2010 State Tournament
Class 3A Finals Notebook

By Matt Pfiffner

Notes from the Class 3A championship matches with comments from some of the winners.

103 - No. 3 Tyler Willers of Pleasant Valley led 5-1 midway through the third when he pinned top-ranked and undefeated freshman Colby Knight of Urbandale.

112 - Cory Clark of Southeast Polk remained undefeated in his two-year career with a dominating 7-0 win over No. 2 Connor Ryan of North Scott. Clark also defeated Ryan last year in the 103 finals.

119 - No. 3 Eric DeVos of Waverly-Shell Rock scored takedowns in the first and third periods for a 5-3 win over No. 2 Kirk Sallis of Waterloo East. The win evened the season series at 2-2.

"He beat me twice at the start of the year and I beat him twice at the end of the year," DeVos said. "I knew I had to slow him down and work on my offense."

DeVos finished second last year as a freshman after winning two titles in Minnesota. The Go-Hawks won the team title last year and this year, but DeVos had a little more fun this weekend.

"That's one thing I really remember from last year. There was a part of me that was bummed out and part of me that was happy we won."

125 - John Meeks of Des Moines Roosevelt matched Cory Clark, as he remained undefeated in his two-year career, with a hard-fought 7-4 win over former champ Adam Perrin of North Scott. A third-period takedown by Meeks sealed the win.

130 - Third-ranked Chad Ryan of Sioux City North stunned top-ranked Jordan Rinken of Waverly-Shell Rock, 10-1. Ryan broke a scoreless tie in the second with a reversal and two near fall points and rolled from there.

135 - Top-ranked Bo Schlosser of Bettendorf scored a late first-period takedown and rode that to a 3-1 win over No. 6 Gradey Gambrall of Iowa City West.

140 - Top-ranked Jake Ballweg of Waverly Shell-Rock picked up title No. 3 with a 5-0 win over No. 3 Elijah Sullivan, but shortly after the win, his thoughts turned to the title match he lost as a freshman.

"I wish I could have that freshman year back, but three State titles is a pretty great accomplishment," he said.

145 - Top-ranked Cody Caldwell of Waverly-Shell Rock collected his second State title in a row with a 5-2 win over No. 8 Gustavo Martinez of Marshalltown.

152 - The match of the night. No. 2 Michael Kelly of Cedar Falls and No. 3 Joey Trizzino of Bettendorf, both past champs, battled in a bout that nearly took 30 minutes to decide. Both wrestlers had cuts open up on their heads and the action was stopped several times to clean up blood. Trizzino scored a reversal with 10 seconds left in the match to force overtime. After a scoreless period on their feet and two escapes in the tiebreakers, they went to the ultimate tiebreaker. Kelly chose the down position, but could not get away from Trizzino. Trizzino was called for stalling twice in the tiebreaker, the second time with just a second or two left, to give Kelly the 8-7 win.

160 - Nick Moore of Iowa City West became the 19th four-time State champion in Iowa high school wrestling history with an 11-6 win over No. 2 Spencer BeLieu of Indianola. Moore scored three first-period takedowns and cruised from there.

"It's special. It has meaning and it's satisfying. I just know I did it," Moore said. "I don't know if it's a sense of relief that I won it. But I just love doing it and don't get to do it again."

So where does Moore rate on the all-time list?

"I don't know if I'm the person to judge that. Clearly, I have a small bias, but that's for the fans to decide. I did what I came to do."

171 - No. 1 Michael Moreno of Urbandale won his first title in four trips to State and three times in the finals, with a dominating 12-2 win over No. 2 Walt Gillmor of North Scott.

"It's great. My senior year, I knew it was now or never. It just feels great," he said. "It was still a fight. He put up a good fight. But I want to go in and dominate and I did.

"We got third as a team and placed as high as possible with five guys. It still feels good for me to get that title. This whole weekend was a huge success for Urbandale wrestling."

189 - Top-ranked Kyven Gadson of Waterloo East put the finishing touches on a run through one of the tougher 3A weight classes with a 13-3 win over No. 2 Matt Riley of Des Moines Roosevelt. Gadson jumped out to an 8-2 first period lead and cruised to the win.

215 - Top-ranked Cody Krumwiede of Waverly-Shell Rock earned title No. 2 with a 5-2 win over No. 2 Josh Lambrecht of Cedar Rapids Prairie. Krumwiede scored takedowns in the first and second periods in the win.

285 - No. 1 Brody Berrie of Bettendorf used a cradle in the second period for two near fall points and scored a reversal in the third in a 4-2 win over second-ranked Nolan Proehl of Davenport West.