Coming off a historic season featuring three state champions the City High Boys Wrestling team has a lot to back up from last year. The team, led by head coach Cory Connell had eight state qualifiers out of 14 weight classes. Those nine state qualifiers came from weight classes 106, 113, 126, 132, 138, 145, 170, 182, and 220. Only five state qualifiers will be returning for this season. Some of those losses include Ben Kueter and Gabe Arnold, who now both wrestle at the University of Iowa.
“We had a couple of big losses to the team but outside of that we are still really deep,” Gabriel Egeland ‘25 said.
This year, the IHSAA introduced new weight classes into the rotation, they are as follows for City High. Wrestling at 106 pounds is freshman Teagan Jones. Wrestling at 113 pounds is junior Kendall Kurtz. Wrestling at 120 pounds is sophomore Chris Davis. Wrestling at 126 pounds is senior Edgar Mhoon-Lopez. Wrestling at 132 pounds is senior Cale Seaton. Wrestling at 138 pounds is senior Kael Kurtz. Wrestling at 144 is senior Jake Mitchell. Wrestling at 150 pounds is Junior Gabe Egeland. Wrestling at 157 pounds is Senior Kale Voinovich. Wrestling at 165 pounds is senior Obed Dominguez. Wrestling at 175 pounds is junior Mason Tilley. Wrestling at 190 pounds is junior Drew Nye. Wrestling at 215 pounds is sophomore Raphael Etuma. Wrestling at 285 pounds is junior Shabaan Naim.
There are going to be seven returning varsity starters for the upcoming year. The season opens on November 30, against Waterloo West. After that, the varsity team wrestles in the Dan Gable Donnybrook tournament. This season has a lot to hold for the little hawks and their potential and how different it will be without four-time state champ and world champion Ben Kueter.
“I’m really excited for the season and I believe this team has a lot of potential and I really feel like we could thrive this year,” Chris Davis ‘26 said.
