Wrestling in the state finals is fun. But winning it?
“It’s a lot better, obviously,” Mount Vernon junior Jase Jaspers said. “A lot better. I know I put in my work, and it finally paid off this year.”
Jaspers won a state championship at 144 pounds in Class 2A on Saturday, Feb. 22, at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. He beat Tyler Wieland of Independence by major decision, 10-0.
It was the third straight major decision Jaspers recorded at state following an opening-round technical fall. After losing in the finals as a freshman and sophomore, he finished his junior season 47-0.
“My confidence has grown a ton,” Jaspers said. “It helped how much work I put in. My training has helped a lot with my confidence.”
Mount Vernon Coach Vance Light said the freestyle wrestling Jaspers did in the offseason took him to another level.
“He was already good, and he got that much better,” Light said. “He had a great year. Pretty much dominated everybody he wrestled.”
Jaspers is the kind of wrestler fans love. He stays active and tries to score a ton of points.
“I like to go out there and score points and give the crowd a show,” Jaspers said. “I won by 14 (points) twice. I really wanted to get one more point for a tech.
“I just push the pace for six minutes. If I go as hard as I can, it tires those guys out.”
Light said Jaspers – who became the 19th Mount Vernon wrestler (boys) to win a state title – is deadly on his feet, but said his improvement riding has really put him on another level.
“He always had a good attitude and is always trying to score,” Light said. “Not many kids are able to stop him.”
Jaspers had his medal placed around his neck by his dad, assistant coach Kyle Jaspers.
“His support growing up has bene great,” Jase said. “He got me into wrestling and we’ve bonded over that.”
Mount Vernon finished sixth in 2A as team with 88 points. Burlington Notre Dame won the team title with 129 points. Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont (107.5) was runner-up, and Union (103.5) was third.
The Mustangs did have the best finish among WaMaC schools, finishing a half-point ahead of seventh-place Independence (87.5). West Delaware was eighth and Williamsburg was ninth.
In addition to Jaspers winning gold, both junior Mikey Ryan (150) and senior Ethan Wood (285) placed third.
“Losing in the semifinals pretty much sucks,” Light said. “The best thing you can do about it is come back and get third, make yourself feel a little bit better.”
Ryan lost in the semifinals to Nile Sinn of Williamsburg, 3-2 in the ultimate tiebreaker.
“It is the sixth time they’ve wrestled,” Light said. “They were pretty familiar with each other.”
“There’s some calls that could’ve gone the other way,” Jaspers said. “I’m proud of him for coming back. He wrestled the best he’s ever wrestled.”
Ryan bounced back with a pin over Jax Jensen of Winterset and a major decision over Hudson Scranton of Anamosa.
Wood lost in the semifinals to Kaden Clark of PCM, a 12-2 major decision. He rallied to pin Maxwell Azzaline of Davenport Assumption and then beat Evan Sorensen of Atlantic 7-3 for third.
The Mustangs sent nine to state, and eight got at least one win over the four-day tournament. Six return for 2026.
“That should give them some motivation for next year,” Light said. “We’ll see how hard they work in the offseason.”
It was a tough winter, at times, for the Mustangs. A few wrestlers, some state-ranked, were replaced in the lineup over the course of the winter.
“We had some guys that were up and down,” Light said. “They were replaced by kids that wanted to be there more than they did.”
But the foundation for next year is strong. Jaspers, coming off an undefeated state-championship season, said he’d like to do it again.
“I’d like to technical fall or pin everybody,” Jaspers said. “I’m also working on being a leader on the team. Next year we need to start out closer as a team, together.”
Jasper also has a year to think about what he’d like to do in college. The four-sport star is leaning towards wrestling.