It’s an age-old debate in sport — rest versus rust.
Unlike some top-seeded college football programs in recent weeks, the West Liberty wrestling teams showed no signs of sluggishness after an extended period off the mats.
Winning five of six dual meets on Saturday and Monday, the Comets’ wrestling program is in great standing starting up its 2025 slate of matches.
The boys got the momentum going on Saturday, defeating Midland 65-18, Cedar Rapids Jefferson 50-21 and Des. Moines Roosevelt 78-0.
Only six weights were contested in West Liberty’s blanking of Des Moines Roosevelt. They were all in order from 126 pounds to 157 pounds.
Each match ended in a pin with junior Robinson Paredes Morado (132), sophomores Tully Griffith (126), Gable Underbakke (144), Briggs Collins (150), Kaden Wiele (157) and Mason Alke (138) all putting their opponents’ shoulders to the mat.
The dual against the J-Hawks was closest on the scoreboard with Cedar Rapids Jefferson leading 21-12 through seven weights.
However, the dual turned on a dime as the Comets won the final seven contests. Coincidentally, weights 126 through 157 all scored wins again. At 165, senior Ryker Dengler put a cap on the dual with a 5-3 decision victory.
This win marked 100 career wrestling wins for the standout West Liberty athlete.
In the earlier contests, two Comets earned decision wins — senior Tytan Griffith 11-6 at 175 pounds and senior Ryan Cassady 9-4 at 113 pounds.
Here, Cassady earned his 100th career win in his high school wrestling career.
Against Midland, the Eagles won the first two matches at 175 and 190 and received a forfeit at 215.
From there, West Liberty won the final 11 weight classes, four of which came by forfeit.
Winning for the Comets included junior Perry Lehman with a pin at 285, sophomore Isaac Aragon with a pin at 120, Tully Griffith via 15-0 technical fall at 126, and four more Comets with a pin: Paredes Morado at 132, Alke at 138, Underbakke at 144 and Wiele at 157.
RVC powers lock horns
West Liberty and Wilton are two of the best girls’ wrestling teams in eastern Iowa. The Comets and Beavers finally clashed on Monday in a highly anticipated matchup at Wilton High School.
In a dual that came down to the very last match, the Comets eked out a 42-39 victory against their River Valley Conference rivals.
Of the eight weight classes contested, West Liberty won six. However, the Beavers received five forfeits from the Comets while only surrendering one themselves.
After starting the dual down 12-0 after two weight classes, the Comets ripped off five wins in a row, all via fall.
They came from senior Silvia Garcia-Vasquez at 120, junior Kiley Collins at 130, sophomore Alivia Garcia at 115 and freshmen Sophia Garcia at 110 and Aileen Aragon at 125.
Those pins set the score at 30-12, West Liberty, halfway through the dual. It flipped to 39-30 after Wilton won the next five weight classes with four forfeits and one decision victory.
Because Wilton was forfeiting at 235, West Liberty needed a major decision or better from sophomore Bricsia Garcia-Vasquez against Sydnee Bliss to win the dual.
Garcia-Vasquez did not make her teammates or fans sweat. According to TrackWrestling, she pinned Bliss in two seconds to seal the match and the dual.
In addition to defeating Wilton, West Liberty also beat Tipton 54-18 but fell to Mid-Prairie 45-36.
Against the Tigers, West Liberty won four of the five contested matches. The team received wins from Aragon (125), Sophia Garcia (110), Sophia Garcia (115), and junior Shyan Rockafellow (140).
Against the Golden Hawks, West Liberty won four of the seven contested weight classes, but but forfeited five weight classes which did them in at the end.
Winning for the Comets were Alivia Garcia (115), Silvia Garcia-Vasquez (120), Aragon (125) and Collins (135).
Later this week, on Jan. 10, the girls will head to Highland for a varsity wrestling tournament.
Meanwhile, the boys will wrestle in a quad meet on Jan. 9 before shipping off to Benton Community High School on Jan. 11 for the Bobcat Jerry Eckenrod Invitational.