West Branch’s Cooper Gates focused on making his final boys wrestling season his best yet

Gates has been dominant, winning a tournament crown for the second straight weekend. He scored to technical falls and tallied three takedowns in the victory over Wolford. Gates was 6-0 last week with five pins and a major decision. He is 9-0 with nine bonus-point wins the last two Saturdays.

“Ever since then I’ve been putting more work in the practice room,” Gates said about his lone loss the first weekend of the season. “I’ve been getting better and better. Just trying to dominate, I guess.”

Lisbon placed eight in the top two and received titles from Kyler Happel (106), Cade Happel at 126, Carter Gadberry (132) and 175-pounder Caleb Brown.

Happel pinned MFL MarMac’s Tacoma Thompson in 48 seconds of the final, improving to 17-3 this season and securing his 100th career victory.

“He’s been wrestling really well,” Lisbon Coach Aaron Helmrich said. “He’s wrestling at a different level this year. It’s good to see. He’s wrestling hard.”

The Lions edged runner-up Woodbury Central by one point. Brown’s pin over Woodbury Central’s Maverick Joy in the championship bout iced the team race.

“Caleb has done that the last few years,” Helmrich said. “All four of our champs wrestle hard. They know how to score bonus points and that’s a big thing. If you can score bonus points, you can win tournaments.”

Sigourney-Keota had two champions. Jacob Lbe claimed the 138-pound title and Owen Menke won at heavyweight. Fifth-ranked Menke (15-0) defeated MFL’s second-ranked Will Howes, 7-1, in the final.

REGINA REGAL INVITATIONAL

At Iowa City

Teams – 1. Lisbon 196, 2. Woobury Central 195, 3. West Branch 173.5, 4. Sigourney-Keota 122, 5. Iowa City Regina 120, 6. Wapello 81, 7. WACO 75, 8. MFL MarMac 63, 9. HLV/Tri-County 54.5, 10. Davenport West 36.5, 11. North Cedar 25, 12. Lone Tree 20.

Championship matches

106 pounds – Kyler Happel (Lis) dec. Tait Zirkel (DW), 8-5 SV1; 113 – Ian Maize (WACO) dec. Jack Gogel (Lis), 7-0; 120 – Ethan Humphrey (WB) major dec. Cael Stricker, 9-1; 126 – Cade Happel (Lis) pinned Tacoma Thompson (MFL), :48; 132 – Carter Gadberry (Lis) pinned Gabe Depoorter (WB), 5:14; 138 – Jacob Libe (SK) pinned Gavin Hove (Lis), 3:09; 144 – Gavin Wiig (WC) dec. Cash Hatfield (WB), 7-4 SV1; 150 – Lincoln Linden (WC) pinned Jackson Knapp (Lis), 3:30; 157 – Cael Weisskopf (HLV-TC) dec. Keaton Gates (WB), 12-9; 165 – Cooper Gates (WB) major dec. Cohen Wolford (Wap), 10-2; 175 – Caleb Brown (Lis) pinned Maverick Joy (WC), 3:40; 190 – Braxton Stauffer (WACO) pinned Camron Zellmer (WC), 1:01; 215 – Carter Wright (WC) pinned Porter Shetler (ICR), 1:28; Hwt. – Owen Menke (SK) dec. Will Howes (MFL), 7-1.

Comments: kj.pilcher@thegazette.com