WOODWARD — After four duals and dozens of matches it came down to one final tussle Saturday to decide the WCC Duals conference champion, Van Meter slipping away with a 38-33 win over host Woodward-Granger, edging the Hawks for top honors.
Panorama placed third, with West Central Valley fourth, Ogden fifth and AC/GC sixth. Madrid shares with W-G and Earlham with Van Meter, with Des Moines Christian and the Woodward Academy not offering wrestling, thus creating six mat teams in the 10-member league.
W-G opened with a 54-18 win over Ogden before being challenged by Panorama, with the Hawks posting a hard-fought 39-33 win. Wins of 60-22 over WCV and of 66-18 against AC/GC followed, setting the stage for the showdown with Van Meter.
Fourth-ranked senior Tanner Vermaas had little trouble in finishing 5-0 at the tourney to run his career victory total to 131. He pinned all four opponents he faced and received a forfeit to finish unblemished.
Also 5-0 for the Hawks was 195-pounder Cody Fisher, who continued his impressive season with two falls in 108 combined seconds. He also claimed a 4-1 decision and was granted two forfeits.
Three Hawks — Gabe Yingst (145), Aaron Sperling (170) and Tyler Lawernson — went without receiving any forfeits, thus facing five foes each. Sperling was 4-1 with three pins and a 3-2 win by decision, with Yingst 3-2 on three victories by pinfall while Lawernson won once by fall and once by injury default to finish 2-3.
Austin Scharlau was 4-1 at 152 with a pin and three forfeits, with Cale Pritchett 4-1 at 160 with one pin, one decision and two forfeits while Alex Kirton won twice by fall and once by forfeit to finish 3-2 at 285.
Colt Palmer (126) was 3-2 with one pin, one forfeit and one victory by injury default, with Cole Carman (138) 2-3 with a pinfall victory and a forfeit while Tate Lettow (120) won with a 10-4 decision and forfeit to finish 2-3 for the day.
Hunter Pierce (106) was 4-1, Dilynn Lewiston (113) 2-3 and Jay Dorenkamp (132) 1-4, with the trio each winning all of their individual matches by forfeit.
W-G will finish the pre-holiday portion of their season Thursday with a tough test, as they will battle host Des Moines Roosevelt as well as Des Moines Lincoln and Iowa City High in a quadrangular.
The Hawks will be joined by East Union and Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton at WCV Jan. 3 before competing in the Winterset Invitational Jan. 7 when competition resumes in the new year.
