What a weekend for Bellevue Wrestling! We had some amazing achievements on both the girls and boys sides of the squad. With the season winding down, it looks like everyone is starting to peak and wrestle the best that they can, which is exactly what we want as we get to this time of the season.
Girls comments
The ladies took part in the first-ever qualifying tournament in girls’ wrestling, the IGHSAU Regional in Decorah at Luther College. “We thought we had a legit shot of three qualifiers based upon how our ladies have wrestled this year and how others in our region performed,” Coach Ripperger stated. Elyse Berendes and Kadence Michels bowed out early in the tournament and Aubreigh Hennings was unable to compete due to injury.
Kelsey Knief finished fifth place at 155 lbs. She was undersized for the weight class, but she was definitely one of the toughest. “She is by far our strongest wrestler on the girls team,” said Coach Ripperger. “It is just so hard to turn her.” Kelsey had a demanding day having to compete seven times. She narrowly missed qualifying by losing the fourth place wrestleback to Leah Schwenker of Cascade.
Adessa Leibfried has the distinction of being the first girl to qualify for the IGHSAU State Tournament as a Bellevue Comet. She had a dominant performance by pinning all four of her opponents which had her first in the tournament with the most falls in the least amount of time. “I am truly honored to be one of the first female wrestlers to represent Bellevue at the State tournament,” expressed Adessa. “I couldn’t have done it without my amazing teammates, always pushing me hard in practice, and the best coaches a girl could ask for. They believed in me when I didn’t, encouraged me when I was down, and taught me not only how to be a better wrestler but also how to be a better person. Thank you to everyone who supported me on this journey.”
Ryanne Dunn has worked for this opportunity for since last year when she was the only lady on the all-boys team. She had by far the toughest bracket in the state with three ranked wrestlers in the mix. “Her improvement from last year to this has been so impressive. She has not only learned so many moves this season, but she has executed them to make her a force in this area,” explained Coach Ripperger. “I’m ecstatic to have qualified for state this year,” Ryanne stated. “Last year I never placed at a tournament so being able to place top four at regionals was so exciting.”
As a team, the ladies finished tenth out of 20 teams with all but one team qualifying a girl for the state tournament next week.
Across the country girls wrestling grew from 35,653 participants in 2022 to 52,406 in 2023. That is an increase of 16,753. For the state of Iowa, we grew from 1,022 in 2022 to 2,379 in 2023. Iowa had the greatest increase in girls participation in the country by growing by 1,357. Bellevue is so proud to be a part of this trend, and we are hoping for even more young ladies to join us next year.
Boys comments
The boys took part in the River Valley Conference Tournament hosted by West Branch. The Comets had one of their best team efforts at the tournament in the history of the conference by taking four wrestlers to the finals and finishing with one champ. It started as a day with some uncertainty due to the weather and ended with some truly historic performances.
Jake Hiland continued his winning ways by making it to the finals of a tournament for the second week in a row. He has continued to show improvement and is really focused on the ultimate goal of qualifying for the IHSAA State Tournament.
Jack Hiland had another great tournament. Following an illness that hampered his wrestling last week, it appeared that Jack had rebounded. Tough matches with Wilton and a repeat win over Cascade set the stage for a showdown with #5 ranked Logan Wright of West Branch. This was a great match that went into overtime with Jack just missing a takedown to earn the win.
Ryder Michels, was our third finalist who came into the tournament seeded second and he lived up to his seed. Wins over Cascade and Beckman Catholic put Ryder in the finals where he was pinned by Alexander Kaufman of Wilton.
Our lone champion was Casey Tath who came in as the second seed had a major decision against Northeast in the quarterfinals, and a thrilling overtime semifinal match with an extremely tough Beckman Catholic wrestler. For the finals Casey took on Kadyn Kraklio of Durant where Casey was able to use his strength to overpower Kraklio and get the third period pin.
Breakout performances
· With Adessa and Ryanne qualifying for state, this marks only the fourth time in school history when the Comets have qualified multiple state qualifiers (all boys 2020, 1988, and 1987)
· Brody Recker won the JV conference tournament by picking up 2 pins.
· Casey Tath becomes only the third Bellevue wrestler to earn conference champion status. Pat Harris was the first to do so in 1985 wrestling at 105 lbs. Our only other conference champion was Mason Lyons who won the 220 lbs weight class in 2017.
· Ryder Michels earned his 90th career win. He is currently three wins behind Jacob Waller
Upcoming schedule
· The boys traveled to Elkader Tuesday for their final regular season competition of the year. They will take on Central Elkader, Hudson, Postville, and Springville and get ready for 1A District Tournament that will be held in Wilton on February 11. Top two finishers will move on to the IHSAA State Tournament in Des Moines.
· The ladies will complete their season on Thursday and Friday at the first-ever IGHSAU State Tournament held at the Xtream Arena in Coralville. Wrestling starts at 9 am on Thursday with the championships ending on Friday night.
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