Waverly-Shell Rock rules C.R. tourney

CEDAR RAPIDS - If Tanner Werner wasn't front and center for the Waverly-Shell Rock wrestling poster, then coaches may want to schedule another shoot.

He made a strong case to be the program's poster boy Saturday.

Werner knocked off the top two ranked wrestlers at 125 pounds and powered Waverly-Shell Rock to the title at the Five Seasons Duals tournament hosted by Cedar Rapids Kennedy and Cedar Rapids Washington. The Go-Hawks handled top-ranked Bettendorf, 41-23, in the championship dual at Kennedy.

Werner was junior varsity as a freshman, a state qualifier as a sophomore and placed fifth last year.

“I've been wrestling my tail off for four years, so I don't know why can't this be my chance,” Werner said.

Werner beat Bettendorf's top-ranked Connor Ryan, 6-0. He scored takedowns in the first and third periods with a reversal in the second for his first win over Ryan.

That win came after Werner had a vital victory in the Go-Hawks' 33-31 defeat of Iowa City West in the semifinals. The win came after heavyweight Cody Krumwiede, Andrew Steiert (103) and Spencer Derfield (112) recorded pins and Eric Devos added a decision at 119 to put W-SR up, 21-10.

The Go-Hawks senior edged the Trojans' No. 2 Jack Hathaway, 6-4, eclipsing a 4-0 deficit in the third period. Werner scored a reversal and two two-point nearfalls with the final back points coming in the last five seconds.

“I really don't have anything to lose,” Werner said. “I went out and wrestled my style. I tried to control ties and rides and it turned out good.”

West failed to reach the finals of the meet for only the second time in Mark Reiland's 12 years at the school. The Trojans received one of four byes in the first round, caused by teams backing out late - three of them because of the weather. West (10-1) rebounded from the close loss to W-SR with a 52-18 win over Cedar Rapids Prairie for third place.

“Obviously, that wasn't the intent,” Reiland said. “I think we know where we're at and where we stand. We have things we have to work on.”

Prairie (6-2) returned to the event for the first time in Blake Williams' tenure as coach and placed fourth, handling Davenport West, 59-13, and Kennedy, 46-19, before dropping its final two duals.

"It was an OK day up until the last meet,” Williams said. “We battled hard the first three meets. The last meet we didn't wrestle with the intensity and fight we are used to. We kind of laid down for our competition the last meet, which was disappointing.”

Linn-Mar (6-2) went 3-1 with its only loss to Waverly-Shell Rock in the quarterfinals. Linn-Mar beat Charles City in the first round and closed with a 38-21 win over No. 8 Urbandale and a 33-26 win over West Delaware for fifth.