Metro and Iowa City occupy awards stand

DES MOINES -- Twenty-four wrestlers from the Cedar Rapidcs/Marion Metro and Iowa City areas earned coveted spots on the awards podium Saturday night of the Iowa High School Athletic Association state wrestling tournament at Wells Fargo Arena.

Iowa City West leads the way with eight total, Linn-Mar has seven and Cedar Rapids Prairie six.

The Lions Matt Wempen (103), Ross Lembeck (145) and 182-pounder Mark Atwater all reached the finals. Sophomore Alijah Jeffery (113) earned his second straight third-place finish, Joel Northrup earned a second state medal, placing fourth at 132, matched by A.J. Garcia's fourth at 220, Mitch Wantock was fifth at 170, and Damon Griffin finished eighth at 120.

Iowa City West also had three finalists in Phillip Laux (113), Dakota Bauer (132) and 160-pounder Justin Koethe reached the finals. Jack Hathaway, a 2011 state champion, earned his third bronze medal, placing third at 126. Ernest Willis (120) and 145-pounder Gradey Gambrall, a 2010 state runner-up, placed fifth. Kegan Wakefield, the 119-pound runner-up last year, was seventh at 138 and Trojans heavyweight Colin Foerstner was eighth.

The Hawks advanced Chris Walters (120) and top-ranked 152-pounder Zach Witte into the finals. Freshman Josh Wenger (113) placed fourth. Andrew Netolicky earned his second straight medal, getting fifth at 220. Trey Blaha and Cam Rathje placed sixth at 126 and 170, respectively.

Cedar Rapids Washington's Tyler Burrell placed for the second straight season. He placed fifth at heavyweight.

Cedar Rapids Kennedy's Luke Kremer reached the finals at 132 as the Cougars' lone medalist.

Also in 3A, Decorah's Zach Henning and Western Dubuque's Nick Steger were seventh and eighth at 132.