Moenck's confidence leads to wins for J-Hawks

CEDAR RAPIDS - Dylan Moenck has undergone a transformation in a season.

The Cedar Rapids Jefferson senior morphed from an overwhelmed first-year starter to a confident contributor to the team's success.

Moenck remained unbeaten in Mississippi Valley Conference competition last night, helping the host J-Hawks to dual victories over Cedar Rapids Washington and Dubuque Hempstead. Jefferson topped Hempstead, 42-29, before beating Washington, 55-13.

Moenck improved to 7-2 overall at 145 pounds, opening the night with a fall over Hempstead's Austin Sanders and claiming a 7-4 win over the Warriors' Kaiser Herz.

“The confidence wasn't there,” Jefferson Coach Dick Briggs said about Moenck last season. “It was like ‘I'm taking my lumps and I don't belong here. This year he feels he belongs.”

Indicative of the change was the win over Herz, who pinned Moenck last year.

“I think I could have done better my second match. Overall, I'm pretty happy,” Moenck said. “It felt good.”

Briggs praised Moenck, calling him a hard worker. He said he could see the talent in the practice room but it didn't transfer to competition.

“Dylan was working his fanny off and then just didn't wrestle with much confidence,” Briggs said. “He's improved that level of confidence (this year).”

Moenck said he's changed his attitude, going out to win and looking to score. He has been able to feed off the good start and that pride is a factor with this being his last season. he wants to end it with an appearance at the state tournament.

“I want to be wrestling in Des Moines,” Moenck said. “I want to medal.”

The J-Hawks raised their record to 5-1. Jefferson trailed Hempstead, 24-9, winning the last five weights and six of the last seven. During the stretch Griffin Bollman (103), Brice Lukasko (125), Blake Carson (130) and 140-pounder Tyer Boesenberg all recorded falls.

“I was happy with a lot of kids down the stretch,” Briggs said. “We got down and battled back.”

Carson's pin gave Jefferson a 33-29 lead, its first since Moenck's fall. Boesenberg led, 15-13, before pinning fourth-ranked Kevin Brimeyer in 5:58 to end the meet.

“Boesenberg beat a tough kid,” Briggs said. “That was a nice win.”

The J-Hawks closed with the decisive win over Washington (3-8, 1-5 MVC), winning 11 mqatches. Hempstead (2-4) beat the Warriors, 42-27.

Washington's Tyler Burrell improved his record to 12-3 with a win over Jefferson's Conner Herman, ranked second at 215 but moved up to heavyweight after Riley Welsh suffered an injury during the Hempstead dual. The pair exchanged escapes in regulation and again during two tiebreaker periods in overtime. In the final 30-second tiebreaker, Burrell chose down and scored a reversal to win, 4-2.

“It's a good win over a ranked opponent," Cedar Rapids Washington Coach Matt Hatcher said.

160 pounds – Hunter Kloubec (CRJ) won by forfeit; 171 – Drake Allen (CRJ) won by forfeit; 189 – Brandon Leary (CRJ) won by forfeit; 215 – Dale Deaton (CRJ) won by forfeit; hwt. – Tyler Burrell (CRW) dec. Conner Herman, 4-2 (OT); 103 – Griffin Bollman (CRJ) major dec. Elijah Javier, 22-10; 112 – Troy Neagle (CRW) major dec. Cody Hensel, 12-0; 119 – john Rockwell (CRW) pinned P.J. Rashed, 3:15; 125 – Brice Lukasko (CRJ) dec. Jordan Eicher, 6-3; 130 – Blake Carson (CRJ) pinned J.P. Mercado, 4:14; 135 – Michael Smith (CRJ) dec. Trevor Luebe, 6-4; 140 – Tyler Boesenberg (CRJ) won by forfeit; 145 – Dylan Moenck (CRW) dec. Kaiser Herz, 7-4; 152 – Shavez Butler (CRJ) pinned Evan Lehrman, 3:04.

145 – Moenck (CRJ) pinned Austin Sanders, 1:13; 152 – Evan Smith (DH) pinned Butler, 1:24; 160 – Mark Owens (DH) pinned Kloubec, 2:48; 171 – Gary Pape (DH) dec. Allen, 9-3; 189 – Layton Fritsch (DH) dec. Leary, 9-2; 215 – Herman (CRJ) dec. Brett Haas, 3-0; Hwt. – Ryan Arensdorf (DH) won by injury default over Riley Welsh; 103 – Bollman (CRJ) pinned ian Hurst, 4:52; 112 – Brandon Feldman (DH) tech. fall Hensel, 16-1; 119 – Rashed (CRJ) won by forfeit; 125 – Lukasko (CRJ) pinned Jake Duccini, 2:22; 130 – Carson (CRJ) pinned Deondre Brown, 5:04; 135 – Smith (CRJ) dec. Damien McGovern, 4-3; 140 – Boesenberg (CRJ) pinned Kevin Brimeyer, 5:58.

152 – Smith (DH) pinned Lehrman, :31; 160 – Owens (DH) won by forfeit; 171 – Pape (DH) won by forfeit; 189 – Fritsch (DH) won by forfeit; 215 – Haas (DH) won by forfeit; Hwt. – Burrell (CRW) pinned Arensdorf, 4:59; 103 – Hurst (DH) dec. Javier, 5-3; 112 – Neagle (CRW) dec. Feldman, 7-3; 119 – Rockwell (CRW) won by forfeit; 125 – Eicher (CRW) dec. Duccini, 9-2; 130 – Mercado (CRW) pinned Brown, 1:37; 135 – McGovern (DH) dec. Luebe, 7-5; 140 – Brimeyer (DH) won by forfeit; 145 – Herz (CRW) dec. Sanders, 5-4.

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