Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

Mississippi Valley Conference Meet

When: Saturday, 10 a.m.

Where: Cedar Rapids Jefferson High School

Ranked teams: Class 3A No. 6 Linn-Mar; Class 3A No. 7 West High

What to watch: Covid caused the cancellation of last year’s Mississippi Valley Conference meet which makes West High the defending champion after claiming its first team title since 2012 in 2020.

With five ranked wrestlers the Trojans should once again be in the team title chase and join sixth-ranked Linn-Mar as one of the favorites in a relatively balanced field.

Four top-ranked wrestlers are in the field including a pair of area wrestlers.

West High senior 152-pounder Hunter Garvin and City High 220-pound junior Ben Kueter are both top-ranked along with Cedar Rapids Prairie 113-pound junior Blake Gioimo and Linn-Mar 170-pound junior Tate Naaktgeboren

Garvin (37-0) is seeking to complete his career unbeaten at the MVC meet while becoming a three-time conference champion after winning the 132-pound title in 2020.

Garvin has been among the most dominant wrestlers in the state this season with eight of his last 11 victories coming via first-period pin.

West High senior 138-pounder Grant O’Dell (31-5) is ranked sixth and is also attempting to become a repeat conference champ after winning a title at 106 in 2020.

Seniors Kael Scranton (21-9), Brett Pelfrey (15-6) and Robert Avila (8-1) join Garvin and O’Dell as ranked West High wrestlers.

Kueter (27-0) has been dominant this season with all but two of his matches ending via fall or tech fall.

The lone in-state competitor to go the full six minutes with Kueter is third-ranked 285-pound Luke Gaffney of Linn-Mar.

Unbeaten in his prep career, Kueter is seeking a second MVC title while City High has a pair of sophomores chasing their first conference crowns.

Cale Seaton (31-2) is ranked third at 120 pounds and enters riding an 11-match winning streak while Kael Kurtz (29-4) is ranked seventh at 126 pounds.

Liberty High is seeking to climb the conference team standings after placing 16^th with 15 points in 2020.

Senior 160-pounder Elijah Terwilleger (23-5) has won eight matches in a row and joins sophomores Gavin Benton (17-8) at 152 pounds and Vinny Lima (16-10) at 182 pounds as leaders in a deeper Lightning lineup.

Who to watch: Garvin is already considered among the best seniors in the country and has proven that throughout the 2022 season.

The Stanford commit has picked up where he left off during a dominant covid-shortened 2021 season in which he won every match by fall or tech fall on his way to a second consecutive state title.

Garvin is seeking to become a three-time MVC champion and could face a rematch of his state title match from a year ago with fourth-ranked Dylan Whitt of Cedar Falls.

Weight class(es) to watch: All 14 weight classes feature a ranked wrestler and 10 weights have at least two ranked competitors as the MVC builds on its reputation as one of the top conferences in the state.

Two of the most anticipated and loaded brackets feature an area wrestler that expects to be in the title hunt.

There are four ranked wrestlers at 160 pounds and West High senior Kael Scranton (21-9) expects to be in the mix for a title.

Scranton joins third-ranked Christian Stanek of Cedar Rapids Washington seventh-ranked Josiah Schaetzle from Dubuque Hempstead and eighth-ranked Waterloo East senior Cadin Herrmann in a big-time bracket.

City High sophomore Kael Kurtz is one of three top-10 ranked wrestlers chasing the 126-pound title.

Kurtz would get a rematch with fifth-ranked Brayden Parke of Linn-Mar who defeated Kurtz 1-0 in a dual meet last week.

Ranked wrestlers

106:     3A No. 11 Mitchell Pins (Dubuque Hempstead) Fr.

113:     3A No. 1 Blake Gioimo (Cedar Rapids Prairie) Jr.

120:     3A No. 3 Cale Seaton (City High) Soph.

126:     3A No. 5 Brayden Parke (Linn-Mar) Jr.

3A No. 7 Kael Kurtz (City High) Soph.

3A No. 9 Jonah Hallam (Cedar Rapids Kennedy) Sr.

132:     3A No. 3 Kane Naaktgeboren (Linn-Mar) Soph.

3A No. 11 Nick Foreman (Cedar Rapids Washington) Soph.

138:     3A No. 6 Grant O’Dell (West High) Sr.

3A No. 11 Ashtin Falck (Cedar Rapids Kennedy) Sr.

3A No. 12 Seth Connolly (Dubuque Senior) Soph.

145:     3A No. 2 Robert Avila (West High) Sr.

3A No. 6 Grant Kress (Linn-Mar) Soph.

3A No. 10 Ryan Ott (City High) Jr.

152:     3A No. 1 Hunter Garvin (West High) Sr.

3A No. 4 Dylan Whitt (Cedar Falls) Sr.

160:     3A No. 3 Christian Stanek (Cedar Rapids Xavier) Sr.

3A No. 4 Kael Scranton (West High) Sr.

3A No. 7 Josiah Schaetzle (Dubuque Hempstead) Jr.

3A No. 8 Cadin Herrmann (Waterloo East) Sr.

170:     3A No. 1 Tate Naaktgeboren (Linn-Mar) Jr.

182:     3A No. 5 Alex Koch (Cedar Rapids Kennedy) Sr.

3A No. 12 Lawrence Taylor (Waterloo East) Sr.

195:     3A No. 11 Colin Flannagan (Cedar Rapids Kennedy) Sr.

3A No. 12 Evan Surface (Western Dubuque) Sr.

220:     3A No. 1 Ben Kueter (City High) Jr.

3A No. 12 Joseph Lewis (Dubuque Hempstead) Jr.

285:     3A No. 3 Luke Gaffney (Linn-Mar) Sr.

3A No. 7 Brett Pelfrey (West High) Sr.

3A No. 9 Carter Dawley (Cedar Rapids Prairie) Jr.

3A No. 11 Tate Sykora-Matthess (Cedar Rapids Washington) Sr.

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