Articles Tagged: Vinton-Shellsburg High School

Meet The Gazette’s 2024 all-area high school girls’ wrestling team: Naomi Simon of Decorah is the Wrestler of the Year and Gene Adams of Decorah is the Coach of the Year.

Vinton-Shellsburg bowlers Vann Lessig and Kylee Kirchner — separated by 18 lanes in their championship matches at Cadillac XBC in Waterloo — secured Class 1A individual state titles within moments of each other.

Tori Richart and Vingon-Shellsburg finished first at last Monday’s Class 1A state qualifier in Ames — giving the Vikings their fourth consecutive appearance at state.

West Liberty’s Silvia Garcia-Vasquez placed third at state last year with her lone loss coming to Sioux City North’s runner-up Molly Sek. She got revenge Thursday, pinning the top seed in the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union 115-pound state quarterfinals. Garcia-Vasquez was joined in the quarterfinals by sisters, Dionni and Bricsia.

Sigourney’s Reanah Utterback has placed at the IHSAA state tournament. She is competing in the IGHSAU state tournament this season and opened with two pins quicker than a minute Thursday morning.

On Thursday and Friday, there will be 448 wrestlers who will toe the line in hopes of becoming a state champion at the second IGHSAU girls’ state wrestling tournament at Xtream Arena in Coralville. Here are five things to watch.

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.

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.

Wartburg captured its 13th title, while Coe and Upper Iowa rebounded after opening-round losses at the NWCA Multi-Divisional Dual Championships at the UNI-Dome. Life University got a title sweep. Iowa State swept out west, UNI got its 800th dual win and the Alburnett boys and Decorah girls impressed during the Wrestling Weekend That Was.

Photos from the Benton Community Bobcat Invitational boys’ wrestling tournament at Benton Community High School in Van Horne on Saturday.

Scenes from the Liberty girls’ wrestling tournament at Liberty High School in North Liberty, Iowa on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023.

Spencer Lee is back to being Spencer Lee with another freestyle title. Upper Iowa with a strong showing at the Midwest Classic. Linn-Mar leads a good local performance at the Battle of Waterloo. Vinton-Shellsburg girls’ and West Branch boys’ win team titles. This is the Wrestling Weekend That Was.

The Vinton-Shellsburg boys’ bowling team was state runner-up last season and hopes to take that final step in 2024.

West Delaware Coach had an interesting analogy to describe his team. They resemble farm dogs chasing passing cars, trying to run down their best performances. The Hawks won the South Winn Invitational and hits a challenging stretch of duals this week.

A look at some of the top Gazette-area teams and bowlers to watch in the 2023-24 Iowa high school bowling season.