They say summer wrestling makes winter champions.
It makes sense, then, that most of Iowa's best high school wrestlers stay active in high-level competitions during the spring and summer months.
On Saturday, the Iowa freestyle state championships were contested at Southeast Polk High School. The competition, separated by age rather than school classification, featured many of Iowa's top high-schoolers in action in freestyle, the Olympic discipline that closely resembles folkstyle.
The tournament, hosted by Iowa/USA Wrestling, the sport's statewide governing body, is not only a high-level in-state competition, but it also helps determine many other high-level competitions later this summer — like rosters for the 16U and Junior national dual teams, as well as who qualifies for the 16U and Junior national championships.