Iowa state wrestling championships: Kueter seeking history

The Iowa state wrestling championships begin Wednesday

By Dana Becker 

The quest to make history begins Wednesday inside Wells Fargo Arena for Iowa City High’s Ben Kueter.

Kueter, who has signed to wrestle and play football at the University of Iowa in the fall, will be looking for his fourth state championship when he enters action in Class 3A at 220 pounds. The senior is unbeaten in his high school career and will be looking to become just the 30th individual to accomplish the feat.

Nine others will be looking to secure a third title, including seven seniors in Waverly-Shell Rock’s Ryder Block and McCrae Hagarty, Linn-Mar’s Tate Naaktgeboren, Lisbon’s Brandon Paez, Greene County’s Kale Petersen, Underwood’s Gable Porter and Logan-Magnolia’s Wyatt Reiz.

The other two are juniors who will have the opportunity to join Kueter next year if they win titles this year. Those are Waukee Northwest’s Carter Freeman and Waterloo Columbus’ Max Magayna.

A dozen more individuals have at least one title under their belts. One of those has the unique distinction of being a 2021 Iowa girls state champion, as Reanah Utterback of Sigourney-Keota opted to wrestle here this weekend instead of at the recent girls state tournament.

Utterback, a sophomore, qualified for the boys field last year, as well.

Thirty-one wrestlers begin the week unbeaten and are spread amongst the three classifications. Several weights feature multiple unbeaten wrestlers including in 3A where Owen Helgeson of Johnston and Waverly-Shell Rock’s Danny Diaz are both at 160 pounds.

At 220, Denison-Schleswig’s Jaxson Hildebrand is 41-0, with Kueter 35-0. Heavyweight has both Maddux Borcherding-Johnson of Norwalk and Carson Hagan from West Des Moines Dowling.

In 2A, Jace Hedeman of Union and Kaden Weber from Nevada have unblemished records, with 145 pounds boasting both Monticello’s Kale Hansen and Osage’s Tucker Stangel. At 170, Kellen Moore of Forest City and Sioux City Heelan’s Ethan DeLeon will be chasing state glory, with 182 featuring Sheldon-South O’Brien’s Jarrett Roos and CJ Walrath from Notre Dame, Burlington.

Dominic Lopez of New London and Wyatt Reisz of Logan-Magnolia are both in the 1A 160-pound field, with heavyweight featuring Ogden’s David Hammer and Lisbon’s Wyatt Smith.

Team races going to be interesting

Southeast Polk comes into the week as the favorite in Class 3A, but the loaded Rams are going to have their work cut out for them. Bettendorf qualified a class-high 14, while Southeast Polk pushed 13 through.

Waverly-Shell Rock, the state dual champions, Johnston and Ankeny Centennial all qualified 12 wrestlers, with Fort Dodge, Linn-Mar and Waukee Northwest featuring 10.

Osage pushed 10 through in 2A as they look to add the traditional team title to the duals crown captured just a couple weeks back. West Delaware also qualified 10, with Mount Vernon and Sergeant-Bluff Luton featuring nine. Notre Dame, Burlington has just six, but as they have shown in the past, they can score points in bunches.

Nashua-Plainfield will lock 13 qualifiers into 1A brackets, with reigning duals champion Don Bosco qualifying 11. Wilton has 10 while Lisbon and Alburnett each qualified nine.

Utterback adds name to history books

Sigourney-Keota’s Reanah Utterback made history at districts this past weekend. While many of her fellow female wrestlers competed at the recent sanctioned girls state championships, she focused on making it to the IHSAA championships again.

And that is exactly what she did.

Utterback became just the third two-time IHSAA state qualifier, joining Megan Black and Jasmin Luedtke. Black secured a state medal in her second appearance back in 2012.

The sophomore will takes a 36-9 record to state.