Local athletes Brody Ryan, Camden Meyer, Avery Paustian, Jase Jaspers, Mikey Ryan, Gracie Pinckney, and Libby Dix wrestled recently in the Iowa AAU State Championship Wrestling Tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines on Feb. 25– Feb. 27.
Additionally, seven young wrestlers, including: Macklen Meyer, Logan Yanda, Dalton Johnson, Sawyer Blum, Andrew Smith, Beckett Meyer, and Ricky Ryan participated in the Super Pee Wee State Wrestling Championships for kindergarten through second grade wrestlers held March 5 through March 6 at the Young Arena in Waterloo.
“For the boys, the competition was outstanding as usual,” said volunteer Mount Vernon Wrestling Club coach Jacob Ryan. “In many cases, the 32 man state brackets were whittled down from over 150 kids per weight class from the eight district qualifiers held across the state a couple weeks earlier. Our guys proved they belonged here as each won a match and penetrated in their respective brackets. Jase and Mikey are wrestling at a very high level and look like they are close to being ready for high school competition.”
Mount Vernon eighth graders Jase Jaspers (125) and Mikey Ryan (130), who both finished as Iowa USA State runner-ups earlier this season, proved to be among the elite in the state as both made the AAU podium on the weekend. Jaspers lost a 3-1 match to Boden White (Denver) in the 125 lb title match on Sunday after coming out on top hours earlier in an exciting 10-8 sudden victory win in the semifinals against the 2022 USA Iowa State Champion Lincoln Jipp (Bettendorf).
Ryan dropped to the consolations on Saturday after a last second 4-2 130 lb quarterfinal loss at the hands of Tucker Wheeler of Prairie City-Monroe. Wheeler went on to win the state championship on the weekend while Ryan fought back with multiple back side wins on Sunday to finish in fifth place.
In the girls division, MVHS freshman Libby Dix, fresh off her recent HS state tournament all-state finish, won her third AAU medal in as many years by going 3-2 and earning fourth place at 185 lb division while eighth grader Gracie Pinckney finished 2-2 in the seventh through eighth grade 165 lb bracket and also claimed a fourth place medal.
“Wow, there were a ton of girls competing in the AAU tournament this year,” said volunteer MWMC coach Kyle Jaspers. “It was a great turnout, which was likely buoyed by the Iowa Girls High Schools Athletic Union recently sanctioning the sport at the middle and high school level. If you medal in this tournament, you have learned how to score real points with real holds. It’s great to see the improvement in the division and adding girls to what was previously a boys dominated sport is outstanding for the sport as a whole!”
Volunteer Club Coach Jake Ryan was proud of the kindergarten through second graders who wrestled in the Super Pee Wee event in Waterloo.
“I don’t care what age level you wrestle at, it takes a ton of courage to step out on the wrestling mat in front of a couple thousand fans and go toe to toe with an unknown opponent,” said Jake Ryan. “Our guys did a great job and they can use this as a stepping stone as they learn new moves and holds in the coming years as they grow into the club and AAU circuit. Mount Vernon kids won a lot of matches and earned several medals up in Waterloo last weekend.”
Jaspers, Ryan, Dix, and Pinckney joined an illustrious list of Iowa AAU medalists from the Mount Vernon Wrestling Club over the past 25 seasons. The medalist list includes: Billy Thomsen, Matt Kroul (2X), Derrick Alger (2X), Jacob Craig (4X), Dustin Smith, Skylar Smith (3X), Jacob Ryan (2X), George Zacharakis-Jutz (2X), Tyler Craig (2X), Jared Parker, Ryan Cox, Mitchell Jilovec, Nathan Simons, Trey Ryan (3X), Charlie Engelbrecht, Zach Perry, Paul Ryan (2X), Lincoln Holub, Logan O’Connor, Clark Younggreen (5X), Jackson Jaspers (3X), Jase Jaspers (4X), Mikey Ryan (3X), Ethan Wood (2X), Libby Dix (3X), Maddie Plotz, Jackson Hird, and Gracie Pinckney.