Avery Thurn
The Mount Vernon boys’ wrestling squad pulled off a win at regional duals tournament that earned them a trip to the state regional duals tournament.
The good news for Mount Vernon boys’ wrestling? They got a banner to hang up in the gym: State Duals Qualifier in Class 2A.
“There’s a lot of those things in there already,” Mount Vernon coach Vance Light said. “There are banners all over the place.”
No. 11 Mount Vernon ended up finishing in eighth place at the 2A State Duals on Saturday, Feb. 8, at XTream Arena in Coralville. They lost in the quarterfinals to top-ranked and top seed Algona, 52-17. Then lost to WaMaC rival and No. 5 Independence, 41-33, and No. 4 Sergeant Bluff-Luton, 40-29.
Algona won the 2A dual crown, beating No. 2 West Delaware in the final 28-25. No. 9 Clairon-Goldfield-Dows beat No. 3 Williamsburg for third. Independence was fifth and No. 7 Winterset sixth.
There were four WaMaC programs there, and Light said there could’ve been more, noting Independence’s region had Solon and Benton Community, who knocked each other out.
Mount Vernon got to the State Duals by winning a pair of tough regional duals Tuesday, Feb. 4, in Davenport.
The Mustangs opened with a 37-35 win over No. 12 Burlington Notre Dame, and then upset No. 6 Davenport Assumption 34-31.
“We wrestled really well,” Light said. “We had some kids get some wins, on paper, they were not supposed to win.”
Against the Nikes, the Mustangs were trailing 35-21 with three matches to go. Caysen Curran (190) delivered a major decision, then Watson Krob (215) pinned Kamryn Wolkenhauer. Ethan Wood (285) clinched the dual with a forfeit.
Light also highlighted pins by Jake Haugse (120) and CJ Martin (126).
“Those were matches that, on paper, we were not supposed to win,” Light said. That set up a showdown with the Knights.
Light moved Cooper Krob up a weight to 113 pounds, and he led off the dual with a pin. Andrew Dix got a pin at 215 pounds.
Jase Jaspers (144) and Mikey Ryan (150) had technical falls to boost the bottom line.
“In other matches we had kids fight and give up decisions, rather than pins,” Light said.
Next up is the Class 2A District Meet on Saturday, Feb. 15. No. 4 Mount Vernon is headed to Ballard in an eight-team district that includes Ballard, Chariton, Nevada, Oskaloosa, PCM, Saydel and Van Meter.