J-Hawks soar to first State Duals berth in 20 years

Cedar Rapids Jefferson earned its first trip to the Class 3A State Duals in 20 years.The seventh-ranked J-Hawks won eight matches and dropped No. 9 North Scott, 41-29, last night in a regional dual at Eldridge. It is their fourth state duals appearance in school history and first since 1994.Jefferson co-head Dick Briggs said numerous J-Hawks wrestlers, students, faculty and family made the trip to support the team. He said it created a fun atmosphere."I'm very proud of our team," Briggs said. "I'm real excited for the kids. We're better as a whole than individually and we're not bad individually. When all 14 contribute, we're a pretty successful unit."Jefferson blitzed the Lancers, building a 35-6 lead after eight matches. Kyle Briggs (120), state medalist Michael Moncivais (138), 152-pounder Kelly May and Luke Sedlacek had pins, and Matt Culver (132) and freshman Tavian Rashed (145) scored major decisions and 113-pounder Joseph Sibomana added a decision during the stretch. Top-ranked 106-pounder Brenden Baker capped the dual with a first-period fall in the final match.Sibomana beat a previously ranked wrestler, who bumped up a weight."Sibomana and (Kyle Briggs) got the ball rolling," Dick Briggs said. "Moncivais was in a real close match and ended up pinning him. Those three stand out to me."Jefferson improved to 13-1 and face No. 2 Waverly-Shell Rock (20-0) in the 3A State Duals quarterfinals Feb. 19 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, beginning at 9 a.m.

AT ELDRIDGE

Cedar Rapids Jefferson 41, North Scott 29113: Joseph Sibomana, CRJ, dec. Jacob Schipper, NOSC, 11-7. 120: Kyle Briggs, CRJ, pinned Ryan Renken, NOSC, 4:57. 126: Connor Allchin, NOSC, pinned Seth Jellison, CRJ, 3:45. 132: Matt Culver, CRJ, maj. dec. Ethan Stilson, NOSC, 11-3. 138: Michael Moncivais, CRJ, pinned Jacob Ridgeway, NOSC, 3:29. 145: Tavian Rashed, CRJ, maj. dec. Tyler Renken, NOSC, 16-6. 152: Kelly May, CRJ, pinned Kiel Brown, NOSC, 1:04. 160: Luke Sedlacek, CRJ, pinned Zeke Blondell, NOSC, 2:20. 170: Derek Golinghorst, NOSC, dec. Nick Dreckman, CRJ, 4-1. 182: Mitch Bowman, NOSC, pinned Erik Hovey, CRJ, 0:42. 195: Colin Kreiter, NOSC, tech. fall Josh Allen, CRJ, 5:59 19-4. 220: Cordell Eaton, NOSC, pinned William Orr, CRJ, 3:01. 285: Korbin Caves, NOSC, dec. Dalton Kuehl, CRJ, 7-3. 106: Brenden Baker, CRJ, pinned Mayson Shannon, NOSC, 1:35.