After having their dual canceled Jan. 19, the Maquoketa Valley Wildcats traveled to Midland to compete in the John Byer’s Invitational.
MV only had seven wrestlers, but five of them placed in their weight classes. The Wildcats had three finalists, Nathan Beitz (195), Brady Davis (220), and Aiden Salow (285). Beitz and Salow brought back titles to Delhi and Davis was a runner-up.
After a bye into the quarterfinals, Beitz won his quarterfinal match by fall in 35 seconds over Jaime Prado (Wapello). In the semifinals, he won by fall again, this time in 2:59 over Nicholas Poston (Durant) to reach the 195-pound final, where he won a 4-3 decision over Dylan Monk (Monticello).
Davis finished second at 220. With a bye into the quarterfinals, he pinned his way to the finals with wins over Gannon Jester (Clayton Ridge) in 1:09 and Jackson Van Keuren (Maquoketa) in 3:31. In the final, Davis lost by fall to Logan Wright (West Branch).
At heavyweight, Salow was the lone Wildcat wrestler who did not get a bye into the quarterfinals. In the first round, he won by technical fall, 17-0, over Austin Meeker (Wapello) and, in the quarterfinals, he won a close 1-0 decision over Brodie Blackford (Southeast Polk). In the semifinals, Salow took another decision, this time 3-0 over Ryder Michels (Bellevue) to secure his spot in the finals. Salow went on to win the heavyweight championship by fall in 4:54 over Cohen Pfohl (Dubuque Senior).
Coach Kurt Hatfield said, “Our upper weights are wrestling well and some of the other wrestlers showed more aggressiveness which we will need going into our last tournament before the Tri-Rivers Conference meet in February.”
