RICEVILLE — The Riceville Community School District is celebrating in a big way after four Wildcats qualified for the state wrestling tournament and the team finished
Blake Fox, Jasper Sonberg, Gavin Muller and Ryan Baer all won district titles and Nicholas Messersmith, Jacob Vance and Tysen Stangel all finished second in their weight class as Osage qualified seven wrestlers for the state tournament in Des Moines.
Fox was the champion in 150 pounds and remains undefeated on the season, Sonberg took home the title in 126 pounds, Muller won first in 215 pounds and Baer took the top spot in 285 pounds.
The Osage boys wrestling team knew it was going to be a tough assignment. The Green Devils drew defending Class 2A Champion in the Regional Duals as they tried to advance to Coralville for the eight straight season.
It was a dominant performance for the Osage girls wrestling team as they won the Class 1A Region 3 championship at Crestwood and qualified seven wrestlers for the IGHSAU State Tournament in Coralville.
Osage won the team title at the Top of Iowa Conference Tournament and had four champions as Jasper Sonberg, Easton Sonberg, Blake Fox and Gavin Muller all won their weight classes.
In total, the Green Devils had 12 of their 13 place top-six or higher and every wrestler on the roster placed in the top eight.
The Osage girls basketball team was right with 13th ranked Saint Ansgar at home on January 20 but a short dry spell in the second quarter allowed the Saints to build a lead the Green Devils could not quite overcome in a 61-44 loss.
Osage had an early lead after scoring five of the first six points of the game but the Saints came back and held a slight 17-14 lead after one quarter.
A dominant start to the first and second half propelled Osage to a sweep of their season series against rival Saint Ansgar by beating the Saints 60-46 at home on January 20.The Green Devils beat the Saints for the second time in less than a month to pick up their 14th win in a row over Saint Ansgar.
It was a battle for the top spot in the Top of Iowa East when Osage hosted Newman Catholic on January 13. Both the Knights and Green Devils were 6-1 in conference play and tied for first place.
Blake Fox added a pair of victories by fall to his career total and Tysen Stangel and Rylen Hanson also won both their matches at Saint Ansgar on January 8 as the Green Devils beat the Saints but dropped a close one to Nashua-Plainfield in conference triangular.
A strong defensive effort in the second quarter by the Osage girls basketball gave the Green Devils a big halftime lead as they had no trouble dispatching West Fork 56-28 at home on January 5.