Cascade hosted its annual wrestling tournament, Jan. 14, and the Cougars battled to a 10th-place finish.
Western Dubuque nipped 2022 Class 2A state champion Burlington, Notre Dame to win the team title. The Bobcats finished with 187 points, with Notre Dame right behind at 186.5.
Waukon was third with 146.5. Union LaPorte City Fourth with 134.5 and Dubuque Senior fifth at 128.5. Cedar Rapids Washington (110.5) was sixth, followed by Iowa City Regina (83.5), Beckman Catholic (81), Midland (78), Cascade (71), Wahlert Catholic (71), Central DeWitt (70.5), Northeast (64) and Central City (24).
Cade Rausch was the top finisher for the Cougars, winning all three matches by fall at 220 pounds to improve to 27-7, including a pin of William Schemers, of Northeast, in the final.
“Cade had one of his better days in a Cascade singlet,” Andrews said. “He was the No. 1 seed and wrestled to his seed. He was in control of all his matches. I was happy to see him take home the top finish in our home invitational.”
Ty Frasher was second at 152, losing in the final to unbeaten Isaiah Fenton, of Notre Dame.
“Ty had another good day, losing to a tough Notre Dame wrestler in the finals,” Andrews said. “Ty has been improving and will look to build off today.”
Kalvin Manternach was fourth at 120 and Bayne Manternach finished sixth in the 285-pound weight class.
“Kalvin came out and put himself on the right side of the bracket with a win and finished in the top four,” said Andrews.
Cascade went 0-for-3 during a River Valley Conference wrestling quadrangular, at Mid-Prairie, Jan. 12.
“At Mid-Prairie, the guys had some good individual matches,” said Andrews. “They won some battles, but lost the team score in the end.”
Anamosa defeated the Cougars 54-27. Rausch pinned Tayte Peterschmidt in 52 seconds at 220, Bayne Manternach won by fall over Alex Bitz in 29 seconds at 285, and Ben Gehl pinned Drew Staab in 1:29 at 170. Frasher won a 9-3 decision over Miken Wheeler at 152. Cory Bradtke-Stelken won by forfeit at 126.
RVC newcomer Maquoketa dealt the Cougars a 54-18 defeat. Bayne Manternach, Evan Vogel (160) and Gehl won by forfeit for Cascade’s only points of the dual.
Rausch, Frasher and Vogel notched pins during a 57-18 loss to Mid-Prairie. Rausch pinned Quinn Callahan in 2:36 to get the Cougars on the board. Frasher pinned Cleveland Hoffman in 1:11 and Vogel won by fall over Owen Trimpe in 4:33.
“I was impressed by Ben Gehl’s fight in the matches he wrestled,” Andrews said. “Cade has developed a really nice shot as of late and had it working Thursday night. Just like Frasher, they need to stay out of throws late in the match when they are ahead.”
