Prep Wrestling- IAwrestle and Iowa Corn in coordination with the Iowa Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association (IWCOA) has released the top 15 wrestlers for the Dan Gable Ms. and Mr. Wrestler of the Year Awards and southeast Iowa has three competitors in the running.
In Class 1A, WACO’s Louden Huisenga is a strong contender for the award at the 190-pound weight class. He is in the midst of back-to-back undefeated regular seasons with a 25-0 record against fellow 190-pound contenders.
The senior has won the 60th Willard Howell Invitational, the Regal Wrestling Invitational, the Gary Curtis Invitational, and most recently the WACO Invite. He’s also picked up two wins in the 215-pound weight class, with 12 of his wins coming via fall.
He is looking to avenge his 2nd place finish at state last year.
Over in Class 2A, Kaiden Dietzenbach of Burlington Notre Dame is back in the top 15 after being placed on the list last year. The Nike is continuing his reign of terror on the area in the 138-pound weight class with a perfect 27-0 record, so far through his senior campaign.
He finished in 1st place at the Cliff Keen Independence Invitational, the Fort Madison Invitational, and the Farr Jebens Invitational. Dietzenbach has pinned 15 of his opponents and won by technical fall in seven other matches.
Dietzenbach has enjoyed an illustrious career at Notre Dame, placing at the state tournament each of the past three years. But a second-place finish last year still has him without an individual title and that’s something he plans on changing this year.
Fairfield’s Cael McCabe is also up for the award in Class 2A as the junior boasts a 22-2 record in the 113-pound weight class. McCabe has won the Bob Murphy and Bill Van Horn Invitationals this season.
His two losses come to two ranked wrestlers in Class 3A in the 2nd ranked Braxton Hutchinson of Burlington in the 106-pound weight class and the 3rd ranked Dylan Munson of Cedar Rapids Prairie of the 113-pound weight class.
McCabe lost the title in the 106-pound weight class last year to finish with the silver.
Fans can vote once per list at Facebook.com/IAwrestle for their favorite wrestler in each category until February 9th, when the list will be narrowed down to the top 7. The next round of voting, from February 10th to February 23rd, will determine the top 3 finalists, with the winner announced at the banquet on February 27th at the Fareway Conference Center in Boone, Iowa, on February 27th at 11:30AM.
Please note, the fan vote winners will count as one vote towards the IWCOA’s committee votes in each round. (For example: Wrestler A received enough fan votes to place second in the poll, but that does not guarantee them to move on to the next round. IWCOA has selected 12 coaches and officials to serve on the committee. The fan vote is the 13th vote.)
Dan Gable, Mark Ironside and Alex Marinelli will be handing out the awards.
The two runner-up student-athletes in each class will each receive finalist award plaques. A duplicate Wrestler of the Year trophy and duplicate Wrestler of the Year runner-up plaques will be provided to each high school where finalists attend, for permanent placement in the high school trophy case.
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