Maquoketa Valley upper weights bring their ‘gas tanks’ to state wrestling tournament

DES MOINES — They hunt and fish together. They’re good friends and have each other’s backs. But each day in the Maquoketa Valley wrestling room, upper weight standouts Nathan Beitz, Brady Davis and Aiden Salow beat the crap out of each other.

It’s a mutually-beneficial, if bruising, arrangement.

“We push each other to our limits,” said Salow, who went 1-1 Wednesday in the Class 1A Iowa high school boys’ state wrestling tournament at Wells Fargo Arena. “Every day after practice we’re broke.”

Salow, a junior seeded 10th at heavyweight, will try to wend his way through the consolation bracket to attain a podium finish. Beitz, the third-seeded 195-pounder, and Davis, the No. 8 seed at 220, both won their initial matches Wednesday. Beitz won by decision, 7-0, over No. 14 Trent Wilkerson of New London. Davis outlasted No. 9 Brayden New of West Monona-Whiting, 7-4.

“The first period I just thought, ‘Push the pace, push the pace, push the pace,’” said Beitz, who will face No. 6 Ashton Honnold of Nodaway Valley on Thursday. “We knew the kid would run out of gas eventually and all three upper weights, we’ve got gas tanks. That’s just the main goal for all of us.”

Another important goal? Making the other two guys better — and it can be lonely at the top. Maquoketa Valley head coach Kurt Hatfield said they don’t always have a dual meet opponent because some of the Wildcats’ foes can’t field wrestlers at the upper weights.

“We’ve got to give them all we can give them inside that practice room so they’re all ready for big tournaments like this,” Hatfield said.

So far, so good, as all three remain alive in tough fields.

“Every morning in the weight room we’re right next to each other (as) lifting partners,” Salow said. “And practice partners every day in the wrestling room, in each other’s corner. So, yeah, we’re pretty close.”

Bracket buster

Midland’s Caden Ballou posted the biggest upset in the first session of the Class 1A state wrestling tournament Wednesday. The 182-pound senior entered the tournament as the No. 15 seed and advanced to the quarterfinals with a pin over North Butler-Clarksville’s No. 2 MaKade Bloker.

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