but he has his sights set on 215 by January. “He can 100 percent get to state,” Auderer said of Griffin. “He has the athleticism and skill level to get to that next level.” Puck and Chitty could poten- tially fill the slots at 157 and 165. Boshart will open the sea- son at 175, but he may move down as well as the season progresses. Auderer says freshmen could occupy some of the spots in the lower part of the lineup. Merek
Ritland and Noah Hinderaker could be at 106 and 113, while Layden Verville will have an op- portunity to vie for the 132- pound spot. “The freshmen bring good en- thusiasm, good work ethic, and they’re coachable,” Auderer said. “Overall, they’re just a good crop of athletes, so we have a good base to build off right there.” Auderer admits he hasn’t spent much time thinking about where his squad sits in the con- ference pecking order. The truth
is, the RRC is stacked. Return- ing tournament champion Bon- durant-Farrar will be stellar once again, and 2024 runner-up Carlisle might be even better. Ballard, North Polk, Winterset ... yeah, it will be incredibly tough again. “It’s a buzzsaw, so what do you do?” Auderer asked rhetori- cally. “You worry about yourself in the room and you do the best you can in there. “Success for me anytime is to reach your potential, no matter what it is. The keys to that are mentality, work ethic, and health. You can’t have anything else if you don’t start with those.” Ten individual conference champions will return to the fold this winter. Carlisle brings back five RRC gold medalists. Nine returning RRC grapplers also captured state medals a season ago. Carlisle’s Jaxon Miller and Asa Hemsted were both state silver medalists; Hemsted pulled off arguably the biggest upset last winter when he stunned three-time state champion Maximus Magayna of Waterloo East in the 3A state semifinals at 175 pounds. “Our conference was arguably the toughest in the state from top to bottom last year,” Auderer said. “I think at one time six teams were ranked, and it could
Wt Name
Gr
106 Merek Ritland Fr 113 Noah Hinderaker Fr 120 Matt Melody Fr 132 John Artz Sr 132 Carter Olson Fr 138 Jace Tickle So 138 Layden Verville Fr 144 Nic Staudt Sr 144 Kody Koerner Fr 144 Estan Buttery So 150 Charlie Wadsley Fr 150 Braeden Nees Sr 150 Nery Hernández Sr 157 Cody Puck So 165 Ayden Shaw Fr 165 Philip Chitty Jr 165 Mason Wibholm So 175 Josh Fink Fr 190 Gabriel Angus So 190 Holden Boshart jr 190 Rowan Sents Fr 215 John Beardsley So 215 Easton Crawford Jr 215 Elijah Sanford Jr 285 Michael Torresi Fr 285 Mason Griffin Jr
*Weights are subject to change
be just as tough this year.” Gilbert knows it will head to Humboldt for a 2A district tour- nament in February.
18 GAME ON | WINTER 2024-25
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