Even with the difficulty modifier turned up on this year’s Class 1A state qualifying tournament, the West Liberty girls’ wrestlers passed the test with flying colors.
This year, four Comets will wrestle for state glory at the Xtream Arena in Coralville after coming through regionals this past Friday at Williamsburg High School.
Senior Silvia Garcia-Vasquez at 120, sophomore Bricsia Garcia-Vasquez at 190 and freshman Aileen Aragon at 125 all claimed regional championships, combining to go 8-0 in bracket play. Meanwhile, junior Kiley Collins at 130 won her way in through a wrestleback and will join her teammates at State.
Silvia Garcia-Vasquez won all three of her matches via first-period pin, including the regional final against Keston Spratt of Williamsburg. The match ended after just 70 seconds.
A runner-up at last year’s state tournament, all eyes are on Garcia-Vasquez this year as she enters as the No. 1 seed at this year’s event with a record of 38-2. Opening up play on Thursday evening, she will face No. 16 seed Grace Sharr of Woodward Granger.
The other top seeds in the Class 1A 120-pound bracket are No. 2 Lilli Cooper of Denver, No. 3 Grace Storjohann and No. 4 Madison Swenson of Osage.
Bricsia Garcia-Vasquez only had to wrestle twice to win the 190-pound regional. And like Silvia, she never saw a second period.
Both matches ended via first-period pin. She ended the championship match at 1:45 against Jada Moats of Columbus/WMU.
With a record of 27-1, Garcia-Vasquez earned the No. 3 seed in 1A-190. She will face Ellisa Anderson of Manson-NW Webster. Garcia-Vasquez could meet No. 2 Leah Stewart of Charles City in the semifinals and No. 1 Libby Dix of Mount Vernon in the championship.
The best record of any Comet wrestler belongs to Aragon who continues her nearly-perfect debut year on the Iowa high school girls’ wrestling circuit at 48-1.
On Friday, she recorded two first-period pins and one 17-1 technical fall, the latter coming in the semifinals. Aragon pinned Kia Montgomery of Sigourney-Keota in the regional championship.
Aragon is seeded third at 1A-125 and will square off against Amelia Walk of Saint Ansgar in the first round. In that top half of the bracket, No. 1 seed Molly Allen of Riverside looms as the favorite to repeat as state champion.
At 130 pounds, Collins won all three matches she contested during the regional tournament. After winning her semifinal match against Eleanor Shin of Van Buren County via 13-7 decision, she opted to rest rather than butt heads with undefeated Wilton Beaver Kaydence Boorn.
Collins got an opportunity to wrestle for true second place and took full advantage, pinning Maiya Singbeil of Highland Riverside at 2:22.
Qualifying for the state tournament is the good news for Collins. However, when she arrives, there is no more avoiding Boorn. As the No. 16 seed, that is exactly who Collins will face in the first round at State.
Win or lose, Collins will be looking at a second-round matchup against either No. 8 Cameron Halbur of Rock Valley/Boyden-Hull or No. 9 Ashlee Farrier of Mid-Prairie.
As a team, West Liberty placed third at the regional with 131.5 team points, only behind Williamsburg (174.5) and Wilton (153) in the 19-school field.
These four West Liberty wrestlers were the only Comets to place at this year’s regional tournament. They will start wrestling in Session 2 at Xtream Arena on Thursday beginning at 4:30 p.m.
If any win enough matches to see Friday, they will wrestle in Session 3 starting at 10 a.m. The first place, third place and fifth place matches will be wrestled in Session 4, the championship session, starting at 6 p.m.
Boys clash with RVC foes
On home mats, the West Liberty boys’ wrestling program welcomed its fellow River Valley Conference members to 310 West Maxson Avenue for the 2025 conference tournament.
Here, the Comets placed fourth in the 15-school scrap, only standing behind Wilton (223.5), Anamosa (181) and West Branch (168).
West Liberty wrestled for one individual championship on Saturday as senior Ryker Dengler battled Cooper Gates of West Branch for gold at 165 pounds. However, it was Gates who controlled the match and won an 11-4 decision.
Dengler still had a great tournament, posting wins in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds against Iowa City Regina’s James Whisler (pin at 3:38) and Tipton’s Kael Chapman (13-3 major decision).
Five different Comets placed third at the event, all of which were underclassmen.
Claiming a bronze medal were sophomores Isaac Aragon at 120, Briggs Collins at 150 and Kaden Wiele at 157 along with freshmen Marcus Cardona at 106 and Mason Alke at 138.
Two other Comets finished odd as sophomore Landon Wainwright and freshman Noah Garcia placed fifth in the 144-pound and 126-pound weight classes respectively.
While the girls’ team traveled to Williamsburg on Friday for regionals, the boys’ team will do the same for their dual team state regional competition.
There, the Comet boys will first clash with Anamosa for the right to face the Raiders. The winner of the regional will advance to the dual team state tournament which is this Saturday also at Xtream Arena.
The Comets are also looking ahead to individual state districts which take place on Saturday, Feb. 15. West Liberty drew the district hosted by Benton Community.
There are eight schools at this site including Camanche, Central DeWitt, Davenport Assumption, Grinnell, South Tama County and Tipton.