Iowa City West dedicates wrestling room in honor of Mark Reiland
The Iowa City West wrestling room has a new name, and it will forever be linked to longtime coach Mark Reiland.
The Trojans played host to a large crowd Thursday for the unveiling of the Mark Reiland Wrestling Room.
Iowa Legend. Mark Reiland.
Those were the words printed on shirts commemorating Reiland's career during West's dual against Iowa City High. Reiland died at age 52 in December of 2021.
“I think Mark was a great mentor of men, as well in life, not just wrestling,” said West principal Mitch Gross.
Reiland’s parents, Marvin and Marlys, and his widow Michele were presented with plaques honoring the late coach.
Reiland was the head wrestling coach from 2000 to 2018. He led the Trojans to seven state titles, including five dual titles and two traditional titles.
Reiland made his own impact on the wrestling mat, winning back-to-back state titles for Eagle Grove High School in 1986-87. He competed for the University of Iowa, becoming a two-time All-American and an NCAA champion in 1991.
Following a three-year coaching tenure at Solon, Reiland landed the head job at West in 2000.
Gross said Reiland made a “tremendous” impact for the Trojans. Dedicating the wrestling room to Reiland is both a tribute to his career and a token of gratitude to his family for the time he spent with the West wrestling program.
“He put together one of the best high school athletic programs in any sport over an 18-year period, Gross said. “Mark was so dedicated. He definitely gave a lot of his life to the students at West.”
Nate Moore, the current West coach and a two-time state champion under Reiland from 2004-08, praised his former coach.
"When they were reading the plaque and they were reading about Mark, it just brought up a lot of old memories," Moore said. "Hundreds and hundreds of lives were impacted by him."
Reiland coached 16 wrestlers to 26 individual state championships. He was inducted into the Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame and National Wrestling Hall of Fame. He also earned the Lifetime Service to Wrestling Award in 2019.
"I think the thing you remember is all the different kids that you had come through your program," Reiland told the Des Moines Register in 2018. "You hope they learned something from you — not just in the wrestling sense, but you hope they become better people because of their time with you, and that they learned what hard work is about.”
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Iowa City West honors Mark Reiland with renaming of wrestling room
