The Union Knights boys wrestling team pictured on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, during the Dan Gable Museum Battle of Waterloo. Front row (l-r): Hunter Sundwall, Russell Dylhoff, Kaydin (KJ) Jones, Coy Mehlert, Brandon Frush, Gilbert Dylhoff; back row (l-r): Jase Loveless, Jayden Paine, Evan McMahon, Stratton Luke, Cooper Davis, Mays Weber, Holden Craft, and Weston Clark. PHOTO BY REBECCA LYN DAVIS

WATERLOO – The Union Knights boys wrestling team competed in the 15th annual Dan Gable Museum Battle of Waterloo held Dec. 18-20, 2025, taking sixth place in bracket play on Friday, followed by a gold finish in pool play on Saturday.

The three-day dual wrestling tournament (girls compete on Thursday) is considered the best high school dual meet in Iowa, attracting top-ranked teams from across the state. This year’s tournament featured 32 boys teams, including at least a dozen ranked teams. In the finals on Saturday, Class 1A No. 1 Don Bosco took first place overall, followed by Class 2A No. 7 Independence, and Class 3A No. 7 North Scott.

During Friday’s bracket competition which featured four groupings each comprising eight teams, Union competed in Bracket C where they earned sixth place after being seeded seventh. Indianola earned first in the bracket followed by Linn-Mar, West Delaware, Assumption Davenport, and Lake Mills. Waterloo West finished seventh and Clear Lake eighth.

After falling 56-24 to Class 2A No. 4 Assumption in the opening dual on Friday, the Knights earned a 42-41 win in the second dual over Clear Lake. In their final dual of the day, the Knights dropped to Lake Mills, 57-21.

Junior Coy Mehlert, ranked No. 2 by IAWrestle at 120 pounds, went 3-0 Friday, pinning Assumption’s Jaxon Wild in 56 seconds and Clear Lake’s Anderson Nelson in a swift 23 seconds. Against Lake Mills, Mehlert took the win over Conner Helgeson due to injury time.

Mehlert’s teammates Evan McMahon (138) and Brock Bergmeier (165) also went 3-0 on Friday. McMahon pinned Assumption’s Brody Ralfs in 2:20 and later defeated Lake Mills’ Uryah Soto by 13-5 major decision; he also recorded a win by forfeit over Clear Lake. Bergmeier racked up a trio of pins, including a 46-second pin of Clear Lake’s Drake Larson.

Additional individual Union wins on Friday included No. 10 Stratton Luke’s (126) pin of Clear Lake’s Benaiah Steinbron in 1:18; Mays Weber’s (132) pin of Clear Lake’s Brennan O’Keefe in 26 seconds; Kaydin Jones’s (144) pin of Clear Lake’s Connor Plagge in 23 seconds and a 19-3 technical fall over Lake Mills; and Cooper Davis’s (150) pin of Clear Lake’s Cayden VanVoorhis in 1:48.

On Saturday, Union was placed in the 6th place pool, finishing 2-1 to earn pool gold by notching wins over both Norwalk, 39-35, and Cedar Falls, 37-32. In their final round of the tournament, the Knights dropped to Nashua-Plainfield, 45-29.

Mehlert, Stratton, and Bergmeier all went 3-0 on Saturday. Mehlert had three pins; Stratton had one pin plus wins by decision and technical fall; Bergmeier had two pins and one win by decision.

Also on Saturday, Weber had two pins; McMahon had one pin and one win by decision; Jones had one pin and one win by major decision; Weber had two pins; Davis had one pin; Jayden Paine (157) notched a pin; Hunter Sundwall (285) had two pins.

When reached Monday following the tournament, Union head coach Bart Mehlert said the Knights competed at Waterloo with several open weights, making it “tough to compete with most teams” in the top-tier tournament.