HIGH SCHOOL

This weekend's freestyle and Greco-Roman state championships is the start of a big summer for Iowa wrestling

Cody Goodwin
Des Moines Register

So the state wrestling tournament is this weekend.

No, not that state tournament.

This will be a smaller statewide celebration of wrestling, set for Saturday and Sunday at Southeast Polk High School. It will feature many of Iowa’s best high-schoolers competing in the Olympic disciplines, freestyle and Greco-Roman.

And rather than being the end of a season, it’s really the beginning of a potentially big spring and summer for Iowa high school wrestling.

If those aren’t enough reasons to take a vested interest in the action this weekend, maybe the following breakdown will.

First off, there’s the competition itself. The freestyle and greco seasons are broken down by age, not school size. There’s the 16U and Junior divisions. Many of the state’s best wrestlers will likely clash in some mouthwatering matchups this weekend.

Consider the following weights:

At 145 pounds in the Junior division, there’s Iowa City West’s Hunter Garvin, Ankeny’s Caleb Rathjen, Don Bosco’s Cael Rahnavardi and Indianola’s Ryder Downey, among others. Those four have a combined four state titles and 10 state finals appearances.

Southeast Polk's Carson Martinson wrestles Ankeny's Caleb Rathjen during their class 3A 152 pound semifinal match at the Iowa high school state wrestling tournament on Friday, Feb. 19, 2021, in Des Moines, IA.

At Junior 120: Webster City’s Camron Phetxoumphone, Nashua-Plainfield’s Garret Rinken, Greene County’s McKinley Robbins, all state champs, plus West Sioux’s Braden Graff and Dubuque Hempstead’s Chad Bellis, who were both finalists this year.

One weight up, at 126: Crestwood’s Carter Fousek, a three-time Class 2A state champ, Underwood’s Gable Porter, a two-time finalist and one-time champ, and Don Bosco’s Garrett Funk, a two-time medalist who’s beaten many of the state’s best lightweights.

At Junior 182: Union’s Adam Ahrendsen, a three-time finalist and 2020 champ; Waukee’s Griffin Gammell, a finalist; and Iowa City West’s Ashton Barker, a three-time medalist. One weight up, at 195: West Delaware’s Wyatt Voelker and Osage’s Spencer Mooberry, both state champs, plus Westwood’s Jackson Dewald, a state finalist.

One more weight up, at 220, features Bettendorf’s Bradley Hill, a 2021 state champ, Iowa City High’s Ben Kueter, a two-time state champ, and Southeast Polk’s Kalob Runyon, a recent double All-American at the UWW Junior world team trials.

How about the 16U division? At 113 pounds, there’s Prairie’s Blake Gioimo and the Waukee duo of Carter Freeman and Koufax Christensen. Freeman beat Gioimo for the Class 3A title at 106, and Christensen also reached the state finals.

That’s only a sampling, too. There’s statewide firepower at plenty of other weights.

But more important, this weekend’s tournament sets the rest of the spring and summer in motion.

Gage Linahon, right, wrestles Kalob "Tank" Runyon at 97 kg during the UWW Junior National freestyle championships, Sunday, May 2, 2021, at the Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa.

The freestyle and greco seasons are already well underway. Last month, Southeast Polk’s Nate Jesuroga made the Cadet freestyle world team. Last weekend, a handful of of the state’s top high-schoolers competed alongside some younger college wrestlers at the Junior world team trials.

Plenty of other top-tier competitions are scheduled for this summer. In June, the 16U and Junior national duals, where many of the winners this weekend will test themselves against their counterparts from other states. In July, the 16U and Junior freestyle and greco national championships in Fargo, North Dakota.

Each is an opportunity for Iowa’s top high-schoolers to compete against some of the nation’s best wrestlers. They are chances to put themselves on the national radar in terms of recruiting and ranking. College coaches will be watching at every turn, hoping to mine Iowa for their program’s next stars.

Come June, the NCAA will end its recruiting dead period for Division I programs, which has been in place since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Coaches and wrestlers will be able to meet face-to-face, schedule visits, do everything that comes with the high-intensity recruiting process.

These are opportunities that Iowa high-school wrestlers missed last summer because of the pandemic. All the tournaments were canceled, and the dead period limited recruiting opportunities.

Currently, 18 Iowa seniors have either committed or signed to wrestle at Division I programs, and many more are pursuing opportunities at other levels. But only 10 were considered top-300 prospects nationally in MatScouts final 2021 Big Board.

These next two classes have a chance to lap them.

On MatScouts’ 2022 Big Board, which only goes to 200, there are eight in-state wrestlers:

  • Iowa City West’s Hunter Garvin, at No. 52
  • West Delaware’s Wyatt Voelker, No. 78
  • Solon’s Hayden Taylor, No. 90
  • Logan-Magnolia’s Hagen Heistand, No. 143
  • Des Moines Lincoln’s Mickey Griffith, No. 148
  • Crestwood’s Carter Fousek, No. 166
  • Southeast Polk’s Joel Jesuroga, No. 178
  • Lisbon’s Robert Avila Jr., No. 184

On MatScouts’ 2023 Big Board, which only goes to 100, there are five Iowa wrestlers:

  • Iowa City High’s Ben Kueter, No. 9
  • Southeast Polk’s Nate Jesuroga, No. 26
  • Linn-Mar’s Tate Naaktgeboren, No. 29
  • Waverly-Shell Rock’s Ryder Block, No. 88
  • Underwood’s Gable Porter, No. 97
Iowa City High's Ben Kueter competed at the UWW Cadet freestyle world team trials this past weekend in Wisconsin. Kueter reached the semifinals at 92 kilograms (202 pounds).

So many others will join those lists in the months ahead — both because the lists will expand and because of their accomplishments this spring and summer — helping to further cement Iowa’s position as one of the nation’s deepest wrestling talent pools.

That’s why this spring and summer will be big for 2022 guys like Bettendorf’s Bradley Hill and Waverly-Shell Rock’s Aiden Riggins, for example. Both are state champs, in the national rankings, and recently reached the finals at the Cadet world team trials. The number of coaches who have been calling them already will likely expand.

It will also be big for 2023 guys like Waverly-Shell Rock’s McCrae Hagarty, City High’s Ben Kueter, Linn-Mar’s Tate Naaktgeboren and more. Those three, specifically, are also in the national rankings and produced strong showings at the Cadet world team trials. More big performances this summer will open up more opportunities moving forward.

Entering this weekend, only one 2022 wrestler has announced a commitment to a Division I program: North Butler-Clarksville heavyweight Chet Buss, who is headed to Northern Iowa. None has committed from 2023, understandably.

Both classes could produce some of the best wrestling talent Iowa has seen in a long, long time. We saw that last month at the Cadet world team trials, where six Iowa wrestlers reached the semifinal round, three made the finals, and Nate Jesuroga became the state's first Cadet world team member since 2014.

The next chapter is this weekend at Southeast Polk, where some of the best kids in the country will be in action once again. You already know many of them. You'll learn about more soon enough.

Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.

Iowa USAW Freestyle and Greco State Championships

at Southeast Polk HS

Saturday – Freestyle

  • Junior begins at 8:30 a.m. and runs to completion
  • 16U begins at 12 p.m. and runs to completion

Sunday – Greco-Roman

  • Junior begins at 9 a.m. and runs to completion
  • 16U begins at 11 a.m. and runs to completion