MONTICELLO

It was a matchup many anticipated the previous week.

At a prep wrestling quadrangular meet Jan. 20 at West Liberty, Mid-Prairie senior Cael Garvey – the third-ranked wrestler at 195 pounds in Class 2A according to IAWrestle – eagerly awaited the chance to wrestle the Comets' Jahsiah Galvan, who is ranked 11th.

But West Liberty forfeited to Garvey and bumped Galvan up to the 220-pound match, which meant any meeting of the two would have to wait until the conference championships.

There would be no avoiding the inevitable collision course that day.

"Really good," Garvey said after winning the River Valley Conference title at 195 with a second-period pin of Galvan in the championship match Saturday at Monticello High School. "That kid ran his mouth last week saying he would see me this week, so it feels really good to pin him in the second and show him what I am about."

Garvey charged onto the mat in hopes of silencing the bluster and quickly dispatching Galvan. The frenzied early action backfired as Galvan recorded a pair of takedowns and led, 4-2, after the first period.

That is when Mid-Prairie Coach Justin Garvey, Cael's father, implored him to slow down.

"He was rushing things," Justin Garvey said. "He was trying to finish it fast. So my message was, 'Six minutes. Make this kid wrestle you for six minutes and if you do that, then we will come out on top.'"
Cael heeded the advice and recorded the tying takedown before ultimately pinning the University of Northern Iowa football recruit in 2:43.

"I had a wing up and I went to go pull him backwards, see if I could sit him," Cael Garvey said. "But he rolled up and out of it. So then I hopped over, reached across his face, grabbed that other shoulder and just pulled him back."

Garvey (34-2) was one of three Golden Hawks to reach the RVC semifinals. At 285, 12th-ranked senior Gannon Callahan was denied a spot in the championship match and lost for just the second time this season, 3-2, to Anamosa's Cole Sigler in the semifinal.

"He was looking for a big move," Justin Garvey said. "Ended up losing that match and that was pretty upsetting to him. But he refocused himself, came back, got a couple of wins and got the third place finish. Good for him on the day."

At 170, Mid-Prairie junior Kaden Meader (30-15) also rebounded from a semifinal loss and earned a third-place finish. After being pinned for the third time in the last week-plus to Wilton's Kaden Shirk, Meader posted a pair of wins in the consolation bracket by turning the focus towards himself.

"Just trying to keep my head on straight, not get down about it," Meader said. "Think of ways, instead of what the other person was going to do, what I was going to do. What my next move was going to be. Not worry about what the other person was going to do as much."

Mid-Prairie junior Mose Yoder made the most noise in the 113-pound consolation bracket. After surrendering a pin to Tipton's Maxson Foff in the quarterfinal round, Yoder (29-10) pinned two opponents on the consolation side and earned a rematch with Foff for third place.

Yoder needed just 51 seconds to exact a measure of redemption and pin Foff.

"Mose just wasn't quite awake yet in that first round match," Justin Garvey said. "Lost the match to Tipton and he was pretty upset about it. We got him refocused and said 'All right, what is the next best thing?' So he battles his way all the way back to third place, ends up getting the Tipton kid, pins that kid for third place. It is like getting your mindset right and wrestling there."

Mid-Prairie freshman Dom Shively (160) and sophomore Tucker Miller (126) finished fifth and sixth, respectively.

"The day started off kind of a bit of a struggle for us," Justin Garvey said. "But I think we righted the ship and came through. ... Our younger guys, they battled through that back side and I thought they did a pretty decent job."

Mid-Prairie finished sixth in the team standings with 80.5 points. Wilton (177.5 points) claimed the team title, with West Liberty (163) a close second. The Golden Hawks can now set their sights on the pursuit of state tournament berths, which begins in earnest on Saturday with a 2A sectional meet at Benton Community High School.

"I think it is a good confidence-booster and it is a good realizer for what some guys need to work on," Meader said. "And now, we have got a whole week off to go crank it out in the wrestling room. Really put in some work, really make some improvements and that will be really good going into sectionals next week."

RVC CHAMPIONSHIPS

At Monticello

Teams – 1. Wilton 177.5, 2. West Liberty 163, 3. Monticello 114, 4. Tipton 102, 5. Anamosa 92, 6. Mid-Prairie 80.5, 7. Cascade 77. 8. Iowa City Regina 71, 9. Camanche 64, 10. West Branch 59.5, 11. Bellevue 42.5, 12. Durant 37.5, 13. Northeast 20, 14. North Cedar 4.

113
Quarterfinals – Maxson Fogg (Tipton) pinned Mose Yoder (Mid-Prairie), 3:46
Consolation Round 3 – Mose Yoder (Mid-Prairie) pinned Gus Thoma (Durant), 0:57
Consolation Semifinals – Mose Yoder (Mid-Prairie) pinned Ryan Cassady (West Liberty), 0:40
Third Place Match – Mose Yoder (Mid-Prairie) pinned Maxson Fogg (Tipton), 0:51

120
Quarterfinals – Mark Sunlin (Monticello) pinned Colin O`Rourke (Mid-Prairie), 0:42
Consolation Round 3 – Wyatt Ham (Tipton) dec. Colin O`Rourke (Mid-Prairie), 12-10

126
Quarterfinals – Lucas Dora (Wilton) pinned Tucker Miller (Mid-Prairie), 2:44
Consolation Round 3 – Tucker Miller (Mid-Prairie) tech. fall Spencer Winders (Iowa City Regina), 16-1
Consolation Semifinals – Urijah Etzel (Monticello) pinned Tucker Miller (Mid-Prairie), 1:32
Fifth Place Match – Ryker Dengler (West Liberty) pinned Tucker Miller (Mid-Prairie), 3:17

132
Championship Round 1 – Landry Gingerich (Mid-Prairie) pinned Alex Spies (Iowa City Regina), 1:05
Quarterfinals – Kale Hansen (Monticello) pinned Landry Gingerich (Mid-Prairie), 0:37
Consolation Round 2 – Landry Gingerich (Mid-Prairie) pinned Connor Dierks (Bellevue), 6:00
Consolation Round 3 – Bryson Garcia (West Liberty) pinned Landry Gingerich (Mid-Prairie), 1:25

138
Championship Round 1 – Wyatt Lashmit (Tipton) pinned Andrew Kaufman (Mid-Prairie), 2:52
Consolation Round 2 – Lane Sbertoli (Camanche) pinned Andrew Kaufman (Mid-Prairie), 1:48

145
Championship Round 1 – Ty Jesenovec (Monticello) pinned Evan Phillips (Mid-Prairie), 3:43
Consolation Round 2 – Carter Rios (Iowa City Regina) maj. dec. Evan Phillips (Mid-Prairie), 16-6

152
Championship Round 1 – Ty Gravert (Camanche) pinned Emmanuel Watts (Mid-Prairie), 4:33
Consolation Round 2 – Auron Marsh (West Branch) dec. Emmanuel Watts (Mid-Prairie), 8-2

160
Quarterfinals – Preston Daufeldt (West Liberty) over Dom Shively (Mid-Prairie), 4:25
Consolation Semifinals – Maxwell Yohe (Wilton) pinned Dom Shively (Mid-Prairie), 1:47
Fifth Place Match – Dom Shively (Mid-Prairie) pinned Kempton Sikkema (Bellevue), 0:00

170
Quarterfinals – Kaden Meader (Mid-Prairie) dec. Evan Vogel (Cascade), 12-7
Semifinals – Kaden Shirk (Wilton) pinned Kaden Meader (Mid-Prairie), 0:28
Consolation Semifinals – Kaden Meader (Mid-Prairie) pinned Fred Paul (Tipton), 1:12
Third Place Match – Kaden Meader (Mid-Prairie) dec. AJ Phelps (Monticello), 5-0

182
Quarterfinals – Jerry Havill (Tipton) pinned Jarron Thomas (Mid-Prairie), 1:12
Consolation Round 3 – Grant Gray (Northeast) pinned Jarron Thomas (Mid-Prairie), 3:34

195
Semifinals – Cael Garvey (Mid-Prairie) pinned Aiden Hewitt (Wilton), 0:17
First Place Match – Cael Garvey (Mid-Prairie) pinned Jahsiah Galvan (West Liberty), 2:43

285
Quarterfinals – Gannon Callahan (Mid-Prairie) pinned Dawson Welch (North Cedar), 0:49
Semifinals – Cole Sigler (Anamosa) dec. Gannon Callahan (Mid-Prairie), 3-2
Consolation Semifinals – Gannon Callahan (Mid-Prairie) pinned Gavin Sharp (Camanche), 0:16
Third Place Match – Gannon Callahan (Mid-Prairie) pinned Alexander Kaufmann (Wilton), 1:58