Jefferson Wrestling

Baker leads Metro parade to state

Brenden Baker might cut his shoulder-length blond hair after the state wrestling tournament next week, but he's got bigger concerns right now than trimming his flowing locks.

Baker is wrestling with a broken finger and a sore back, so getting a haircut can wait. And he's certainly not going to cut it before the state tournament, because that might be bad luck.

"No, we're going to leave it alone," the Cedar Rapids Jefferson senior said Saturday after winning the 120-pound title at the Class 3A district meet at Jefferson. "I've lasted this long. It's been almost a year."

Baker had fairly short hair last year, but his last haircut was about 362 days ago.

"It was actually the day before we left for state last year. So on Wednesday it will be a full year," he said.

He kind of likes his hairstyle - "It's different" - so he's not sure if he'll visit a barbershop or stylist in the near future.

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Prairie saves day for Metro grapplers

Thank goodness for Prairie.

The Prairie Hawks won their regional dual meet tournament Wednesday night with a convincing 51-21 victory over North Scott, but none of the other Metro wrestling teams qualified for the state tournament.

The seventh-ranked Kennedy Cougars got punched by No. 13 Clinton, 44-26, in the regional finals at Kennedy.

The ninth-ranked Jefferson J-Hawks were stunned by No. 24 Dowling Catholic in the regional semifinals at Johnston and never got a chance to wrestle for a regional title.

The 18th-ranked Linn-Mar Lions lost to No. 4 Dubuque Hempstead, 49-27, in the regional finals after sticking No. 16 Bettendorf in the semifinals, 45-24.

The sixth-ranked Prairie Hawks (19-3) will face fifth-ranked Johnston (21-2) in the quarterfinals of the Class 3A state dual meet tournament next Wednesday at 9 a.m. at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

The other quarterfinals feature Southeast Polk (16-0) against Clinton (16-2), West Des Moines Valley (21-1) against Waverly-Shell Rock (23-4), and Hempstead (27-0) against Indianola (18-2).

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Angry J-Hawks stick Kennedy, 39-21

The Jefferson J-Hawks sent a clear message to all the wrestling coaches in Iowa who pooped all over them in the latest IWCOA rankings.

You guys were dead wrong.

The angry J-Hawks captured nine of 14 bouts Thursday night and defeated Kennedy, 39-21, in a dramatic Mississippi Valley Conference showdown at the Jefferson gym.

The coaches who vote in the IWCOA rankings dropped Jefferson from No. 5 to No. 9 in the poll that was used by the IHSAA to determine the assignments for the regional dual meet tournaments next Wednesday. At the same time, the coaches lifted Kennedy from No. 9 to No. 7 and effectively gave the Cougars a nice assignment at home in the regional tournament while shipping Jefferson to Johnston.

The top eight teams in the IWCOA rankings get to host the regionals and everyone else has to travel. Jefferson drew a tough assignment in the regional at Johnston that features the fifth-ranked Johnston Dragons and Dowling Catholic.

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Briggs thinks Jeff wrestlers got raw deal

Cedar Rapids Jefferson wrestling coach Dick Briggs is a mild-mannered guy who rarely complains, but he's upset with the way the Class 3A regional dual meet tournaments were organized this year.

First of all, he thinks the J-Hawks were short-changed when they dropped from No. 5 to No. 9 in the IWCOA dual team rankings that were used to determine which schools would host a regional tournament on Feb. 10. The top-eight teams in the rankings get to host, so Jefferson missed by one spot.

Secondly, he's disappointed his J-Hawks would have to defeat fifth-ranked Johnston in the regional finals at Johnston in order to claim a berth in the state dual meet tournament. Normally, a team seeded No. 9 would face the No. 8 seed in the regional finals, but the Iowa High School Athletic Association did not follow the chart.

The Iowa Wrestling Coaches Association (IWCOA) made the rankings, then the Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) made the pairings that were released last month.

Briggs did not like either result and has not gotten any satisfactory answers.

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