K.J. Pilcher

Mount Vernon’s Klayten Perreault recorded a pin for the 106-pound title Saturday at Williamsburg and helped propel the Mustangs to their first Wamac Conference tournament team title since joining the league in 2009.

Vinton-Shellsburg received regional titles from Bree Swenson and Chloe Sanders and advanced seven to next week’s IGHSAU state wrestling tournament in Coralville. Vinton-Shellsburg finished second to Bettendorf in the Region 6 team race Friday at Alliant Energy PowerHouse.

Cedar Rapids Jefferson’s Josephine Budederi never wrestled before high school but watched her brothers compete. When she got the opportunity, she didn’t hesitate. She earned her second state berth with a runner-up finish at 135 pounds Friday at the Region 5 tournament at Alliant Energy PowerHouse.

Cedar Rapids Washington junior 190-pounder Wyatt Young is pursuing a return trip to the state tournament, qualifying last season at 170. He recorded a pin against Cedar Rapids Kennedy on Thursday night, but the host Cougars dominated the dual, 63-11.

Aiden Riggins realized what the Iowa men’s wrestling team needed and embraced the opportunity to fill a hole in the starting lineup. Not even a bump to a higher weight class and nearly a 30-pound increase from his starting weight last season could deter the Hawkeyes’ redshirt freshman.

Iowa men’s wrestling coach Tom Brands said Wednesday that “basic liberties were infringed upon” in the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation’s sports gambling probe of University of Iowa and Iowa State University athletes.

Alburnett has climbed to the top of the Class 1A boys’ wrestling dual rankings. The Pirates were fourth at the 2023 state duals and will host regional duals again this season. The Wamac Conference has seven teams in the field with No. 2 Mount Vernon, West Delaware and Indpendence hosting 2A regional duals. Linn-Mar is the lone Gazette-area host in 3A.

This week’s episode of the Pinning Combination podcast with Hall of Fame coach Dick Briggs looks back at wins for the Iowa men and women last week, reviews American Rivers Conference competitions, highlights the standouts from the weekend of high school tournaments and previews upcoming boys’ conference tournaments and regional duals and girls’ regional tournaments.

Coe followed up a fifth-place finish at the NWCA National Duals with a 4-0 mark at the American Rivers Conference Duals on Saturday at Luther in Decorah. The Kohawks improved to 10-1 this season. The A-R-C held its first women’s conference tournament, Iowa’s offense against Purdue and prep results in the Wrestling Weekend That Was.

Jase and Jackson Jaspers are in their second season as Mount Vernon wrestling teammates, but they have wrestled together for a long time.

Victor Voinovich III opened the season as the Iowa men’s wrestling 149-pound starter before being supplanted by teammate Caleb Rathjen. The transfer from Oklahoma State has continued to vie for the spot and produced a technical fall win in Iowa’s 34-6 throttling of Purdue Friday at home.

West Delaware received a pin from Brent Yonkovic and major decision from Jeryn Funke in the final two matches to edge rival Independence, 29-28, in a boys’ wrestling dual. The Mustangs won the girls’ dual, 42-33, securing the victory with Izzy Strickert’s pin.

Iowa wrestling 125-pounder Drake Ayala has ascended the rankings and owns the No. 1 spot in three of four national polls. He has won four straight against ranked foes and will take on NCAA finalist Matt Ramos when Iowa hosts Purdue Friday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Weather wiped out much of the wrestling schedule in Iowa last week, but there still are plenty of topics to discuss on this week’s episode of the Pinning Combination, including Iowa’s impressive win over Nebraska and Ben Kueter’s debut.

West Delaware’s Jeff Voss became just the eighth coach in Iowa high school wrestling history to reach 500 career dual wins.