To finish our look back at the state wrestling tournament, we focus on the big schools today.  The 3-A portion of the show was fantastic as always, with great storylines and classic matchups in every round.  There were a few surprises and no shortage of intense action.  Let’s break it down with a glance at each weight class.

103- Going into the tournament, thoughts of a possible showdown between #2 Kory Kistner and #1 Cory Clark looked like an intriguing final.  The bracket played out for a quarterfinal matchup, but an unfortunate injury in the first round caused Kistner, the Sioux City East senior, to forfeit his remaining matches, knocking him out of the tournament.  Their meeting never materialized, but SE Polk’s Clark went on to easily claim the title and remain undefeated in his freshman campaign.  He notched two falls and then a 5-0 decision over #3 Connor Ryan of North Scott in the final.  Ryan, a freshman, finished with a 36-2 record with both losses coming at the hands of the talented Ram.  Clark had an outstanding year and wrestled far above his competition in going 43-0.  He was one of the most enjoyable wrestlers to watch in the entire tournament.

112- This bracket featured a returning champion in sophomore Adam Perrin of North Scott, who won it all last year @103, and four other returning place-winners.  It looked like highly-touted Waverly-Shell Rock freshman Eric DeVos was on track for the title after getting by the #10, #4 and #2 ranked wrestlers to reach the finals.  He knocked out Perrin in the semis and faced WDM Valley junior Brandon Jones for the title.  Jones was coming off of two great matches with #7 Drake Chase of Clinton and Bryce Lynn of Dubuque Senior in the semis.  Jones carried his momentum into the final and won a hard fought OT match, 3-1 for the gold, stunning DeVos and the WSR fans.  A first round loss to Lynn by DSM East senior #5 Johnny Coleman almost cost him his chance to become the Scarlet’s first three-time place-winner, but he fought back and hung on to place 8^th and secure his place in the record book at East.

119- This bracket opened up with a first round matchup between #1 and #2.  John Meeks, a 35-0 freshman from DSM Roosevelt, and Nick Sand, Waterloo West’s 36-2 senior got things started off with a showcase showdown, won easily by the #1 ranked Roughrider, 9-1.  Meeks then fought on all the way to the finals, where he would face Waverly-Shell Rock sophomore #3 Jordan Rinken, who had two falls and a 10-0 major decision to his credit already.  Unfazed, Meeks controlled Rinken, who placed 4^th @103 last year, and escaped with a 5-3 victory for the title.  A 3-for-3 start for the CIML.

125- Returning place-winners Cody Caldwell and Dominic Chase really were the cream of this crop, so it was no surprise to find them facing each other in the finals.  #1 Caldwell of Waverly-Shell Rock plowed his way to the final, losing only once all season while wrestling through an injury that could have easily sidelined him for the season.  #2 Chase of Clinton found little resistance on his way to a 23-2 record and a berth in the championship match.  Unfortunately for Chase, Caldwell let loose for a 9-1 whipping, and raised his hand as the victor.  Go-Hawk head coach Rick Caldwell then had the unique opportunity to award the gold medal to his son on the top stand.

130- For CIML fans, this weight division was top-notch with #3 Cody Swim of Indianola, #4 Ben Cash of DSM Roosevelt and #5 Gabe Moreno of Urbandale in the mix.  However, none of them got through #1 Tommy Mirocha of Davenport Central and #2 Bret Baumbach of CB Lewis.  The two seniors met in the finals after Mirocha downed Cash in the semis, and Baumbach took care of Moreno.  In the quarters, Baumbach also sent Swim to the consolation bracket, winning a tough match with the Indian junior.  The final was one of my favorite matchups of the tournament.  These two had different styles, but provided a classic battle that ended in a narrow 3-2 win for Baumbach.  Both are four-time place-winners, and Baumbach ended up a three-time finalist.

135- It’s tough to figure out how Jake Ballweg stays out of the limelight.  The Waverly-Shell Rock junior came into the tournament ranked #1 at 41-3.  He is a defending champion, winning the 119 title last year, and a two-time finalist for the Go-Hawks, the defending team champion.  Yet, there was no buzz surrounding him to speak of.  So, all he did was cruise to the title with a major decision, 11-0 victory over Cedar Rapids Prairie freshman Zach Witte, who surprised everyone by reaching the final unranked.  Witte defeated #10 Bill Borseth of SE Polk in the semis and looked great in reaching the finals.  However, Ballweg proved to be way too much for the Hawk, and joined his brothers Mark and Matt as two-time champions.  Just, with less fanfare for some reason.

140- This was a great bracket for the CIML with four in the quarters and two in the semis, and DSM Roosevelt junior #5 Blake Meeks advancing to the final.  Meeks was one of five returning place-winners, and looked great.  But he would fall victim to Iowa City West senior #1 Dylan Carew in the final match, a 12-3 major decision by the former, and now once again champion.  Carew finishes as a four-time place winner in convincing fashion, after recording two falls and a tech fall prior to his major victory in the finals.      

145- Another #1 vs. #2 showdown here, as Chad Lowman and Michael Kelly met in the finals as the only returning place-winners at the weight.  #1 Lowman of DSM Roosevelt placed 3^rd the last two years, and reached the title match by running his record to 39-0.  #2 Kelly of Cedar Falls finished 4^th last year, and ran his record to 35-2 by downing Lowman in a somewhat surprisingly easy 7-1 bout.  Only a junior, Kelly will get a chance to defend his title for the Tigers next year.

152- Nick Moore’s brother Nate was a four-time finalist for Iowa City West, so the bar was set pretty high in the household.  Nick is doing a good job of trying to upstage his older sibling, who brought home gold his last two years in high school.  Now a junior, Nick captured his third title in as many tries by hanging on to win a nail-biter over Urbandale senior #8 Josiah South, 2-1.  The top-ranked man at 152, Moore got past the #2 and #3 ranked wrestlers to earn his shot at title number three.  Next year, Moore will no doubt get a taste of what Bart Reiter faced this season, as he will try to become the next member of the four-timer’s club.  Unless he decides to go out for basketball for a new challenge, of course.

160- Well, here we are.  Almost every tournament has an epicenter.  Sometimes it is obvious before the start, sometimes there has to be a major tremor for it to become apparent.  With Bart Reiter heading for his fourth title, the focus may have been on him, and deservedly so.  But the rumblings of that “match that everyone has their sights set on” started early and reached a crescendo in the semifinals when Derek St. John of Iowa City West and John Nicholson of DSM Roosevelt met.  A few quick notes:  St. John’s resume included two straight titles and a 3^rd place finish as a freshman.  A number one ranking and a 42-0 record that found him ranked #1 overall nationally at 160.  A recent fourth Mississippi Valley Conference title, just the fifth wrestler to achieve the feat.  Needless to say, St. John was considered the man, and rightfully so.  On the flip side, Nicholson himself was a defending champion, and had finished 3^rd the year before that.  He was ranked #2 and had a 33-2 record on the year.  His brother James had become the first Roughrider to win a state title, and his goal was to become the first Roughrider to repeat.  As is the case so many times in the state tournament, this type of match doesn’t always materialize in the finals, but being one round early did nothing to diminish the significance or the excitement.  Nicholson, unfazed by the overwhelming sentiment that no one could beat St. John, aggressively attacked the Trojan star, taking him down three times and totally controlling the match to pull out a 7-3 upset and a berth in the finals.  It was “shocking”, but when you consider the type of wrestler Nicholson is and what he has accomplished, he is the perfect example of what is possible.  What would have been a bigger shock was Nicholson losing the final after that statement semifinal match.  It is fitting that the Nicholson/Moreno saga followed that big semifinal.  They have had an amazing rivalry and have wrestled some classic matches.  This one would be no different.  Moreno, the Urbandale junior had raised his record to 36-3 to reach the finals and looked very good in getting there.  A rematch of the 152 final from last year, this one did not disappoint.  A narrow 3-2 win propelled Nicholson to the gold medal, a tremendous finish to an outstanding tournament and a brilliant career.  Whew! What a bracket.

171- The top five ranked wrestlers here also happened to be the only returning place-winners, and the #1 and #2 guys were both undefeated coming in.  Kyven Gadson, a junior from Waterloo East held the top ranking and a 34-0 record when he began on his path to the finals.  Placing 2^nd @145 last year was impressive, but jumping up so far in weight and still getting to the finals was even more astounding.  Jason McCormick of CR Jefferson would be his opponent after the senior defeated the #3 and #5 ranked competitors on his way to the title bout.  After a tough 3-2 decision, Gadson was the undefeated champion for the Trojans.

189- This was a brutally competitive weight class as it was, but when DSM Roosevelt’s junior Matt Riley, ranked #4 @215 dropped down and beat Urbandale’s #1 ranked Evan Knight, a returning champion, in districts, it got a lot more interesting.  Also, six of the eight quarterfinalists, and all four of the semifinalists were from the CIML.  #4 Brian Johnson of SE Polk went up against Riley, while Knight battled #2 Brandon Abernathy of Indianola in the semis to determine who would advance to Saturday’s final.  Riley majored Johnson, and Knight disposed of Abernathy 10-5 to set up the rematch.  This time, Knight had better luck with the Roughrider, winning 7-3 to repeat as a champion.  Knight has reached the finals all three years for Urbandale so far.

215- The bracket may have lost #4 Riley to the 189lb class, but there was plenty of talent remaining.  44-0 Cody Krumwiede of Waverly-Shell Rock led the way, looking to improve on his 6^th place finish last year as a freshman.  The #1 ranked Go-Hawk has been tabbed as the #1 sophomore in the country at his weight, and had little resistance on his way to the final match.  His semifinal match with Johnston’s #6 Adam Badgley was a 3-0 win, coming after a pair of falls in the first two rounds of action.  Meanwhile SE Polk senior #2 Ethan Bass was busy downing the #9 and #7 ranked wrestlers on his way to reaching the finals.  Bass scored two falls and a major decision on his way to running his record to 41-2.  In the championship, Krumwiede kept Bass locked down and prevailed 6-2 to earn top honors with a 48-0 record.  Bass finished his career as a four-time place-winner and the Rams’ all-time wins leader.

285- The biggest boys from the biggest schools put on quite a show.  Upsets were the norm in a mixed up bracket right from the start.  Unranked Johntrell Humphrey lost 12 matches on the year, but it didn’t stop him from knocking off 34-1 senior Kevin Harp of Iowa City High, ranked #6, in the first match of the division.  That was a sign of things to come, as #5 Colin White of Glenwood upended #3 Tyler Thompson of Norwalk and #7 Brodie Berrie of Bettendorf downed #1 and unbeaten Tray Pendelton of Waterloo East in quarterfinal action.  White was then upset himself, by #10 Brandon Burrell of CR Washington in the semis.  Burrell had seven losses coming into the tournament.  #2 Jake Crawford of SE Polk remained undefeated, slipping by Berrie in the other semifinal to set up the championship match.  Burrell rode the magic of the upset once again, and after thwarting numerous shot attempts by Crawford, he forced, and eventually survived deep into, overtime.  With an escape, he managed to win 3-2.  Crawford finished his senior year with a 42-1 record.  That was the final match of the 2009 tournament.  The team race went to Waverly-Shell Rock with 146.5 points, meaning all three classes had repeat winners, something that somehow had managed never to happen before.  This class was a tighter race, with four teams scoring over 100 points.  Second place went to Iowa City West with 138.5 points.  West graduates a lot of team points, but as always, expect their young talent to step up next year.  Third place DSM Roosevelt made things interesting, to say the least.  They scored 122.5 points with seven qualifiers and had five finalists, crowning two champions.  All of this just three years after crowning their first champion ever.  The program has really risen to new heights.  Southeast Polk placed fourth with 109 points.  The Rams also qualified seven this year, placing all of them and landing three in the finals with one champion.  They lose a tremendous senior class, but the underclassmen are eager to step up.

     Well, there you have it.  Another great tournament in the books.  I’m sad as always to see it end, but it sure was fun to witness.  Don’t forget, all three classes are in Cedar Rapids Saturday for the State Duals Tournament.  One last chance to see these guys in action.