It was a busy sports Saturday in Columbus Junction. The Columbus/Winfield-Mount Union boys’ wrestling team hosted their annual duals tournament and won three of their four team competitions. The Wildcats’ only defeat was a 38-33 loss to West Liberty, while they were able to beat Tipton 43-30; knocked off North Scott 54-12; and won 69-12 against Southeast Polk.

Two Columbus/WMU wrestlers won all four of their bouts by fall, including senior Ty Scorpil at 126 pounds and sophomore Dakota Aney at 106. Junior Jacob Nelson also won four bouts at 113 lbs, picking up two pins and winning decisions of 4-2 and 3-2. Kason Dopler also had two pins, and, in addition to winning a 3-0 decision, the sophomore claimed a 10-0 major decision at 175.

Wildcat senior Russell Coil pinned all three opponents he wrestled at 285, while junior Riley Kaalberg added a 4-3 decision to two pins at 190. Cole Storm won twice by pin and once by a 6-2 decision at 165, while fellow senior Cael Phillips added a pin to an 8-2 decision and an 11-0 major decision.

Sophomores Bowen Thomson and Trevor Phillips each had a pin, with Thomson winning an 8-3 decision at 132 and Phillips claiming a 12-10 decision at 150. Junior Cooper Bufington also paired a pin with a 9-5 decision victory at 215, while junior Sheaden Adams won a 7-5 decision at 157 and senior Ian Estudillo picked up a pin at 120.

Columbus/Winfield-Mount Union, which is now 21-4 in team duals this season, has been comfortably inside the Class 2A state dual rankings and will be finding out which regional tournament they will be wrestling at later this week, with the opportunity on January 30th to qualify for the state duals tournament.

Meanwhile, the Columbus Wildcats earned another conference girls’ basketball victory Saturday by edging out Pekin 43-37 at home. After trailing by a point in the first quarter, Columbus would take a 24-23 lead into halftime. The Wildcats only got the margin to grow to two points going into the final period, but they found a way to hold on down the stretch.

Sophomore Isabel Rendon had one of the best games of her career to lead Columbus to the win, finishing with 16 points, six rebounds and four steals. Point guard Ariana Vergara added 10 points, eight rebounds and six steals, while fellow junior Aracely Garza had eight points and eight boards. Junior Frannie Sosa added six points, 10 rebounds and three assists to help the Wildcats improve to 10-1 in the North division of the Southeast Iowa Super Conference and 12-3 overall.

The Columbus boys’ basketball team was not as fortunate, suffering a 63-47 defeat to Pekin. A 24-11 deficit after a quarter of play grew to a 15-point margin at the half, and a 15-9 run by the Panthers to start the third period would make it too much to overcome. The Wildcats drop to 2-8 in the Super Conference North and 2-10 in total.