The Little Hawk wrestling team took on Dubuque Hempstead in a senior night showdown. Last year’s meet took place at Dubuque with Hempstead coming out on top 48-27. This year’s meet ended with a score of 45-32 with Hempstead winning for the second year in a row. Seniors Kael Voinovich, Kael Kurtz, Cale Seaton, Jake Mitchell, Trey Dervrich, Obed Dominguez, Jesse Hendershot, and Edgar Mhoon-Lopez ‘24 wrestled their last matches for City High.
“I can’t believe it’s already my last match at City High, it just went by so quickly and I’m grateful for all the moments shared here,” Cale Seaton ‘24 said.
Seaton, Voinovich, Kurtz, and Mitchell are all ranked with high expectations before the state tournament which is less than a month away. Voinovich, from Stillwater, Oklahoma, looks to place in the state of Iowa for his final year of high school wrestling.
A few seniors have already announced that they plan to continue their wrestling careers in college. Seaton is committed to South Dakota State University and Kurtz, when asked where he would like to go for college by the Press Citizen, said “Coe College, Loras College, or Grand View University.” Kurtz is also looking to win his first state championship in high school to end his high school career.
“It’s weird because it still doesn’t feel like it’s over yet. It’s hard to wrap my head around being done but I’m excited for what the future holds,” Kurtz said.
Along with Kurtz, Mitchell looks to qualify for state for his third straight year. Mitchell has looked into attending Kirkwood Community College or Southeastern Community College for baseball and then attending a Division I school. Dominguez and Voinovich are planning on wrestling in college too with Dominguez committing to Hawkeye Community College and Voinovich being undecided.
The winners of the dual meet for City High started off with Voinovich who bumped up to wrestle 165 and won by fall in the second period. The next match City High won was at 132 with Seaton winning by fall. At 138, Kurtz made his senior night very memorable by going out with a boom. Mitchell rallied the dual to become closer by getting a fall in the second period. With the second to last match of the night, Gabe Egeland ‘25 had a very close match coming out with a win 5-4 for a minor decision. Laith Alawneh ‘25, who was filling in for Varsity at 157 due to roster adjustments, ended the night with a fall.
