West, W-SR battle takes shape

  DES MOINES - Mark Reiland will not allow himself to get too excited about Iowa City West's initial showing at the 2009 state wrestling tournament.

While winning eight of 10 first-round matches Wednesday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena - picking up bonus points in all eight victories - deserves rave reviews, there is still plenty of work ahead.

After the first round and a round of consolation matches, West is in second place in the Class 3A team standings with 31 1/2 points. Waverly-Shell Rock is on top - barely - with 32 points.

"It's a good start. Bonus points are good and falls help," said Reiland, West's head coach. "But it's a marathon, not a sprint. Our job is to make sure our kids are ready to go (today)."

Quarterfinals and second-round consolation matches begin at 2 p.m. today.

Fourth-ranked Jack Hathaway (103), No. 7 Gradey Gambrall (125), No. 6 Justin Koethe (135), No. 1 Dylan Carew (140), No. 1 Nick Moore (152), No. 1 Derek St. John (160), unranked David Solis (171) and unranked Matt Behnami (215) rolled to first-round victories.

Hathaway (38-4), Gambrall (26-8), Koethe (40-6), Moore (42-0), St. John (41-0) and Solis (31-10) won by fall. Carew (25-1) scored a technical fall, and Behnami (29-15) picked up a major decision.

Solis pulled off an upset special, flattening Bettendorf's seventh-ranked Nate Shaw in 4:21.

"(Solis) was good. He put all the distractions out of his mind and wrestled," Reiland said. "He has to do it again (today)."

Carew wants to turn back the clock to his freshman season, when he won his only individual state championship.

He took his first step with a 16-1 technical fall (3:51) over Tyler Schoo of Waterloo West.

"This one for me would mean the most as far as going out on top and finishing where I needed to be all four years," Carew said. "This is the best I've felt as far as technique and conditioning. I'm ready to go."

West, the 2006 and 2007 state champion, was the headline attraction of the first day locally, but Cedar Rapids Metro schools had their highlights.

Jefferson's fourth-ranked Jason McCormick outlasted No. 3 Aidan Brock of Cedar Falls, 3-2 in overtime, in the featured match at 171 pounds. The familiar foes exchanged escapes through the first overtime. Both scored on escapes in double overtime, forcing a 30-second tiebreaker period.

McCormick (28-2) rode Brock the entire period for the victory.

"I had to do everything I could to hold him down. I had to try to tie up his ankles and wrists," McCormick said.

It was an eight-minute match without many takedown attempts.

"This was a really important win. We split with each other during the season and this was a more important match," said McCormick, who will wrestle unranked Michael Foster of West Des Moines Valley in the quarterfinals.

Kennedy freshman Luke Kremer made a triumphant state debut, pinning Andrew Crawford of Denison-Schleswig in 4:43 at 119. Kremer (22-7) overcame adversity on his road to state. He missed four weeks during the season with mononucleosis, returning just in time for district.

"It felt good (to win). I knew I wouldn't be in the best shape, because I sat out for so long," Kremer said. "I knew I could do it."

Kremer, ranked 10th, will attempt to keep his title hopes alive with an upset win over top-ranked freshman John Meeks of Des Moines Roosevelt in the quarterfinals.

"I haven't wrestled him, but I really want to win state," Kremer said.