Hawks hammer competition, face tough stretch

Cedar Rapids Prairie dominated the Marshalltown Duals last weekend. The Hawks, sixth in Class 3A ratings of the Iowa Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association dual rankings, went 5-0, outscoring their opponents by an average of 60-13 (300-65 total),

Prairie is 18-5 overall and 8-0 in the Mississippi Valley Conference, hosting No. 3 Iowa City West and Cedar Rapids Washington Thursday. The Hawks will then head to Geneseo, Ill., for a tournament this weekend before a Metro showdown with ninth-ranked Linn-Mar on Jan. 19 at Prairie.

Prairie is led by Josh Wenger (113) and Chris Walters (120), who have 25 wins apiece. Junior Austin Gould has posted 22 wins at 182 for the Hawks, who has a wrestler with a .500-record at each weight and six with 20 or more wins.

The Hawks are expected to have defending state champion Zach Witte return to the lineup at 152 after missing the first of the season to a broken wrist. Andrew Netolicky and Peyton Wagner are former state medalists and two of seven state tournament qualifiers that make up this year's squad.

The team's records are below:

106             Zack Fiser                      16-11

113             Josh Wenger                 25-1

120             Chris Walters                25-1

126             Trey Blaha                     17-2

132             Zach Becicka                 16-8

138             Skyler St. John              21-5

145             River Whitters              12-9

152             Zach Witte                    0-0

160             Casey Becker                5-5

170             Cameron Rathje            20-3

182             Austin Gould                22-3

195             Trent Schulte                14-9

220             Andrew Netolicky        21-4

285             Conner Nolan               8-8