On wild night, Waverly-Shell Rock closes in on another Class 3A state wrestling team title

The Iowa High School Athletic Association chose a new mat layout for the semifinal round of its state wrestling tournament this year. It’s traditionally called the dogbone layout, with four mats on the outside and two more in the middle.

The layout provides a stage, of sorts, with the semifinal matches on the center two mats while key wrestlebacks run on the outside. The setup is normally associated with a wild wave of emotion, with high highs and low lows. Weddings and funerals.

The Class 3A state wrestling championships delivered on that expectation Friday night.

A titanic favorite was pinned in the very first match of the night, and there were seven pins, total, during the semifinal round. There were 10 matches decided by two points or less, and another four decided by three. There were six overtime matches, and one ultimately ended in an injury default. There’s an all-freshman final … at 195 pounds.

We’ll get into all of that below in the weight-by-weight semifinal breakdown, but let’s start with the team race, where Waverly-Shell Rock continues its wire-to-wire run to what’s shaping up to be a fourth traditional team title in the last five years.

The Go-Hawks emerged from the madness with a gigantic lead, scoring 152 points thanks to four finalists and seven total medalists. Ryder Block (138), Bas Diaz (145), Danny Diaz (160), and Jake Walker (285) all punched their tickets to Saturday night’s championship finals — and may very well have secured the team title as well.

Linn-Mar climbed from sixth place after Wednesday’s opening rounds to fourth after Thursday, and now sits second entering Saturday, with 128 points, after Brayden Parke (132), Kane Naaktgeboren (138), Grant Kress (152), and Tate Naaktgeboren (182) all made the finals. A fifth medalist, Malik DeBow (113), is alive for third.

If you could’ve scripted a nightmare round for Southeast Polk, it probably would have looked like Friday. The Rams went 0-for-4 in the semifinals but will finish with nine total medalists, and seven remain alive for third. Bettendorf struggled as well, with eight medalists but only one finalist, but six of the seven wrestling back are alive for third.

If they pin out, both the Rams and Bulldogs could climb back into the team race, but the odds of that are slim, of course. That puts the Go-Hawks firmly in the driver’s seat in Iowa’s largest class. A mathematical clinch may not come until Saturday night, but a strong Saturday morning might speed up the process.

Even with all the Friday night craziness, so much more could still unfold. Already, five teams have surpassed 100 points — Iowa City High sits fifth with 101 — and as many as three more could hit triple digits. Pride and titles are on the line come Saturday, the fourth and final act of this four-day competition.

The dogbone was a fantastic addition to the state wrestling tournament this year. It was a neat aesthetic that allowed fans inside Wells Fargo Arena to easily follow the action during the all-important Friday session — and, of course, all the top competitors who make up the state’s largest class ensure they got their money’s worth.

Weight-by-Weight analysis from the Class 3A state wrestling semifinals

106: In the very first semifinal of the night, Norwalk junior Tyler Harper, in his first-ever trip to state, pulled the stunner of the tournament, with an 18-second pin over Southeast Polk’s Carter Pearson, the 1-seed. Pearson pinned Harper four times this year, including in last week’s district finals. Southeast Polk coach Jake Agnitsch dropped his head into his hands after the fall was called, perhaps the first sign that the Rams were in for a long night. Harper, a freestyle All-American at both the 16U and Junior levels, will face Iowa City West freshman Alex Pierce in the finals. Pierce scored five takedowns in an 11-4 win over Ankeny Centennial’s Cale Vandermark.

113: Both of these semifinal matches were decided by a single point. Fort Dodge junior Dru Ayala muscled out a 6-5 tiebreaker win over Waverly-Shell Rock’s Ryker Graff. They traded takedowns in the first two periods, and Graff was in on a couple of shots in the third, but Ayala fended them off and rode out Graff to win. Bettendorf freshman Jake Knight won 2-1 over Bondurant-Farrar’s Connor Fiser after Fiser was called for a technical violation — his shoe came off his heel — midway through the third. Tough call. Ayala and Knight have wrestled twice already this year, splitting them.

120: Waukee Northwest’s Koufax Christensen is back in the state finals for the third-straight year after pinning Prairie’s Blake Gioimo in the third period. This was a rematch of last year’s 113-pound final. Koufax won 1-0 last year. On Friday, he built a 5-0 lead before locking up a cradle. He’ll get Indianola’s Bowen Downey, who survived a 13-10 thriller over Bettendorf’s TJ Koester. Downey built a 9-2 lead after a takedown in the second period, but Koester, a returning state champ, roared back with four takedowns to make it interesting late.

126: It’ll be a Little Cy-Hawk matchup in this final, between Iowa City High’s Cale Seaton, a 14-5 winner over North Scott’s Ayden Golden, who reached the semifinals as the 13-seed, and Ames’ Jabari Hinson, who is in the finals in his first trip to state after a 3-1 overtime win over Southeast Polk’s Max Riggins.

132: Waukee Northwest’s Carter Freeman, a junior, will wrestle for his third state title after scoring a pair of third-period takedowns in a 5-2 win over City High’s Kael Kurtz. He’ll face Linn-Mar’s Brayden Parke, who won a wild one over Bettendorf’s Jayce Luna, 4-3 in the tiebreakers. Parke scored a takedown in the first, Luna scored a reversal late in the second, it was tied 3-3 after regulation, Parke nearly pinned Luna at the gun in sudden victory (the ref called the fall, but time had run out), then rode out Luna and escaped in the tiebreakers to win.

138: These semifinals were boring by comparison. Ryder Block became Waverly-Shell Rock’s first finalist with a second-period pin over Bondurant-Farrar’s Nolan Fellers. He is now a four-time state finalist. Linn-Mar’s Kane Naaktgeboren recorded his third pin in as many matches over Ankeny’s Ben Hansen to reach the state finals for the first time.

145: The craziness returned here. Bas Diaz was the second Go-Hawk finalist after a 2-1 ultimate-tiebreaker win over Centennial’s Lucas Bruhl. They traded escapes in regulation, then traded rideouts in the tiebreakers, then Diaz rode Bruhl out to win the match. He’ll face Johnson’s Braden Blackorby, who scored a late third-period takedown to ice a 3-0 win over Carlisle freshman Jaxon Miller.

152: Johnston’s Jacob Helgeson gave the Dragons two finalists in as many weights after a 7-0 semifinal win over Bettendorf’s Elijah Mendoza. Helgeson, a sophomore, is now 42-0 this season. He’ll get Linn-Mar’s Grant Kress, who matched Parke’s wild tiebreaker win with one of his own, 6-5 over Ankeny’s Jace Anderson. Kress lost to Anderson twice this season, but rallied from a 4-1 deficit to win an overtime thriller.

160: For the fifth time this season, Fort Dodge’s Damarion Ross beat Valley’s Cinsere Clark. All five matches have been decided by three points or less, and three have been decided by exactly one point. On Friday, Ross won 1-0 to advance. On the other side, Waverly-Shell Rock’s Danny Diaz took out previously unbeaten Josiah Schaetzle, 7-1, to give the Go-Hawks a third finalist.

170: Lewis Central’s Braylon Kammrad was the beneficiary of an illegal slam call in Thursday’s quarterfinals, but had to go through concussion protocol to even wrestle on Friday. He passed three different tests, then made good on his opportunity with a 1-0 win over Johnston’s Kaia Fox to reach the state finals as the 10-seed. He gets Pleasant Valley’s Cade McDermott, who is making his second finals appearance after a 7-5 win over DCG’s Jacob Fistler thanks to a flurry of points — takedown, three backs — in the second period.

182: We’ll get City High’s Gabe Arnold vs. Linn-Mar’s Tate Naaktgeboren Round 4 on Saturday night after they both recorded second-period pins in Friday’s semifinals. Naaktgeboren is now a four-time state finalist, but is 0-3 this season against Arnold.

195: An all-freshman final at this weight, which is absurd to even write. Fort Dodge’s Dreshaun Ross is living up to his hype, recording a 12-3 major over Southeast Polk’s Harrison Gibson in the semifinals. He’ll face Ames’ Denarii Mickel, who advanced via injury default over Waverly-Shell Rock’s McCrae Hagarty, who had been wrestling this week with basically one arm.

220: City High’s Ben Kueter will wrestle for his fourth state title on Saturday after recording another first-period pin on Friday. He’s recorded his three pins in a combined 2:19 this week. He’s a freak, but we knew that. He’s now 110-0 all-time with one match left, and it’ll be against Hempstead’s Joe Lewis, who Kueter has already beaten three times this year.

285: We’ll cap the Class 3A finals with a matchup between a three-time finalist, in Waverly-Shell Rock’s Jake Walker, against a first-time finalist, in Norwalk’s Maddux Borcherding-Johnson. Walker beat Dowling’s Carson Hagan, 5-2, while Borcherding-Johnson, who reached the state semifinals all four years, beat Ames’ Kyler Hall, 6-4. Walker and Borcherding-Johnson, both seniors, are seeking their first state title.

Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.

2023 Iowa high school state wrestling championships

Class 3A Team Scores, after Day Three

1. Waverly-Shell Rock, 152

2. Linn-Mar, 128

3. Southeast Polk, 112

4. Bettendorf, 111.5

5. Iowa City High, 101

6. Fort Dodge, 99.5

7. Waukee Northwest, 92

8. Johnston, 90.5

9. Carlisle, 82.5

10. Ankeny, 81.5

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Waverly-Shell Rock nearing 4th state wrestling team title in 5 years