Bears break into State Duals field

West Branch can cross off the Iowa High School Athletic Association State Duals off its to-do list.

The Bears earned its first berth in the Class 1A State Duals tournament, facing top-seeded Clarion-Goldfield (17-1) in the quarterfinal round Wednesday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

"It's making history," third-year West Branch head coach Marc Juergens said. "The kids are pretty excited about it. It shows we're moving in the right direction."

Only two teams in all three classes will make their debut in the team competition. Martensdale-St. Mary (23-5) is the No. 7 seed in the 1A tournament and wrestles No. 2 Don Bosco (22-6) in the opening round.

Eighth-seeded and 13th-ranked West Branch (20-2) qualified by knocking off ninth-ranked Eddyville-Blakesburg, 48-36, in a regional dual final Feb. 7. The dual came down to the final matches, but the Bear notched the win. One they missed by one point to Wilton last year.

"Leading up to that (finish), we had to have certain kids get pins and hoping certain kids stepped it up a little," Juergens said. "It was a roller coaster ride all the way to the end."

The Bears are led by state qualifiers Jake Slocum, ranked seventh at 145, No. 10 195-pounder Cade Jones and Derrick Miller (220). According to Juergens, West Branch has just enough to fill its lineup and the success has been a team effort.

"It does help that we don't have any open weights," Juergens said. "It's a lot of kids who are going after it this year. We have some kids that maybe haven't been our stars who have stepped it up this year."