New London drops a spot in latest rankings

After a lot of speculation about what would change in conducting the 2021 State Wrestling Championships at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, the Iowa High School Athletic Association's Board of Control decided it would run as currently scheduled in its usual sessions and formats. The Predicament' rankings on what individuals and teams it sees exceling at state were released earlier this week.

With COVID-19 precautions in place, the state dual team tournament (Wednesday, Feb. 17) and state traditional tournament (Thursday Feb. 18-Saturday Feb. 20) will follow the most updated proclamations and guidance of state and local government officials for the competitors and spectators.

New London fell from sixth to seventh in Class 1A's rankings of teams.

The Tigers have four ranked wrestlers with Marcel Lopez maintaining his season-long hold on No. 1 at 120 pounds while Dominic Lopez has moved up a spot from No. 3 at 145 to No. 2. Josh Glendening at 152 and Currey Jacobs at 195 are both still ranked ninth.

Also on 1A, Sigourney-Keota's Jack Clarahan moves up from No. 10 at 160 to No. 8. Pekin's Mason Juhl moves from No. 8 to No. 7 at 182. Highland has two individuals with Easton Schlabaugh at No. 10 at 106 and No. 6 Bryce Thompson at 113, both in the same position as the previous rankings.

Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union saw Lane Scorpil move from No. 5 at 113 in Class 2A to this week's No. 2 position.

The next rankings will be published before Class 2A and Class 1A sectional tournaments Saturday, Feb. 6. The first- and second-place winners in each weight class then advance to district tournaments.

District tournaments for all three classes are currently scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 13. The first- and second-place winners in each weight class from each district advance to the state tournament in Des Moines.

Mt. Pleasant is hosting Class 2A District 5 tournament which will be composed of Sectional 9 at Albia with Albia, Centerville, Davis County, Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont, Fairfield and Mid-Prairie and Sectional 10 at Davenport Assumption which is Davenport Assumption, Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union, Keokuk, Mt. Pleasant, Notre Dame/West Burlington/Danville and Washington.

Class 1A District 5 at Pleasantville will come from Sectional 9 at Colfax-Mingo with Colfax-Mingo, Collins-Maxwell, Interstate 35 Truro, Lynnville-Sully, Martensdale St. Mary's, Pleasantville and SE Warren/Liberty Ctr./M.D. and Sectional 10 at Sigourney will be Cardinal, Moravia, New London, North Mahaska, Pekin, Sigourney-Keota, Van Buren County and Wayne.

Class 1A District 8 at Wapello will be composed of Lisbon's Sectional 15 of Bellevue, Durant, Lisbon, Midland, North Cedar, Northeast and West Branch with Mediapolis hosting Sectional 16 of Highland, Louisa Muscatine, Mediapolis, Iowa City Regina, WACO, Wapello and Wilton.

Social distancing requirements and COVID-19 safety precautions will limit spectator capacity, create reserved seating blocks, and change participant procedures at Wells Fargo Arena. The IHSAA State Wrestling Championships average more than 75,000 attendees across all sessions annually, but capacity will currently allow for less than 4,000 tickets per session this year.

The traditional tournament features 672 individual qualifiers from more than 200 member school wrestling programs. The dual team tournament qualifies eight teams per classification and has been contested on the day before the traditional tournament since moving to Wells Fargo Arena in 2012.

Ticketing information for each date will be announced by the IHSAA and Iowa Events Center as it becomes available. Participating member schools will be contacted first for purchasing options.

Due to restricted capacity and to offer participating wrestlers an opportunity to remain at the event, ticket prices have been increased to $15 per session (dual team tournament, traditional tournament sessions 1-7) and $20 for the traditional tournament finals (session 8).

Cheerleaders will be unable to attend the state traditional tournament as event performers due to space limitations.

The Predicament's State Tourney Team Rankings

Class 1A

Number in parenthesis indicates number of ranked wrestlers on a team.

Last ranking

1. Don Bosco (10) 1

2. Lisbon (10) 2

3. Logan-Magnolia (6) 3

4. West Sioux (5) 4

5. Underwood (4) 5

6. Hull Western Christian (3) 7

7. New London (4) 6

8. Lake Mills (4) 10

9. Woodbury Central (3) 9

10. West Hancock (4) 8

Dropped out: none

Class 2A

1. West Delaware (9) 1

2. Crestwood (7) 3

3. Osage (5) 2

4. Davenport Assumption (5) 4

5. Union (5) 7

6. Centerville (2) 6

7. Independence (2) 8

8. Notre Dame/West Burlington-Danville (4) NR

9. Sgt Bluff Luton (3) 5

10. Central Lyon-GLR (3) 9

Dropped out: Webster City

Class 3A rankings will be released next week.