Bellevue (IA) Comet Wrestling

Bellevue (IA) Comet Wrestling Re-established program in 2013. We represent wrestling from youth, to girls, to boys K-12th. A new wrestling room was constructed in the summer of 2014.

With changes in the high school conference alignment in eastern Iowa, Bellevue felt the addition of the sport of wrestling to the community would be beneficial to membership to a more competitive conference. With that they decided to restablish the program after a twenty year hiatus. During the 1980s, Bellevue had a string of success which included two consecutive years with state runner up. However, participation numbers waned and the program was dropped in 1994. Currently the district has dedicated resources to secure the success of the team. Two new mats were purchased for use at home meets. A quality coaching staff has been assembled that has challenged the team and yielded quick results in just two years of existence. During the first year of the renaissance of the program, the team competed in primarily junior varsity competition and particpated in the sectional tournament. The second year has seen the team compete in a full varsity schedule and they celebrated by qualifying their first district qualifier in 25 years. The Shooting Stars Youth Wrestling Club was also organized during the resurrection of the team. Over fifty elementary students have participated in the program which highlights fundamental skills of wrestling. In just two years of the program's existence they already had an AAU state qualifier.

The whole summer wasn’t just about mat wrestling. During this break we took some time to focus on the mental elements of...
08/24/2026

The whole summer wasn’t just about mat wrestling. During this break we took some time to focus on the mental elements of this sport. This is part of our leadership building as well (all of these kids are captains who should be able to advise and lead our younger wrestlers).

Our seniors read “Extreme Balance” by Ben Askren. This focuses on finding balance between extremes such as pushing your stronger limits or saving some energy for the important things. The junior boys read “Can’t Hurt Me” by David Goggins. This book is about pushing through adversity and finding inner strength to achieve one’s goals. Anita read “The Brave Athlete” which focuses on focus and addressing problems that many athletes face during their careers such as injuries, not pushing yourself, and even maintaining focus in a match.

This reading club was a great opportunity to talk to the kids and have them share their thoughts that they deal with when it comes to wrestling.

We can’t wait for the new school year to start. Before you know it, wrestling season will be here!

Here is a great opportunity to learn from a local legend, Eve Skroki. She is an incredible wrestler from Dubuque (a stat...
07/31/2026

Here is a great opportunity to learn from a local legend, Eve Skroki. She is an incredible wrestler from Dubuque (a state champ from Wahlert) and most recently a U17 World Team member who just completed in Baku, Azerbaijan. Her ultimate goal is to represent the US on the international circuit the Olympics or senior level worlds.

She will be back in Dubuque putting on a one day camp at DWC on the Loras campus on August 9 from 3-4:30. This is a great opportunity to pick up some knowledge from a national up and comer and local girl.

Last day of Blue Chip Camp. We had Patrick Kennedy, 4x Minnesota state champ and two time Hawkeye All-American. Lots of ...
07/18/2026

Last day of Blue Chip Camp. We had Patrick Kennedy, 4x Minnesota state champ and two time Hawkeye All-American.

Lots of great stuff from PK today. We focused on rides and turns. Some cross faces, cradles, leg rides, and Turks. Bringing a lot of pressure on our opponents.

Thanks to the Blue Chip Wrestling Club for all of the support to help make Bellevue and our surrounding teams even better. We need each other to push and challenge each other. We can be rivals, but we need other teams to be better in order for wrestling in our area to continue to grow.

A really incredible day today in Bellevue for the Blue Chip Wrestling Club camp. The BCWC is dedicated to help grow wres...
07/18/2026

A really incredible day today in Bellevue for the Blue Chip Wrestling Club camp. The BCWC is dedicated to help grow wrestling in the Bellevue community and wrestling as a whole. Over 90 kids attended the first day of camp which featured Iowa Hawkeye NCAA All-American, Gabe Arnold. Gabe has one of the greatest stories in Hawkeye Wrestling history. He started the 2026 season at 174, but eventually had to bump up two weight classes to 197. At the NCAA tournament Gabe was seeded 27th, but battled all the way to back to place 7th.

Technique included ankle pick to doubles, outside singles, duck under to headlock, and a lot more.

Gabe did share a moment with the kids about how much he wanted to quit during the season, but the coaches and teammates always believed in him and that made it so easy for him to stay the course. Gabe was a fantastic clinician. He made it entertaining and fun for the kids, and he was so approachable with other questions everybody had.

Day 3: home again, home again jiggity jigThe final day of camp culminated with an individual tournament to feature what ...
07/16/2026

Day 3: home again, home again jiggity jig

The final day of camp culminated with an individual tournament to feature what these wrestlers learned from the outstanding technicians. These Comets did not disappoint.

We had our first tournament champion in program history with Ariani Roberts. Despite not feeling the best, Ariani forged ahead and controlled her emotions to get the title.

Addison Cook had a tremendous tournament as well with a runner-up finish. She had a great semifinal match that was so close she thought she lost.

Brooke Sprank is an explosive wrestler. When she is comfortable with her shot, she is unstoppable. Another important asset is her physical strength. Despite her size, she is the strongest lady on this team. Brooke parlayed all of this to a third place finish.

Finally, Anita Borrenpohl has worked incredibly hard on her outside single and the mental part of this sport. As she battled with some of the toughest people in camp, she continued to gain confidence which helped her also pick up a third place finish.

Next up for the Comet grapplers is our local Blue Chip Wrestling Club camp featuring two of the best stories at the NCAA Championship. Iowa Hawkeye wrestlers Patrick Kennedy placed 3rd and Gabe Arnold who was undersized and bumped up two weight classes to place 7th while being the seed will be showing our local kids the tricks that made them so successful.

Day 2 complete. The ladies had a long, long day of wrestling and heat to deal with today. We started off with some techn...
07/16/2026

Day 2 complete. The ladies had a long, long day of wrestling and heat to deal with today.

We started off with some technique from Lily Luft, 3x Iowa High School state champion and current Hawkeye All-American, showed a lot of stuff for our girls. From short sn**ch singles, to blast doubles, to Easton and ball and chain tilts.

We went into duals where things got progressively tougher each round. We had a win against Mt. Vernon/Waconia (22-12), and losses to Canton(SD)Blue (15-36) and Crestwood (15-32). This put us in the Bronze final bracket where we had losses to Clinton (25-34) , Benton/Sumner-Fredericksburg (21-27- we won 5 matches and had to give forfeit points to one of their higher ranked wrestlers), and Canton (SD) Yellow (9-27). With such a grueling schedule the ladies needed to learn how to push through instances when they are too tired to compete. This is not just important as wrestlers but also as these kids become adults and they will inevitably be confronted with other times when they are just too worn out to deal with whatever life will throw at them. Shout outs for today’s wrestling goes out to Claire Dempewolf who was our only lady who went undefeated in dual competition, Ariani Roberts who went toe-to-toe with a SD state placers winner despite not feeling 100%, Carsen Michels who beat a Iowa high school state qualifier, and MaryKate Flickinger who beat a salty Clinton wrestler in a very well wrestled match.

To add on to this, this team had one senior, one junior, and the other ten were sophomores, freshman, and eighth graders. We consistently gave them tough match ups with kids that often times had higher rankings (state placers, state qualifiers, and wrestlers with a 67% win average last year. These girls were tasked with learning something about themselves and using that to make them better wrestlers and people.

Team Building games today were designed to get us to have some fun while learning how to think on our toes. We played sumo push out, Thor Head Smash (a human base had to simultaneously move to a finish line while holding a block between two people on the backs of the base), and Norwegian Team Crawl (a human pyramid crawls to the finish line while keeping everyone from falling off).

Our wrestler of the day this year was Claire Dempewolf. Claire’s attention to details while learning new moves was perfect. Her willingness to help her workout partner get better with every new piece of technique was noticed. And her positive attitude helped keep us focused and ready for the next speed bump we were faced with.

We finish tomorrow with our individual tournament and head home to set up for our Blue Chip Wrestling Club camp featuring Iowa Hawkeye All-Americans, Patrick Kennedy and Gabe Arnold.

It’s the girls turn to head to team camp! Twelve Comet grapplers made their way to Decorah to take part in the third an...
07/15/2026

It’s the girls turn to head to team camp! Twelve Comet grapplers made their way to Decorah to take part in the third annual Luther Girls Team Camp. This is part of the successful Train Like a Norseman Camp which has been operating for over 20 years. We have taken so many girls this year we didn’t need to combine forces with any other team, which is a huge accomplishment as well.

Technique was supposed to come from a member of the Iowa Hawkeye women’s team, but she had to bow out. Instead we got NCAA national champ from Grand Valley State, Katie Lange. Katie showed a lot of technique that is different from Coach Ripp (it’s important to pick up a wide range of moves that our ladies have not been exposed to that could help them in any situation). Katie showed a lot of attacks from space (from a distance) such as misdirection Hi-C, low singles, Hi-C pull to outside single finish, sprawl with high leg over.

We finished the evening off with a dual with LeMars/Panora. Our ladies were aggressive which was huge in our 31-12 victory. Big matches from Carsen Michels who won 4-1 with 9 seconds left in the match, Claire Dempewolf with a successful shot to a finish and a big lift and return. Other winners included Addison Cook(x2), Veda Sieverding, Ariani Roberts, and Penelope. Picking up wins on the exhibition match were Mckenna Martens and Anita Borrenpohl.

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Bellevue, IA

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