State wrestling: Waverly-Shell Rock, West Delaware, Don Bosco roll to state duals titles
Cody GoodwinThe third time was the charm for Waverly-Shell Rock.
On Wednesday night at Wells Fargo Arena, the Go-Hawk wrestlers blew past Southeast Polk, 59-12, to win the Class 3A state duals championship. It is Waverly-Shell Rock's fifth state duals title all-time and first since 2010.
"It feels good," Waverly-Shell Rock coach Eric Whitcome said. "It's been a while since we won a state duals championship, so this was a high priority for us."
It was also the third straight state duals finals meeting between two of Iowa's perennial powers.
For each of the last two years, it was Southeast Polk that topped the Go-Hawks: 37-27 in 2019, then 29-26 last year. This year's result, as the score suggests, didn't contain any of the thrilling action the last two years provided.
Waverly-Shell Rock cruised to the title, winning 11 of 14 matches, with four technical falls and five pins. The Go-Hawks rattled off five in a row from 182 through 106: three-straight technical falls from McCrae Hagarty (182), Jake Walker (195) and Luke Walker (220), then back-to-back pins from Layne McDonald (285) and Zane Behrends (106).
McDonald's pin flipped the dual entirely. The Go-Hawks led 18-7, but Southeast Polk opted to bump Kalob Runyon, the Rams' starter at 220, up to heavyweight. Runyon pinned McDonald last month, and actually led 9-1 in the second period, but McDonald hit a reversal and scored the fall in three minutes, 46 seconds.
"He pulled me into a crab-ride, so I posted back and turned on him," McDonald said afterward. "I locked up a half and I was not letting that go."
That result changed the dynamic of the entire dual.
These two teams met last month at the Hempstead Duals, and the Go-Hawks won then, too, 36-28. Southeast Polk coach Jake Agnitsch knew it would take a near-perfect performance for the Rams to win a third-straight state duals title.
Their showings in the quarterfinals and semifinals suggested a possibility existed. The Rams opened with a 45-30 win over Bettendorf, then edged Waukee again, 29-28 — this time, without criteria. The Go-Hawks took down a scrappy Linn-Mar squad, then rolled through North Scott, 60-9, to reach the final.
The dual began with Southeast Polk bumping Joel Jesuroga, the 2-seed at 145 pounds this week, up to 152, where he lost to top-seeded Aiden Riggins, 3-2. Back-to-back wins from Carson Martinson and Andrew Reed at 160 and 170 gave the Rams a 7-3 lead.
Then came the technical falls from Hagary and the Walkers, then pins from McDonald and Behrends. Nate Jesuroga stopped the bleeding with a technical fall win at 113, but then the rest of Waverly-Shell Rock's lineup beat up on Southeast Polk's backups.
So the third time was indeed the charm for the Go-Hawks in the state duals. Now they can turn their attention to the traditional state championships, which begin Thursday. The Go-Hawks have been quite charmed in that regard, having bounced back from back-to-back state duals runner-up finishes to win the last two traditional team titles.
They'd like to make it three in a row come Saturday night.
"In our conversation just five minutes ago, one of our leaders just said, 'Hey, we came here to win two,'" Whitcome said. "They know there's still a lot of work ahead."
West Delaware three-peats in Class 2A
West Delaware notched its third-straight Class 2A state duals title on Wednesday, thumping Crestwood, 49-21. The Hawks are the first team to three-peat as state duals champs since Davenport Assumption won four in a row from 2011-14.
Wednesday's state duals competition, for West Delaware, was an exercise in dominance. The Hawks beat Sergeant Bluff-Luton, 70-6, in the opener, then defeated Independence, 61-12, in the semifinals.
Against Crestwood, the Hawks won 10 of 14, including a string of six in a row from 170 to 106 to go up 37-3. They finished with six pins against Crestwood, and won 35 of 42 total matches during Wednesday's three duals.
Don Bosco over Lisbon in clash of 1A titans
For the second-straight year, the Class 1A state duals title was decided between Don Bosco and Lisbon — and this time, the Dons emerged victorious, 34-25.
This 2021 state duals title is the 11th in Don Bosco's storied history and its third in the last four years. They took 8-of-14 against mighty Lisbon, including each of the first five to build a 19-0 lead.
2021 Iowa high school state wrestling coverage
- State wrestling: The Register's complete 2021 tournament preview
- Where to park in downtown Des Moines during the Iowa state wrestling tournament
- Des Moines' 2021 skywalk dining guide: Where to find food downtown (without having to go outside)
- A back ailment dashed an Iowa boy's wrestling dreams. His love for the sport only continued.
- How to watch and follow the Iowa state high school wrestling tournament this week
- Wrestling Mailbag: Previewing the Iowa state tournament, seeding, potential final matches
The Dons' lead increased to 31-7 with five matches remaining, but the Brandon Paez, Cade Siebrecht and Quincy Happel won three in a row to bring Lisbon within 31-19. Michael McClelland clinched it for the Dons with an 8-3 win over Indy Harbaugh in the second-to-last match at 138.
These two teams will battle each other for the Class 1A traditional team title over the next three days. The Dons kept Lisbon at arm's length on Wednesday night. If that's a sign of what's to come, Don Bosco will likely be celebrating Saturday night, too.
Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.