Burlington Notre Dame-West Burlington wrestler C.J. Walrath is the No. 1 wrestler at 182 pounds in the state in Class 2A this year, having won the state title unbeaten this past February. Walrath wasted little time in pinning Elijah Westercamp of Van Buren in Thursday's quadrangular' at Father Minett Gymnasium. Walrath won in 36 seconds. Photo/Chris Faulkner
By Chris Faulkner Beacon Sports
Small schools have trouble fielding full 14-weight line-ups, which makes it hard, even when you bring four teams together, to get enough matches for the wrestlers.
It also doesn't help when, like Burlington Notre Dame-West Burlington's team, you have three ranked wrestlers that cause other teams will shuffle their lineups rather than face the tougher opponent.
Notre Dame-West Burlington hosted a quadrangular Thursday night at Father Minett Gym. The Nikes beat Wapello 45-34, handled Highland 57-12 and beat Van Buren 48-28. Highland has just seven wrestlers but can only fill five weights.
Top-ranked Nikes C.J. Walrath (182) and Carter West (106), and third-ranked Isaiah Fenton (152) each only wrestled one match on the night, winning by forfeits the other two.
Walrath, a senior who will wrestle for the University of Northern Iowa next year, needed just 36 seconds to pin Elijah Westercamp of Van Buren. He had hoping to get the fall in 10 seconds, to beat the 11-second pin senior teammate Fenton had at 152 over Tyler Stoltz of Van Buren.
West, a junior, won by fall against Highland's Landon Bell in just 48 seconds.
Against Wapello, Notre Dame-West Burlington won six matches by forfeit. Blake Wilson won 4-2 at 145 for the only win on the mat.
Evan Vanerstrom, Cole Mincer, Kynnick Christofferson, Emery Watson and Youseff Rezbekallah all lost their matches.
In the meet with Highland, Kael Cook decisioned Luke Guseman 4-2 at 120 pounds. C.J. Davis won by fall in 1:01. Mincer and Jayden Kirby lost their matches.
To finish against Van Buren, Davis pinned Jayden Pilcher in :51 at 120, and Fenton and Walrath had their victories. Mincer, Kynnick Christofferson, Lyblie Christofferson and Rezbekallah all lost their matches.
There wasn't much to say about the meet by ND-WB coach Bill Plein.
“Our young kids made young kids mistakes,” Plein said. “We just have to learn to get better at it.”
The numerous forfeits didn't help other than put points on the board.
“We tried to get kids as much mat time as we could,” Plein said. “It just didn't work out that way for everybody.”
Also, “People move people to get the best match that they can,” as they did against his three standouts.
Top-ranked targets
After getting hurt in districts as a freshman and missing out on a state trip, Walrath has gone 104-1 the past two seasons, and wants to dominate again this year. He went 49-1 as a sophomore, losing to future UNI teammate Carson Babcock of New Hampton-Turkey Valley in the semifinals at 170.
“That loss my sophomore year made me a better person,” Walrath said.
Walrath ran the table as a junior, going 55-0 at 182 pounds. He was top-ranked throughout the season.
But ranked wrestlers don't start out with points on the board so it doesn't mean anything to him.
“I might glance at the rankings, but it doesn't bother me at all if someone's ranked above me or highly ranked,” Walrath said.
“Everyone's human. Everyone can lose on any day,” including himself, Walrath said.
Walrath had four different colleges in his sights towards the end of last season: Northern Illinois, North Carolina, UNI, and Wyoming.
He whittled that list down to UNI and Wyoming. “It came down to two teams who looked like they had some blue-collar boys on the team, which I fit right in with them,” Walrath said.
But he decided to stay in state and wrestle under Coach Doug Schwab.
West returns as the state runner-up at 106 pounds. He was seeded ninth going into the tournament.
As the No. 1 wrestler now, “That's pretty big for me, in general. That means I got high standards to stick up to.”
He isn't fazed by the fact that other wrestlers will be coming after him and his lofty ranking. In fact, “I want people to come for me,” West said. “I want to get some good competition. That's what it's all about.”
During the summer, West competed at the Disney Duals tournament in Florida, and he went to the Super 32 event in North Carolina.
Although 106 is the lightest weight in prep wrestling, West feels better about his chances because he has finally reached that weight.
“My freshman year I was 94, and my sophomore year I was 104,” West said.
Notre Dame-West Burlington wrestler Carter West is the No. 1 wrestler at 106 pounds in the state in Class 2A this year, having finished second at state last year. Here he pins Highland's Landon Bell in a quadrangular Thursday at Father Minett Gym. Photo/Chris Faulkner