Some Interesting Things About The 2008 Iowa HS State Wrestling Tournament; 3A 145
NOTE: I’m sure I’m missing a ton of stuff in this one… I need to put more stuff together for this age group (2005-2012 range), but I haven’t as much as I’d like to, for I don’t have as many of the event programs as I do the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, as odd as that is. Whatever I am leaving out, post it in the comments and I’ll try to update the post when I can. Also, if any of you have “filled out” brackets from the early 2000’s until present day, by all means, send them my way if you’d like!
-The match between St. John and Gadson was anti-climatic, but really cool in retrospect considering how bright both of their future’s were at that time. Gadson at that time was still young… Just a Sophomore and was obviously still fine-tuning his skill set into what it ultimately became. St. John was a seasoned veteran by the time he was a Junior in 2008 and his expertise-level technical skills had spectators in awe by this point.
-Both of these guys had coaches in the corner who were D1 legends in their own competitive days… St John was coached by Mark Reiland. Reiland was a 2X state champion out of Eagle Grove HS and a 2X AA/1X NCAA Champion for the Iowa Hawkeyes in the early 90’s. Gadson had his father, the late and great Willie Gadson coaching him in his corner. Willie was a 2X AA for the Iowa State Cyclones in 1975 and 1976.
-There were three 2X state champions in this bracket. This was Derek St. John’s 2nd of 2 titles. Kyven was just a Sophomore that year and would win state as a Junior and Senior. Michael Kelly from Cedar Falls placed 4th and would win titles the following two years as a Junior and Senior.
-There were 5 total state finalists in this bracket. As noted, St. John, Gadson and Kelly were finalists. Along with them, were Joe Trizzino of Bettendorf and Spencer Belieu of Indianola. Both of those guys were eliminated in the round of 12 in 2008, but both of those guys would wrestle in the finals in 2010. Trizzino was runner-up to Kelly as a Senior at 3A 152 in 2010. As a Senior, BeLieu was runner-up to Nick Moore of IC West at 3A 160 in 2010. This was Moore’s 4th title.
-There were 2 future NCAA D1 National Champions in this bracket; St. John and Gadson. 2008 3A 145 lb. champion, Derek St. John from Iowa City West won a D1 championship for the Iowa Hawkeyes in 2013 at 157 lbs. The runner-up in this bracket, Kyven Gadson out of Waterloo West won the 197 lb. D1 NCAA Title in 2015 for the Iowa State Cyclones.
-There were at least 3 future Iowa Hawkeyes in this bracket. They were: Derek St. John, Michael Kelly and Joe Trizzino. St. John was a 4X AA/1X National Champ and Michael Kelly was a National Qualifier for the Hawkeyes.
-There were 2 future Iowa State Cyclone affiliates in this bracket. Of course, the name Kyven Gadson is basically synonymous with “Iowa State Wrestling” at this point, for he was a 3X AA/1X Champion for them as well as some of the work he has done with them since his days of competing. Along with him , Derek St. John is also affiliated with Iowa State wrestling, for he has been on their staff as an assistant coach for the past 4-5 years.
