Spencer 3:02

220 – Jason Lemus (ICH) pinned Brandon Gulrud 1:40

285 – Caden Keck (DEC) pinned Avery Goodrich 3:14

City High 38, Muscatine 36

106 – Eli Rummelhart (ICH) won by forfeit

113 – Isaiah Svoboda (ICH) pinned Collin Zellmer :32

120 – Garrett Bormann (ICH) pinned Garrett Head 1:38

126 – Mason Crabtree (MUS) pinned Kale Clark 1:07

132 – Reese Hayden (ICH) major Jett Fridley 11-3

138 – Carson Harder (MUS) pinned Diego Salinas 3:37

145 – Kuinton Middugh (MUS) dec. Ryan Ott 8-2

152 – Connor Beck (MUS) pinned Gable Mitchell 3:40

160 – Ben Kueter (ICH) major dec. Cedric Castillo 14-3

170 – Tim Nimely (MUS) pinned Mohammad Abdallah :59

182 – Anthoy Mathias (MUS) dec. Nick Marker 4-2

195 – Fritz Spencer (ICH) pinned Nathan Beatty :32

220 – Jason Lemus (ICH) pinned Kaden Fisher :51

285 – Togeh Deseh (MUS) won by forfeit

Dubuque Hempstead 41, City High 28

106 – Landon Reisen (DH) pinned Zach Fern :29

113 – Isaiah Svoboda (ICH) pinned Cody Jellison 2:58

120 – Garrett Bormann (ICH) dec. Gable Brooks 4-2

126 – Spencer Ehlinger (DH) pinned Kale Clark :56

132 – Adler Kramer (DH) dec. Reese Hayden 4-2

138 – Ryan Ott (ICH) dec. Kyrie Tate (DH) 7-4

145 – Reece Caven (ICH) pinned Ian Ostrander 1:15

152 – Ben Faber (DH) tech fall. Elias Schroder 18-2

160 – Jack Smith (DH) dec. Gable Mitchell 3-1

170 – Ben Kueter (ICH) pinned Andrew Hefel 1:03  

182 – Aiden Dunne (DH) pinned Nick Marker 3:12

195 – Adam Ward (DH) pinned Fritz Spencer 1:21

220 – Jason Lemus (ICH) major dec. Alex Hudson 20-9

285 – Cayden Lovett (DH) pinned Avery Goodrich 3:18

Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by becoming a member.