High School Boys’ Wrestling Notes: West Delaware experiences progress through opening weeks of the season

MANCHESTER – West Delaware Coach Jeff Voss offered an interesting analogy to describe his wrestling team.

He likened the Hawks to farm dogs chasing cars down a country road. They don’t exactly know what they’re going after, but they just keep chasing it whenever the opportunity arises.

“The kids have success and are like, ‘I just won a tournament’ but that’s not your best,” Voss said. “You still don’t know what it is. You have to chase it every time you get on out on the mat. It’s been kind of fun.”

The Hawks started the season 3-0 in duals and made strides in the first two weeks, winning the South Winn Invitational on Friday at Luther College in Decorah. West Delaware scored 236.5 points with two champions and four finalists, beating the defending Class 2A state champion and top-ranked Osage by 43.5 points.

Brayden Maury (120) and Blake Mather (157) led the way with titles. Jax Miller (138) and 175-pount Brent Yonkovic were second. Eleven Hawks placed in the top four with all 14 finishing sixth or better.

“Our team is making a lot of progress,” Voss said. “From Week 1 to Week 2, there was a lot of growth by our experienced guys and young kids.”

This season has been a mixture of veterans and newbies. Seven new starters have stepped in West’s Delaware lineup. The freshmen starters have vast experience at younger age levels, while others made some varsity appearances.

“Everybody is feeding off each other, right now, especially the energy and knowing teammates have their back, win or lose,” Voss said. “We’re going to keep moving forward.”

West Delaware finished third at its home Bob Murphy Invitational on the season’s opening weekend. The Hawks were a lackluster 2-12 in the final round. Voss said coaches noticed a lack of urgency, wrestling through certain situations and positions. They focused on it during practice and transferred it to competition with a 7-7 mark in the final round Friday.

“I felt our hustle was a lot better,” Voss said. “As a team, there was a huge improvement and it allowed us to wrestle with some pretty good kids.”

The Hawks have dominated their duals with an average margin of victory of 72.3 to 6. The road gets tougher this weekend. West Delaware wrestles at 2A No. 2 Mount Vernon Thursday. The Hawks are a No. 1 seed in the A Bracket with No. 2 Osage, No. 3 Independence, No.4 Don Bosco and No. 5 Davenport Assumption.

“They are the next events and we can evaluate,” Voss said. “It’s an opportunity to measure where we’re at against a good team, maybe the best team in 2A.”

SCRANTON STARTS STRONG

Anamosa junior Austin Scranton has posted one of the better starts to the season. He has climbed to No. 2 in the latest IAwrestle.com Class 2A 175-pound rankings.

Scranton ended last season with a sixth-place state finish at 170. He already has two tournament titles, en route to an 18-0 record.

Scranton has been a bonus-point machine, winning just one match by decision and going the distance in all but two. He has 13 pins, a technical fall and one major decision with two forfeits. Scranton defeated Yonkovic, 5-2, in the South Winn Invitational final for a second win over the Hawks’ 2022 state medalist.

SMITH, THOMSEN NAMED TO BATTLE OF WATERLOO HOF

Former Lisbon and Iowa City High Coach Brad Smith and former Union Community four-time state champion Max Thomsen are being inducted into the Battle of Waterloo Hall of Fame.

Smith is the first coach to enter the event’s Hall of Fame. The University of Iowa 1976 NCAA champion will receive his plaque Wednesday from his legendary coach Dan Gable at the Dan Gable Museum.

Smith is the state’s all-time leader in dual wins and state team titles. This marks his seventh Hall of Fame honor for Smith, who will be recognized alongside other inductees before Saturday’s finals at 3 p.m. at Young Arena.

“This will be an awesome thrill for me as I will have several family members and former wrestlers attending,” Smith messaged The Gazette in an email that mentioned four-time state champions Scott Morningstar and Shane Light with NCAA champion and world silver medalist Royce Alger will be acknowledged with him.

Thomsen was the 24th Iowa prep to win four state championships. He won 2A titles from 2012-15, competing from 113 to 145 pounds. Thomsen finished with 210 career victories, finishing with 199 straight wins, which is tied for the longest in state history. He ranks second with 157 career pins.

Interestingly, his lone loss was to Iowa City West’s Phil Laux his freshman year at the Battle of Waterloo.

Other inductees and award winners include the 1963 Waterloo East and 1972 Waterloo West state title teams, East’s 1988 state champion Marcus Mangum and West’s state titlist Tony Hanson. Bill Tate Sr. and family are recipients of the Wrestling Family Award,

The girls’ competition will be held Thursday and consists of 24 teams. Cedar Rapids Prairie, East Buchanan, Independence, Linn-Mar, Vinton-Shellsburg and West Delaware are the area programs in the field, beginning at 9 a.m.

The boys’ tournament is a 32-team, two-team event. Bracket competition is Friday with pool duals based on Day 1 results are Saturday. The top seeds are West Delaware (A), Waverly-Shell Rock (B), Bettendorf (C) and Indianola in (D). Linn-Mar is the No. 2 seed in Bracket B and Alburnett is the No. 2 in Bracket C. Action begins Friday at 9 a.m.

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