Beavers Finish In Top-3 For Sixth Time At RVC Tournament

106 - Kael Brisker (WIL), top, won a 10-5 dec. over Alex Beaver (WL), bottom. Photo by Ryan Stonebraker, Sports Editor, Tipton Conservative.

By Ryan Stonebraker
Sports Editor, Tipton Conseravtive

CLARENCE — The Wilton Beavers have been a fixture in the top-3 placings at the annual River Valley Conference Tournament. This year was no exception. For the sixth straight year, all years of the existence of the RVC, Wilton placed in the top-3 in the team race at the annual showcase of top wrestling talent last Saturday at North Cedar High School in Clarence. The Beavers were one of seven teams that scored over 100 team points at the meet and placed third with 140 points. The Beavers had four individuals with top-3 finishes. Wilton has not scored fewer than 140 points in any of the six RVC meets all-time and have one conference championship in that time.

Last week, Wilton had one individual champion and two wrestlers reach the finals at their weight class. At 106, Kael Brisker won the weight class, winning both matches he was in. At 138, Trey Sulzberger reached the finals, but lost in his big to win a conference title. Also, at 182, Coy Baker placed second and won two matches.

Wilton senior Cory Anderson battles for third place.  

 

 

 

Brisker was the top seed at 106. He was a state qualifier last season and placed 3rd at last year’s RVC tournament and entered the tournament with a 39-1 record and ranked 7th by the Predicament at his weight class. Brisker had a bye in the first round, and the quarterfinal round. In the semifinals, he pinned Mark Sunlin of Monticello in 5:02. Sunlin was the fourth seed and had a record of 26-6 at the start of the day. Brisker then beat the second seed, Alex Beaver from West Liberty by a 10-5 decision to win the 106 title. Beaver was 26-9 at the start of the day. Brisker beat Beaver earlier this season. He placed third at last year’s RVC tournament.

Sulzberger was the top seed at 138 and finished second after entering the tournament 22-14. He upped his win total on the season to 24 with two victories in three matches at the tournament. Sulzberger round, but pinned Jason Huling from Camanche in the quarterfinals in 2:41. In the semifinals, he won a tight 5-2 decision over the fourth seed Mitchell Englebart from Anamosa. In the finals, Sulzberger ran into second seeded Brody Hawtrey from North Cedar. Backed by the home crowd support and recent run of wins, Hawtrey took a 7-1 win in the finals to capture the weight class. Hawtrey had the most wins among the 11 wrestlers at 138 at 27-6. However, Sulzberger defeated Hawtrey in the regular season. He placed third at last year’s RVC tournament.

Chantz Stevens battles for position.

Baker had a bye in the first round, but picked up pins in the quarterfinals and semifinals to reach the finals at 182. He pinned Wyatt Hamby from West Branch in 1:14. He then pinned third seeded Logan Waltz from Camanche in the semifinals in 1:37. In the finals, he faced top seeded Nick Milder from Iowa City Regina. Milder, Baker, Waltz and Colton Allen from Mid-Prairie all entered the tournament with 26 victories. Milder was ranked 8th by the Predicament at 182. In the finals, Milder controlled the match and took an 11-5 decision win to claim the title. With the win, Milder finished his Regina career with four conference titles. Last season, Baker placed fifth at the RVC tournament.

Wilton had one third place finish and two fourth place finishes. Caleb Lilly improved to 23-15 and won three of his four matches at the 220-pound weight class while placing third. Lilly was the third seed at the weight class. Cory Anderson won two and lost two matches and placed 4th at 145. In arguably the toughest weight class of the tournament, Anderson improved to 19-3 and suffered two of his three losses this season to date Saturday. Also placing fourth was Blake Conklin at 126. Conklin wrestled in five matches, winning three. He exceeded his seed, seventh, at the tournament.

Other placewinners for the Beavers were 4th - Blake Conklin at 126, and Cory Anderson at 145; 5th - Dalton Snider at 120; and 8th - Gage Oien at 113 and Zach Delever at 152.

Wilton will turn their attention to this weekend’s sectional wrestling meet. Wilton will wrestle at the West Branch sectional meet. Teams there are Durant, Highland, Lone Tree, North Cedar, Northeast, Wapello, West Branch, and Wilton. The first and second place winners in each weight class from the sectional will advance to the district tournament on February 9 in Wilton.

Wilton Team Finishes — 2014 — 1st with 205 points; 2015 - 3rd with 156.5 points; 2016 - 3rd with 199.5 points; 2017 - 2nd with 192 points; 2018 - 2nd with 186.5; 2019 - 3rd with 140.


Wilton RVC Champions:

2014 — Brady Ruden at 126; Zach Keppy at 138; Kaleb Schmidt at 152; Koy Snider at 170; Logan Reddick at 220.

2015 — Logan Mays at 132; Zach Keppy at 145; Bryce Oveson at 160; Logan Reddick at 195.

2016 — Trey Brisker at 145; Bryce Oveson at 182.

2018 — Trey Brisker at 152.

2019 — Kael Brisker at 106.


River Valley Conference Tournament
At Clarence
Saturday, January 27

Team Scores:1. West Liberty 215, 2. Camanche 198.5, 3. Wilton 140, 4. Monticello 135, 5. Tipton 122, 6. Cascade 107, 7. North Cedar 105, 8. Anamosa 94, 9. Bellevue 89, 10. Iowa City Regina 89, 11. Mid-Prairie 83, 12 West Branch 55, 13. Northeast 54, 14. Durant 25.


106 - Kael Brisker (41-1) - had bye in first round; had bye in the quarterfinals; pinned Mark Sunlin (MONTI) in 5:02 in the semifinals; won a 10-5 dec. over Alex Beaver (WL) in finals. FINAL PLACE — CHAMPION.

113 - Gage Oien (N/A) - pinned Joe Barten (WL) in the first round in 1:17; pinned in 1:04 by Own Ray (MONTI) in quarterfinals; lost a 6-1 dec. to Jack Wruck (CAM) in consolation quarterfinals; pinned A.J. Lenz (ICR) in consolation round in 2:44; pinned by Kole Murray (NC) in 1:15 in 7th place match. FINAL PLACE — 8th.

120 - Dalton Snider (15-25) - had bye in first round; pinned in 1:55 by Ben Vogel (CAM) in the quarterfinals; pinned Chase Miller (NC) in 3:00 in the consolation quarterfinals; pinned in 4;37 by Tyler Siemen (WB) in the consolation semifinals; won by forfeit over Ethan Tallman (MONTI) in 5th place match. FINAL PLACE — 5th.

126 - Blake Conklin (N/A) - pinned Logan Keeler (WB) in 1:16 in the first round; pinned in 1:05 by Eric Kinkaid (CAM) in the quarterfinals; pinned Josh Mateo (WL) in 1:24 in consolation quarterfinals; won by forfeit over Kain Luensman (MONTI) in consolation semifinals; pinned in 2:19 by Austin Lenz (TIP) in 3rd place match. FINAL PLACE — 4th.

138 - Trey Sulzberger (24-15) - had bye in first round; pinned Jason Huling (CAM) in 2:41 in the quarterfinals; won a 5-2 dec. over Mitchell Englebart (ANA) in semifinals; lost a 7-1 dec. to Brody Hawtrey (NC) in finals. FINAL PLACE — RUNNER-UP.

145 - Cory Anderson (19-3) - had bye in first round; pinned Nick Thoms (CAM) in 0:31 in the quarterfinals; pinned in 3:32 by Will Esmoil (WL) in the semifinals; pinned Chance Koch (TIP) in 0:36 in the consolation semifinals; lost an 8-4 dec. to Alex Casey (ANA) in the third-place match. FINAL PLACE — 4th.

152 - Zach Delever (0-14) - had bye in the first round; pinned in 0:46 by Coy Ruess (WL) in the quarterfinals; pinned in 0:26 by Dominic Haas (ANA) in the consolation quarterfinals; had a bye in the consolation round; pinned in 1:15 by Brady Graff (CAS) in 7th place match. FINAL PLACE — 8th.

160 - Chantz Stevens (10-23) - pinned in 1:17 by Scott Blondin (ICR) in the first round; had bye in consolation round; pinned Wyatt Goodale (WB) in 2:50 in consolation round; pinned in 4:40 by Cameron Ruggerio (D) in consolation round.

170 - Jacob Creamer (13-29) - pinned in 2:00 by Luke Giesmann (B) in the first round; had bye in consolation round; pinned in 1:13 by Ben Miller (CAS) in consolation round.

182 - Coy Baker (28-7) - had bye in first round; pinned Wyatt Hamby (WB) in the quarterfinals in 1:14; pinned Logan Waltz (CAM) in 1:37 in the semifinals; lost an 11-5 dec. to Nick Milder (ICR) in the finals. FINAL PLACE — RUNNER-UP.

220 - Calib Lilly (23-15) - had bye in the first round; pinned Josh Wallington (MP) in 5:27 in the quarterfinals; lost an 11-3 major decision to Kobe Simon (WL) in the semifinals; pinned Drake Bloem (WB) in the consolation semifinals in 5:15; won a 5-1 decision over Nile Schuett (TIP) in the third-place match. FINAL PLACE — 3rd.

285 - Braeden Vandervoort (1-4) - pinned by Kane Krabbenhoft (B) in the first round in 1:47; had a bye in the consolation round; had a bye in the consolation round; pinned in 1:18 by Peyton McLane (NE) in the consolation round.