City High wrestling earns the title of 'City Champs' after sweeping rivals West High

Raven Moore, Iowa City Press-Citizen

January 13, 2023 at 11:02 AM·5 min read

Following their sweep over Liberty's wrestling teams earlier this season, City High's wrestling teams had the chance to earn the title of 'City Champs' if they managed to take down their crosstown rivals, the West High Trojans.

While the Trojans made the Little Hawks earn every match win they got, City High prevailed with their boys junior varsity, girls, and boys wrestling teams coming out on top.

City High girls swiftly take down West High opposition

In the first official girls wrestling dual between the crosstown rivals, the Little Hawks earned a statement-making 58-7 victory.

Ultimately, they earned four falls, with three of them coming in 30 seconds or less.

City High's girls coach Jeff Koenig challenged his team to set the tone for the night and said that he wanted his girls to understand the magnitude of the moment.

"The City High vs. West High rivalry has been going on for a lot of years and with this being the first official meet for the girls, our coaches challenged the girls last night at practice to set the stage for the boys," Koenig said. "If we come out and dictate our meet, we give the boys that much energy going into their meet."

One of the wrestlers who took that message to heart was 130-pound senior Claire Brown.

After suffering a close loss to a West High wrestler last season, Brown said she came into Thursday's match with a point to prove as she pinned her opponent in just eight seconds.

Iowa City High's Claire Brown, left, has her hand raised after scoring a fall against Iowa City West's Helen Orszula at 130 pounds on Thursday.

"In our big match last year, I lost by 1 point in overtime," Brown said. "So coming out tonight was huge for me. A win is a win, especially when it comes against West High."

As for West High, coach Elijah Sullivan said that he planned to use the rest of the week to help his team regroup and come back stronger for their next matches.

"We are done competing for the rest of the week, so we will be tweaking some things as a team and individually," Sullivan said. "It will be nice having a few days before our next competition to go over positions and situations where we made need a bit more work."

Full girls dual results:

100-pounds: Hadassah Wolcott (City High) wins via forfeit
105-pounds: Shyla Small wins via forfeit
110-pounds: Nina Yankey (City High) wins via forfeit
115-pounds: Nabitendelo Emmanuel (City High) defeats Natalia Gentiluomo (West High) via fall (3:05)
120-pounds: Trinity Meyers (West High) defeats Sydney Wilkes (City High) via decision (5-0)
125-pounds: Erin Anderson (City High) defeats Sally Suleman (West High) via decision (11-1)
130-pounds: Claire Brown (City High) defeats Helen Orszula (West High) via fall (0:08)
135-pounds: Alexandria Held (West High) defeats Jeanica Mbuyi (City High) via decision (8-0)
140-pounds: Annabelle Stelpflug (City High) defeats Harper Chase (West High) via fall (0:27)
145-pounds: Ania Naso (City High) wins via forfeit
155-pounds: Molly Carlson (City High) wins via forfeit
170-pounds: Shaona Emmanuel (City High) vs. Enosakhare Sule (West High) via fall (0:14)
190-pounds: Double forfeit
235-pounds: Double forfeit

Little Hawks boys overpower West

The plan of the girls team providing momentum to the boys worked out seamlessly as the Little Hawks boys took down their rivals 55-22.

City High notched five pins, while West High had two of its own.

City High's 190-pound senior Gabe Arnold accounted for one of those pins as he impressed in his introduction to the rivalry.

While he had never had a crosstown foe prior to coming to City High this year, Arnold said that seeing the passion of both fan bases was a great experience.

Iowa City High's Gabe Arnold, right, wrestles Iowa City West's Serafim Surguladze at 195 pounds on Thursday.

"This was a pretty exciting experience," Arnold said. "I never really had a cross-town rivalry. I have had big matches with guys from other states or on a nationally-ranked team. So, it was a different feeling to have a local crowd come out and support two local schools going against each other in a sport that everyone loves. So, as it stands we are the 'City Champs' when it comes to wrestling, so that is a great thing to hear."

Little Hawks coach Cory Connell is a former City High wrestler himself, so he's no stranger to the rivalry atmosphere. He said the event is always a highlight of the regular season for him and the program.

"Some of my most fun times here were the West High meets," Connell said. "Whenever City and West wrestle, it is always fun. This rivalry is something that I never take for granted. Obviously, we have other things we want to accomplish this season, but this is always an event we have circled."

While the night did not go the way that Trojans coach Nate Moore wanted, he said that there were some wrestlers who stood out in a positive way.

"Some guys went out there, put it on the line, and wrestled hard," Moore said. "Other guys have some things to figure out. We just have to keep improving on basic wrestling skills and fine-tune situational positions. We have to keep building so that we can go into the off-season with some confidence."

Full boys dual results:

126-pounds: Cale Seaton (City High) defeats Donovan Gipson (West High) via fall (2:52)
132-pounds: Kael Kurtz (City High) defeats Braden Doyle (West High) via decision (13-5)
138-pounds: Jake Mitchell (City High) vs. Mason Goodale (West High) via fall (1:33)
145-pounds: Zach Fern (City High) defeats Sterling Warren (West High) via decision (10-8)
152-pounds: Kyler Scranton (West High) defeats Gabe Egeland (City High) via fall (1:51)
160-pounds: Justin Avila (West High) defeats Nick Marker (City High) via fall (5:36)
170-pounds: Ryan Ott (City High) defeats Lucas Elizalde (Iowa City, West) via fall (1:16)
182-pounds: Raphael Etuma (City High) defeats Zion Shaw (West High) via fall (1:28)
195-pounds: Gabe Arnold (City High) defeats Serafim Surguladze (West High) via fall (3:12)
220-pounds: Ben Kueter (City High) wins via forfeit
285-pounds: Trey Dervrich (City High) defeats Ashton Honore (West High) via fall (1:53)
106-pounds: Alexander Pierce (West High) defeats Kendall Kurtz (City High) via decision (21-8)
113-pounds: Chris Davis (City High) wins via forfeit
120-pounds: Campbell Janis (West High) defeats Edgar Mhoon-Lopez (City High) via fall (1:18)

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: City High wrestling named 'City Champs' with sweep over West High

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City High girls swiftly take down West High opposition

Full girls dual results:

Little Hawks boys overpower West

Full boys dual results:

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