Perhaps getting snubbed from the Class 2A all-state football team lit a fire under Comet senior Ryker Dengler for wrestling season.
Like on the gridiron, he led his team into battle and paved the path to victory.
At this past Saturday’s Saber Invitational at Central DeWitt High School, Dengler reigned supreme at 157 pounds, leading West Liberty’s efforts in a third-place team finish.
He wrestled four times, using one pin, two decisions and one technical fall to claim his crown.
His toughest match game in the quarterfinals against Wilton’s Hayden Hill.
The Beavers got nine wrestlers into the championship match, but Dengler stopped Hill from going down that path.
An action-packed second period followed a scoreless first period. 18 total points were posted in the middle frame. Hill scored two reversal and a four-point near-fall, plus a penalty point, while Dengler hit a takedown, reversal, three-point near-fall and escape.
Just one point was scored in the third-period — a Dengler escape at 1:24 which gave him the win.
He followed that up with a semifinal pin over Max Smith of Davenport North and a clean 5-0 decision victory against Spencer Martin of Maquoketa.
Sophomore Briggs Collins and freshman Marcus Cardona also got into the championship match and earned silver medals.
Collins, at 150 pounds, recorded pins in his first two matches and dominated his semifinal against Wilton’s Jenson Boorn with a 19-6 major decision.
He ran into an undefeated Clinton River King, Brady Jennings, in the championship. Jennings secured a pin early in the second period.
Cardona used a first round bye and a first-period pin to boost himself into the semifinals. There, he defeated Zion Rooks of Central DeWitt with a pin at 5:35.
Similar to Collins, he faced an unbeaten opponent in the finals. Dawson Kaska of Wilton kept the zero in his loss column with a first-period pin.
At 126 pounds, sophomore Isaac Aragon claimed third place. He went 2-1 overall with two first period pins. The first was in the quarterfinals against Landon Lillie of Creston and again in the bronze medal match against Jack Schilling of Cedar Rapids Jefferson.
Three Comets took home fourth-place finishes: sophomore Gable Underbakke at 144, sophomore Tully Griffith at 132 and freshman Mason Alke at 138.
Sophomore Kaden Wiele and freshman Noah Garcia each got a win in the fifth-place match to finish their tournaments odd.
Wilton, the top-ranked dual meet team in Class 1A, easily won the meet with 257.5 team points. The host Sabers were next at a distant 163.5. West Liberty was on their heels with 162. Princeton (IL) had 123 and Creston had 112.5 as the other schools to breach the 100-point threshold.
Aragon wins fifth invitational
The Comet girls also headed to DeWitt for a wrestling tournament. They went on Friday but with a much smaller contingent.
That did not stop freshman Aileen Aragon from continuing her incredible first-year campaign with yet another tournament victory.
Competing at 125 pounds, Aragon pinned her first two opponents in a combined 53 seconds.
Her semifinal and finals opponents both survived to the second period, but in the end, they suffered the same fate.
Alaina Carpenter of Clinton was Aragon’s semifinal victim (pin at 2:29) and Karlie Kruse of Creston was Aragon’s championship victim (pin at 2:41).
This is Aragon’s fifth tournament victory of the season. She owns a 19-1 record with her only loss coming at the Independence tournament which she did not finish. As the season hits the midway point, Aaragon is looking like a contender in 1A-125.
The only other Comet girl to place at this event was sophomore Ximena Valenzuela. She placed sixth at 120 pounds after going 3-2 on the evening.
Valenzuela had two pins and a 14-6 major decision win in the consolation semifinals against Nora Stoutner of Washington.
Despite only having two girls place, West Liberty still finished 11th out of 21 teams. The top five schools consisted of Wilton (147), Clinton (146), Anamosa (134.5), Central DeWitt (132.5) and Creston (123).