Waukee Eyes and Ears

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February 3rd, 2012 8:52pm | Posted by waukeepatch

Students in Kristen Craig’s kindergarten class at Maple Grove Elementary had the unique opportunity to chat with a young Russian student via Skype Monday. Craig’s students were able to ask the little girl from Moscow questions about her school and what life was like across the pond.

February 2nd, 2012 12:16pm | Posted by waukeepatch

Talk about a 21st century declaration of love. I found this graffiti written on the rafters inside the old covered bridge at Centennial Park. It says, “Forever and always. Me and you.” Kind of romantic in an odd sort of way.

Talk about a 21st century declaration of love. I found this graffiti written on the rafters inside the old covered bridge at Centennial Park. It says, “Forever and always. Me and you.” Kind of romantic in an odd sort of way.

January 29th, 2012 9:36pm | Posted by waukeepatch

What an incredible way to end the night at the Waukee Chamber’s Annual Dinner! The Waukee High School Jazz Choir was top notch!

January 22nd, 2012 7:35pm | Posted by waukeepatch

If that’s what it’s like outside, I’m staying in here.

If that’s what it’s like outside, I’m staying in here.

January 17th, 2012 10:44am | Posted by waukeepatch

No matter the weather, a squirrel’s got to eat. Photo courtesy of Melinda Kiernan.

No matter the weather, a squirrel’s got to eat.

Photo courtesy of Melinda Kiernan.

January 15th, 2012 9:51pm | Posted by waukeepatch

Waukee swimming update from Coach Daniel Briggs: The Waukee Warrior Swimmers finished the 2011 season on a very high note taking down a powerhouse Fort Dodge Team.  The Dodgers snuck past the Warriors last season with a 12 point victory.  “I was caught off guard last season by them and vowed to not let that happen again,” stated Coach Dan Briggs.  The swim meet had 3 different lead changes occur, but the Warriors prevailed in the end by taking a 2 point deficit into the backstroke and sweeping the breaststroke with Jordan Reinard, Josh Georgeff, and Tim Scheve.  “This was a huge point in the meet.  You cannot win an entire meet from just one performance, but this earned us 10 points toward their accumulating lead and ended up giving us a lead going into the last relay, “ Briggs added.  It was a meet that we had on the calendar the day the new season was set into place.  The Warriors knew that if they clicked on all cylinders, they would be right there in the hunt the entire meet.  “Scouting them required a little patience and preparation, but in the end it was all worth it!”  The Warriors were successful do to almost every swimmer swimming a personal best time in at least one event for the night, many even career best times.  The final score was Waukee 92- Fort Dodge 78.  The Warriors finished the 2011 season 5-1 and ranked 11th with 1143 power points. ********************************************************************************** The Warriors begin 2012 with a win at Mason City!  The warriors trekked up to the northern edge of the state and defeated the Mohawks 64-30 in a conference dual meet.  The Warriors are now 3-0 in Conference meet competition defeating Marshalltown, Fort. Dodge, and Mason City.  Waukee had a tough training period over break, which included 24+ hours of dryland and swimming in a span of 8 days. “I was very pleased to see our guys fired up and ready to swim fast.  Our schedule this year has a lot of rebuilding teams and some of them have rebuilt faster than others.  One thing we have found out is that you never want to underestimate your competition.”  Waukee recorded it’s school record 6th dual meet win in a single season and the team has only lost to the top ranked Dowling team by 41 points.  The Warriors will be off to the Johnston Invite with some very tough competition with 6 teams in the top 15 of the state.  The Warriors are aiming for a top three finish at this meet! ********************************************************************************** The Johnston Invite proved to be all of the hype and then some.  The highly competitive meet was good to the Warriors who had a late surge in the last three events to move from fifth place overall to third, just inching out DM Lincoln by 2 points.  “This meet was definitely our most competitive of the season.”  It seemed to have a final heat filled with state qualifiers from last year or guys that could swim state qualifying equivalent times right now.  It was a really fast meet!”  We had numerous great swims again to stay competitive with some of the states powerhouses in the sport of swimming.  Waukee did not have any champions in the meet, but had Jordan Reinard pull out some great swims in the 200 IM and 100 Breaststroke earning runner up honors in each.  The backstrokers; Colin Murphy, Cooper Bell and John Linde finished 5th, 7th, and 8th places gave our breaststrokers a boost as well helping Reinard take second and Georgeff 5th.  The 400 free relay of Ian Murphy, JT Trible, Garrett Rowe and Jordan Reinard edged out Lincoln’s Relay, moving them ahead by just two points 152 - 150.  The next week will be the true test of the Warriors physical and emotional well-being as they have three big swim meets in five days.  The Warriors will be at Valley on Thursday, January 12, the SE Polk Invite on Saturday, January 14, and Senior Night at home against Ames on Monday, January 16.  The Warriors have stepped up to the level of competition they have faced all season and look to have great showings at all three meets.  Team Placing: Johnston, Ames, Waukee, DM Lincoln, DM Roosevelt, Council Bluffs Lewis Central, Carroll, Council Bluffs Abe Lincoln, DM East ********************************************************************************** Valley senior night proved to be a true test of wills as the Tigers prevailed with a 93-77 win in exciting fashion.  Similar to the Fort Dodge meet, the Warriors were close headed into the last three events of the meet.  In fact, the meet was deadlocked 62-62 at the awards ceremony for the Valley seniors.  The meet ended up going Valley’s way as some last minute changes were made to their line up and the Tigers won all three races drowning the hope of a Waukee upset.  “The boys really swam well tonight as we swam some guys in races they have not swam since our time trials at the beginning of the season.  Garrett Rowe went a 1:00 in the backstroke and his best time previous to that was a 1:06.  Having the three sophomores (Colin Murphy, Sam Weyers, Tim Scheve) go under 5:30 in the 500 Freestyle all at the same time is a first for the squad as well.  We also had some quality swims out of our varsity depth swimming career best times, multiple times both in individuals and relays.  The junior varsity guys are starting to feel the effects of a taper as well with many time drops and competitive swims, “ commented Coach Briggs.  The meet last year was a 123- 47 defeat, so the Warriors were very pleased with the effort last night.

Waukee swimming update from Coach Daniel Briggs:

The Waukee Warrior Swimmers finished the 2011 season on a very high note taking down a powerhouse Fort Dodge Team.  The Dodgers snuck past the Warriors last season with a 12 point victory.  “I was caught off guard last season by them and vowed to not let that happen again,” stated Coach Dan Briggs.  The swim meet had 3 different lead changes occur, but the Warriors prevailed in the end by taking a 2 point deficit into the backstroke and sweeping the breaststroke with Jordan Reinard, Josh Georgeff, and Tim Scheve.  “This was a huge point in the meet.  You cannot win an entire meet from just one performance, but this earned us 10 points toward their accumulating lead and ended up giving us a lead going into the last relay, “ Briggs added.  It was a meet that we had on the calendar the day the new season was set into place.  The Warriors knew that if they clicked on all cylinders, they would be right there in the hunt the entire meet.  “Scouting them required a little patience and preparation, but in the end it was all worth it!”  The Warriors were successful do to almost every swimmer swimming a personal best time in at least one event for the night, many even career best times.  The final score was Waukee 92- Fort Dodge 78.  The Warriors finished the 2011 season 5-1 and ranked 11th with 1143 power points.

**********************************************************************************

The Warriors begin 2012 with a win at Mason City!  The warriors trekked up to the northern edge of the state and defeated the Mohawks 64-30 in a conference dual meet.  The Warriors are now 3-0 in Conference meet competition defeating Marshalltown, Fort. Dodge, and Mason City.  Waukee had a tough training period over break, which included 24+ hours of dryland and swimming in a span of 8 days. “I was very pleased to see our guys fired up and ready to swim fast.  Our schedule this year has a lot of rebuilding teams and some of them have rebuilt faster than others.  One thing we have found out is that you never want to underestimate your competition.”  Waukee recorded it’s school record 6th dual meet win in a single season and the team has only lost to the top ranked Dowling team by 41 points.  The Warriors will be off to the Johnston Invite with some very tough competition with 6 teams in the top 15 of the state.  The Warriors are aiming for a top three finish at this meet!

**********************************************************************************

The Johnston Invite proved to be all of the hype and then some.  The highly competitive meet was good to the Warriors who had a late surge in the last three events to move from fifth place overall to third, just inching out DM Lincoln by 2 points.  “This meet was definitely our most competitive of the season.”  It seemed to have a final heat filled with state qualifiers from last year or guys that could swim state qualifying equivalent times right now.  It was a really fast meet!”  We had numerous great swims again to stay competitive with some of the states powerhouses in the sport of swimming.  Waukee did not have any champions in the meet, but had Jordan Reinard pull out some great swims in the 200 IM and 100 Breaststroke earning runner up honors in each.  The backstrokers; Colin Murphy, Cooper Bell and John Linde finished 5th, 7th, and 8th places gave our breaststrokers a boost as well helping Reinard take second and Georgeff 5th.  The 400 free relay of Ian Murphy, JT Trible, Garrett Rowe and Jordan Reinard edged out Lincoln’s Relay, moving them ahead by just two points 152 - 150.  The next week will be the true test of the Warriors physical and emotional well-being as they have three big swim meets in five days.  The Warriors will be at Valley on Thursday, January 12, the SE Polk Invite on Saturday, January 14, and Senior Night at home against Ames on Monday, January 16.  The Warriors have stepped up to the level of competition they have faced all season and look to have great showings at all three meets.  Team Placing: Johnston, Ames, Waukee, DM Lincoln, DM Roosevelt, Council Bluffs Lewis Central, Carroll, Council Bluffs Abe Lincoln, DM East

**********************************************************************************

Valley senior night proved to be a true test of wills as the Tigers prevailed with a 93-77 win in exciting fashion.  Similar to the Fort Dodge meet, the Warriors were close headed into the last three events of the meet.  In fact, the meet was deadlocked 62-62 at the awards ceremony for the Valley seniors.  The meet ended up going Valley’s way as some last minute changes were made to their line up and the Tigers won all three races drowning the hope of a Waukee upset.  “The boys really swam well tonight as we swam some guys in races they have not swam since our time trials at the beginning of the season.  Garrett Rowe went a 1:00 in the backstroke and his best time previous to that was a 1:06.  Having the three sophomores (Colin Murphy, Sam Weyers, Tim Scheve) go under 5:30 in the 500 Freestyle all at the same time is a first for the squad as well.  We also had some quality swims out of our varsity depth swimming career best times, multiple times both in individuals and relays.  The junior varsity guys are starting to feel the effects of a taper as well with many time drops and competitive swims, “ commented Coach Briggs.  The meet last year was a 123- 47 defeat, so the Warriors were very pleased with the effort last night.

January 13th, 2012 10:30am | Posted by waukeepatch

From Waukee wrestling coach Chad Vollmecke: This past weekend the Warrior wrestlers competed at the Winterset Husky Invitational.  The Husky invite is always a tough tournament, and this year it got even tougher!  There were 16 teams this time around, and the field consisted of several highly ranked teams in all 3 wrestling classes.  Needless to say, it was a lot of fun, and there were some great match ups throughout the day.   The Warriors went in a little beat up in some areas, but at the end of the day we had overcome some adversity, made some fantastic come-backs, and in most cases wrestled at or above our seeds!  We were looking for a higher finish, but there were still many things to be pleased with, a good deal of instances we can learn from, and progress toward our goals for February. The team placings: Osage   - 279 Urbandale - 225 1/2  #7 in 3A Underwood - 170 1/2  #3 in 1A Glenwood - 136 Winterset - 131 Waukee - 112 ADM - 97 1/2 MSM - 94    #2 in 1A SEW - 85 Oskaloosa - 79 1/2 Corning - 66 1/2 I -35 - 55 Clarinda - 54 Van Meter - 30 Eagle Grove - 29 Shenandoah - 22 I’ll give you the play-by-play by weight class. At 106, Storm Eastvold went 2-2, placing 7th. This wasn’t bad for a bracket that only had one losing record.  He opened with a bye, then faced the #1 seed, #3 Mason Miller from Winterset.  Storm put up a heckuva fight, getting pinned at the 5:32 mark.  He then had an opportunity to get revenge for an earlier season loss to ADM, but that opportunity slipped away as Storm gave up the fall in the third period.  Because of his placement in the bracket, Storm was still in the mix with 2 losses.  This was an opportunity Storm would not let slip away, so he recorded 2 pins to add to our team total on his way to 7th place. At 113, Bryan Walsh had some great matches even though he did not place as high as we had expected.  Bryan was seeded 6th by criteria in a bracket with only 2 losing records, so he ultimately placed above that with 5th.  He opened with a :22 fall in the first round, and followed that up with an exciting overtime pin in the quarter finals.  Bryan was losing by 3 with :30 left in regulation when he got an escape and a takedown to tie it up with 10 seconds left.  In overtime, Bryan hit a sweet lateral drop to get the win and the pin.  Those points definitely helped us in the team race.  After that excitement, Bryan zigged when he should have zagged and gave up a quick pin to Jennings of Osage in the semis.  He followed that loss up with a 9-2 loss to fellow Excel Wrestler, Michael Stuart of Urbandale.  Bryan could have opened up here a little more, and I think this loss is what has been driving him this week.  In the fifth place match, Bryan faced the same wrestler he had previously defeated in OT, and this time, Bryan led the entire match up until the young man from Underwood had to injury default after another lateral drop.  Bryan ended up above his seed, but most importantly learned that he needs to bring his best effort and focus at all times, taking nothing for granted.  We will see Stuart again at Conference and districts, so we have to get it together by then! Things started rough for Max Scheve at 120.  He was seeded low because of 2 #1 ranked kids as well as the other two kids from the top 10 in their respective classes.  The top 4 seeds had only 1 loss among them.  However, with all of that quality, Max’s day should not have begun the way it did.  In the middle of one of his signature blast doubles, Max was hit with a spladle and pinned.  Wrestling folk understand how tough it is to get out of once you are in it.  Losing in the round of 16 was never something we expected for Max.  However, in the face of that adversity, Max bowed his neck and kept going full steam ahead.  He got a bye in the next round, followed that up with a win by major decision, a win by injury default, and a :47 second pin in the 7th place match over the same individual who hit him with the spladle in the first round.  He got his pride back by winning that re-match, and he got his eyes opened to the fact that he always has to be on the attack and never take anything for granted.  He showed a lot of maturity for a freshman in a bracket like that.   At 126, Chris Grow had another beastly bracket where he was able to place above his seed with a 5th place finish.  He opened with a pin over Underwood, lost by fall in the quarters to #1 seeded and #10 ranked Kole Stapes of Martensdale.  He then rebounded to win by decision to stay alive, but then lost by major decision to Paulson of Urbandale, moving him to the 5th place match.  He then won by injury default over Kole Stapes for 5th.  Chris is really starting to turn a corner and wrestle well.  His hard work and dedication is paying off, and we are excited to see how de develops down the stretch. Troy Gatzionis placed 4th at 132 from the #7 seed.  He opened with 2 falls to find himself in the semis-finals vs. #1 ranked David Walker of Martensdale St. Marys.  Troy wrestled a very tough match, putting Walker in precarious positions from leg-defense, and was doing a good job of keeping it close up until the last 10 seconds when a loss of position put him on his back, giving up the fall at the end.  He then pinned his way into the 3rd and 4th place match only to lose 8-4 to Fox of Osage.  Troy put together a great match but gave up a couple cheap tilts that cost him that match.  Troy is fun to watch and has a great deal of potential.  We just have to keep working to get the best out of him at all times.   Ryan Sullivan went 0-2 at 138.  He lost his first match by fall, but brought the effort and intensity in his second match, losing a squeaker 2-1.  We never have to worry about Ryan not giving his all, and now we just have to push him to bring the best technique and position. Cy Nayou went 1-2 and did not place at 145.  He recorded a fall over Dillon Rogers of ADM in the wrestle backs after losing to #1 Gabe Moreno of Urbandale in round 1.  He was pinned out of the tournament by Pacheco of Eagle Grove.  Cy is explosive and fun to watch, but we just need to get him some more technique.  Being a first year wrestler and a senior has been a challenge, but he’s coming along!! Jason Clark placed 3rd at 152.  He started off seeded at 4th on record, which was frustrating, but seeding is tough when the teams span all 3 classes and we don’t have common opponent.  Jason made the mistake of looking ahead to the semis vs. #5 Keegan Mumma and losing a close one early.  After opening with a first period fall, Jason lost 4-2 to Johnson of Osage.  Jason did not wrestle his best quarterfinal match, but he did rebound and put together a stretch of 3 great matches after the hiccup.  He proceeded to pin Turner of Clarinda and Athey of Underwood in order to get another shot at Johnson of Osage for 3rd.  Jason dominated the placing round 9-0 to avenge the early loss.  It was a nice way to end his day. Freshman Nathan Jacobsen, in for his injured brother Steven at 160, went 0-2 on the day.   His losses came to the eventual 3rd and 7th place finishers.  Nathan is a big kid who will only get bigger, so getting experience on varsity will pay off for him down the road.  He’s got a bright future in wrestling. Joey Baldwin went 0-2 at 170 but started to put things together and look much improved in terms of performance and position.  At 182, Morgan Wright went 1-2 and did not place.   He lost to the eventual 5th and 7th place wrestlers and recorded a fall in his victory.  Morgan is starting to prove that he’s picking things up, and by the time he’s finished, he will have made some noise in the sport if he continues to put in good, focused time on the mat. Ben Sporrer went 0-2 at 195.  Ben is probably one of the hardest working kids right now who is trying to get better for this team.  He’s working on using his height to his advantage rather than the disadvantage that being 6’3 and having size 15 shoes can sometimes cause in wrestling. He’s trying to get as much experience as possible as quickly as possible.  We can never question his effort or motives.  Now we just have to get him on the road to victory to reward that hard work. We were open at 220 because Ryan Glenn is out with an injury for the next couple weeks.  On paper, Ryan would have been a finalist and potential champion at his weight class.  These points would have put us in the top 4 of the team race, but that’s just on paper.  We are working at getting Ryan back to competition form and ready for the home stretch in February.   The big man Badih Delati was the biggest man of the day for the Warriors.  Coming in at the #1 seed, Badih did work and won the whole shebang!  He opened with a bye, then pinned Dylan Tuttle of Oskaloosy in :46 to get to the semis.  In the semis he disposed of Dan Church of Osage in a mere :37 for his spot in the finals.  His final opponent of the day, tipping the scales at the top end of the weight class, was Alex Killpack of Glenwood.  Badih wrestled a great, smart match and won handily 5-1 to get the gold.  Badih is improving all the time.  His time spent working with Glenn and assistant coach Matt Michelson (3rd in state for the warriors in ‘02 before heading to Augsburg) has really paid off.  Badih is doing whatever it takes to make this season memorable.  Very proud of our lone champion!!

From Waukee wrestling coach Chad Vollmecke:

This past weekend the Warrior wrestlers competed at the Winterset Husky Invitational.  The Husky invite is always a tough tournament, and this year it got even tougher!  There were 16 teams this time around, and the field consisted of several highly ranked teams in all 3 wrestling classes.  Needless to say, it was a lot of fun, and there were some great match ups throughout the day.  
The Warriors went in a little beat up in some areas, but at the end of the day we had overcome some adversity, made some fantastic come-backs, and in most cases wrestled at or above our seeds!  We were looking for a higher finish, but there were still many things to be pleased with, a good deal of instances we can learn from, and progress toward our goals for February.
The team placings:
Osage   - 279
Urbandale - 225 1/2  #7 in 3A
Underwood - 170 1/2  #3 in 1A
Glenwood - 136
Winterset - 131
Waukee - 112
ADM - 97 1/2
MSM - 94    #2 in 1A
SEW - 85
Oskaloosa - 79 1/2
Corning - 66 1/2
I -35 - 55
Clarinda - 54
Van Meter - 30
Eagle Grove - 29
Shenandoah - 22
I’ll give you the play-by-play by weight class.
At 106, Storm Eastvold went 2-2, placing 7th. This wasn’t bad for a bracket that only had one losing record.  He opened with a bye, then faced the #1 seed, #3 Mason Miller from Winterset.  Storm put up a heckuva fight, getting pinned at the 5:32 mark.  He then had an opportunity to get revenge for an earlier season loss to ADM, but that opportunity slipped away as Storm gave up the fall in the third period.  Because of his placement in the bracket, Storm was still in the mix with 2 losses.  This was an opportunity Storm would not let slip away, so he recorded 2 pins to add to our team total on his way to 7th place.
At 113, Bryan Walsh had some great matches even though he did not place as high as we had expected.  Bryan was seeded 6th by criteria in a bracket with only 2 losing records, so he ultimately placed above that with 5th.  He opened with a :22 fall in the first round, and followed that up with an exciting overtime pin in the quarter finals.  Bryan was losing by 3 with :30 left in regulation when he got an escape and a takedown to tie it up with 10 seconds left.  In overtime, Bryan hit a sweet lateral drop to get the win and the pin.  Those points definitely helped us in the team race.  After that excitement, Bryan zigged when he should have zagged and gave up a quick pin to Jennings of Osage in the semis.  He followed that loss up with a 9-2 loss to fellow Excel Wrestler, Michael Stuart of Urbandale.  Bryan could have opened up here a little more, and I think this loss is what has been driving him this week.  In the fifth place match, Bryan faced the same wrestler he had previously defeated in OT, and this time, Bryan led the entire match up until the young man from Underwood had to injury default after another lateral drop.  Bryan ended up above his seed, but most importantly learned that he needs to bring his best effort and focus at all times, taking nothing for granted.  We will see Stuart again at Conference and districts, so we have to get it together by then!
Things started rough for Max Scheve at 120.  He was seeded low because of 2 #1 ranked kids as well as the other two kids from the top 10 in their respective classes.  The top 4 seeds had only 1 loss among them.  However, with all of that quality, Max’s day should not have begun the way it did.  In the middle of one of his signature blast doubles, Max was hit with a spladle and pinned.  Wrestling folk understand how tough it is to get out of once you are in it.  Losing in the round of 16 was never something we expected for Max.  However, in the face of that adversity, Max bowed his neck and kept going full steam ahead.  He got a bye in the next round, followed that up with a win by major decision, a win by injury default, and a :47 second pin in the 7th place match over the same individual who hit him with the spladle in the first round.  He got his pride back by winning that re-match, and he got his eyes opened to the fact that he always has to be on the attack and never take anything for granted.  He showed a lot of maturity for a freshman in a bracket like that.  
At 126, Chris Grow had another beastly bracket where he was able to place above his seed with a 5th place finish.  He opened with a pin over Underwood, lost by fall in the quarters to #1 seeded and #10 ranked Kole Stapes of Martensdale.  He then rebounded to win by decision to stay alive, but then lost by major decision to Paulson of Urbandale, moving him to the 5th place match.  He then won by injury default over Kole Stapes for 5th.  Chris is really starting to turn a corner and wrestle well.  His hard work and dedication is paying off, and we are excited to see how de develops down the stretch.
Troy Gatzionis placed 4th at 132 from the #7 seed.  He opened with 2 falls to find himself in the semis-finals vs. #1 ranked David Walker of Martensdale St. Marys.  Troy wrestled a very tough match, putting Walker in precarious positions from leg-defense, and was doing a good job of keeping it close up until the last 10 seconds when a loss of position put him on his back, giving up the fall at the end.  He then pinned his way into the 3rd and 4th place match only to lose 8-4 to Fox of Osage.  Troy put together a great match but gave up a couple cheap tilts that cost him that match.  Troy is fun to watch and has a great deal of potential.  We just have to keep working to get the best out of him at all times.  
Ryan Sullivan went 0-2 at 138.  He lost his first match by fall, but brought the effort and intensity in his second match, losing a squeaker 2-1.  We never have to worry about Ryan not giving his all, and now we just have to push him to bring the best technique and position.
Cy Nayou went 1-2 and did not place at 145.  He recorded a fall over Dillon Rogers of ADM in the wrestle backs after losing to #1 Gabe Moreno of Urbandale in round 1.  He was pinned out of the tournament by Pacheco of Eagle Grove.  Cy is explosive and fun to watch, but we just need to get him some more technique.  Being a first year wrestler and a senior has been a challenge, but he’s coming along!!
Jason Clark placed 3rd at 152.  He started off seeded at 4th on record, which was frustrating, but seeding is tough when the teams span all 3 classes and we don’t have common opponent.  Jason made the mistake of looking ahead to the semis vs. #5 Keegan Mumma and losing a close one early.  After opening with a first period fall, Jason lost 4-2 to Johnson of Osage.  Jason did not wrestle his best quarterfinal match, but he did rebound and put together a stretch of 3 great matches after the hiccup.  He proceeded to pin Turner of Clarinda and Athey of Underwood in order to get another shot at Johnson of Osage for 3rd.  Jason dominated the placing round 9-0 to avenge the early loss.  It was a nice way to end his day.
Freshman Nathan Jacobsen, in for his injured brother Steven at 160, went 0-2 on the day.   His losses came to the eventual 3rd and 7th place finishers.  Nathan is a big kid who will only get bigger, so getting experience on varsity will pay off for him down the road.  He’s got a bright future in wrestling.
Joey Baldwin went 0-2 at 170 but started to put things together and look much improved in terms of performance and position. 
At 182, Morgan Wright went 1-2 and did not place.   He lost to the eventual 5th and 7th place wrestlers and recorded a fall in his victory.  Morgan is starting to prove that he’s picking things up, and by the time he’s finished, he will have made some noise in the sport if he continues to put in good, focused time on the mat.
Ben Sporrer went 0-2 at 195.  Ben is probably one of the hardest working kids right now who is trying to get better for this team.  He’s working on using his height to his advantage rather than the disadvantage that being 6’3 and having size 15 shoes can sometimes cause in wrestling. He’s trying to get as much experience as possible as quickly as possible.  We can never question his effort or motives.  Now we just have to get him on the road to victory to reward that hard work.
We were open at 220 because Ryan Glenn is out with an injury for the next couple weeks.  On paper, Ryan would have been a finalist and potential champion at his weight class.  These points would have put us in the top 4 of the team race, but that’s just on paper.  We are working at getting Ryan back to competition form and ready for the home stretch in February.  
The big man Badih Delati was the biggest man of the day for the Warriors.  Coming in at the #1 seed, Badih did work and won the whole shebang!  He opened with a bye, then pinned Dylan Tuttle of Oskaloosy in :46 to get to the semis.  In the semis he disposed of Dan Church of Osage in a mere :37 for his spot in the finals.  His final opponent of the day, tipping the scales at the top end of the weight class, was Alex Killpack of Glenwood.  Badih wrestled a great, smart match and won handily 5-1 to get the gold.  Badih is improving all the time.  His time spent working with Glenn and assistant coach Matt Michelson (3rd in state for the warriors in ‘02 before heading to Augsburg) has really paid off.  Badih is doing whatever it takes to make this season memorable.  Very proud of our lone champion!!

January 10th, 2012 11:24am | Posted by waukeepatch

Governor Terry Branstad delivers the Condition of the State speech today in the Iowa House Chamber at the Iowa State Capitol. *Photo courtesy of Chad Airhart

Governor Terry Branstad delivers the Condition of the State speech today in the Iowa House Chamber at the Iowa State Capitol.

*Photo courtesy of Chad Airhart

January 7th, 2012 12:31pm | Posted by waukeepatch

You have to hand it to that tiny little leaf. It’s the only one hanging onto that tree. Seems to be the perfect metaphor for Iowa weather right now. Autumn is still hanging on here as we gear up for 45 degrees in the first week of January.

You have to hand it to that tiny little leaf. It’s the only one hanging onto that tree. Seems to be the perfect metaphor for Iowa weather right now. Autumn is still hanging on here as we gear up for 45 degrees in the first week of January.

Waukee Wrestling Update

January 6th, 2012 11:24am | Posted by waukeepatch

Warrior Wrestling update from coach Chad Vollmecke:
We opened with conference foe Mason City.  They are currently ranked 7th in 3A and boast 5 ranked wrestlers.  We didn’t match up very well with them, and the score is a good indicator of that.  We continue to improve, but that improvement isn’t so obvious to those outside the program.  As time ticks, we continue to try to find a way to keep our top kids going for greatness and our less experienced kids getting caught up.  Lots of challenges in the midst of great opportunities.  It’s why I love this sport!
Below you can look at the box score.  Some big high lights were Storm Eastvold bringing the fight to #8 and returning state place winner Kaz Onoo at 106.  Storm fought hard to stay in good position, create viable opportunities, and not succumb to the relentless pinning combinations from Onoo.  He fought valiantly and protected too many bonus points by giving up the major rather than the tech fall or fall. 
Bryan Walsh continued his leading ways by recording a tech fall at 113 over Matt Tornquist.  Bryan has really been working hard at honing his skills and paying the price for greatness.  He works harder and later than anyone on the team right now.  Hopefully kids will see this pay off and start joining him!!
Chris Grow was the warrior of the night because he had 2 of the hardest fought victories on the team.  He battled to win this match 2-1 with a late takedown and dominance from the top position.  Chris, too, has been working very hard and very smart to put himself in a position to be successful in February. 
Jason Clark, currently ranked #4 at 152 for the Warriors, wrestled with a bum ankle and pulled out a 6-2 overtime victory to help us put some points on the board.  Wrestling Jason’s style is challenging with an injury.  He likes to scramble and get into funky positions, and this is tough with a weak wheel.  He found a way, though.
Badih Delati rounded out our victories with a 2-0 win at heavyweight.  Badih is currently ranked 10th in the state, and he has continued to grow and improve his skills with his eye on the state tournament.  He’s gotten much better at controlling his opponent, but he’s not satisfied.
There were many lessons in the losses, as well.  One lesson involves getting Ryan Glenn healthy and back in the line up.  Others involve the need to continue to stay in good position and bring the attack to our opponent, regardless of ranking.  I think some of our boys were in a state of fear or shell-shock when facing the top ranked foe.  Experience and hard work will fix this.  We plan to keep teaching to bring the youngsters along and turning up the tempo to push the top tier kids even farther.  This dual doesn’t define us, but it provides great opportunities for growth.

Waukee 14  Mason City 55

195 - Will Slaven (MC)  WBF over Ben Sporrer 1:42
220 - Tom Schiffer (MC) WBforfeit
285 - Badih Delati (W) Dec Dakota Alexander  2-0
106 - Kaz Onoo #8 (MC)  MDec Storm Eastvold 11-1
113 - Bryan Walsh (W) WBTech Fall over Matt Tornquist  15-0 in 5:12
120 - Andres Gonzalez  #2 (MC) WBF over Max Scheve 1:50
126 - Chris Grow (W) Dec Will Siglin  2-1
132 - Andrew Bartel (MC) Dec Troy Gatzionis 7-2
138 - Blake Spotts # 5 (MC) WBF over Ryan Sullivan  1:39
145 - Dillon Coe (MC) WBF over Reid Allen  3:11
152 - Jason Clark (W) Dec Stone Sturges  6-2 OT
160 - Max Kreiger  #5 (MC) WBF over Steven Jacobsen 1:12
170 - Cody Crotty (MC) WBF over Joey Baldwin 3:24
182 - Jared Bartel #1 (MC) WBF over Morgan Wright  :49

Coming into Norwalk, we knew that we would have to beat some kids we maybe weren’t suppose to in order to record a team victory.  We also knew that there would be some great battles.  We use to have great duals with these guys when we were both in the Little Hawkeye Conference, but I think last night was the closest we’ve come to defeating them as a team. 

Badih Delati started us off with a nice momentum boost with a :34 pin.  Badih just keeps getting better and better.  He will see some challenges this weekend at Winterset, and we look forward to the opportunities.
Storm Eastvold bounced back from his first round loss to get a fall in 1:06 for the Warriors.  Storm has developed his competitor’s mind set to the point where he doesn’t carry around the pain of an early loss or let it affect him down the stretch.  He’ll use the loss to get better, but he won’t dwell on it.
Bryan Walsh wrestled a smart, tough match in recording a decision at 113.  He showed he can open up his offense in order to create opportunities to put up some points for the team.
At 120, Max Scheve dominated his opponent with a pin in 1:11.  We need to get him to the point, mentally and emotionally, where he can come at EVERY opponent like that…not just the ones he knows he can beat.  Max has a ton of potential and experience for freshman.  We just have to get him to believe in himself so he can sell out for the team.
One of the most exciting matches of the night was at 126.  Chris Grow out worked and out hustled #9 Austin Pierangeli to record a 2-0 victory and go 2-0 on the night.  Chris is doing some great things right now for the team, including leading by example in the practice room as well as in competition.  We are very proud of Chris.
Jason Clark wrestled true to form with a first period pin at 152, recording our final victory of the night.
We had some missed opportunities at 132 where Troy Gatzionis wrestled a great match only to lose 12-10 in overtime.  We have to improve our practice focus and intensity so we can win these close ones.  Troy’s performance in this match was much improved over the MC dual, but we still came up short in areas that we can control.  Troy’s best wrestling is ahead!  We also had a couple of opportunities at 160 and 170, but the experience bug bit again.  Steven Jacobsen battled through a tough double leg attack, putting his opponent on his back momentarily, but to no avail.  Ultimately, Steven was pinned, but his improvement is impossible to miss.  We just have to keep plugging away, getting mat time, and fighting for that victory.  
Overall, as I’m sure is obvious, we are not where we’d like to be.  We do understand that dual meet wins may be tough to come by, depending on our match ups, but we know we can all do better.  Each individual can do more.  We have a team expectation of always competing to the best of our ability and bringing a fist-fight.  We as a staff believe there is more to be produced by this team, and we are going to work hard to get it out of them.  We have some kids over-achieving, some under-achieving, and others just achieving.  As we step it up in the start of what we view as “2nd Season”, the expectations will be raised, and we believe the wrestlers will respond.  
As always, thank you for your support of Warrior Wrestling.

Waukee 30    Norwalk 45

106 - Storm Eastvold  (W) WBF over Chase Fouts  1:06
113 - Bryan Walsh (W) Dec Zach Johnston  4-0
120 - Max Scheve (W) WBF over Ryley Smith  1:11
126 - Chris Grow (W) dec Austin Pierangeli #9 2-0
132 - Zach Cowie (N) dec Troy Gatzionis 12-10  OT
138 - Tyler Stanley (N) WBF over Ryan Sullivan  1:23
145 - Matt Gustin (N) WBF over Reid Allen  1:58
152 - Jason Clark (W) WBF over Austin Deidrichs  1:48
160 - Brandon Johnson (N) WBF over Steven Jacobsen  1:42
170 - Dusten Saltz (N) WBF over Joey Baldwin  2:22
182 - Nicholas Huffman (N) WBF over Morgan Wright  2:57
195 - Alex Landgrebe (N) WBF over Ben Sporrer  1:14
220 - Hunter Reid #10  (N) WBforfeit
285 - Badih Delati (W)  WBF over Garrett Gillen  :34