Nine Iowans perfect through first day of freestyle action

BY MATT PFIFFNER
A total of 18 Iowa Cadet freestyle wrestlers survived a busy day of action at the 2009 Cadet/Junior Nationals in Fargo, N.D. on Wednesday. Thirty-three wrestlers from the state began the day and more than half will continue their All-American quests Thursday afternoon.

Leading the way for the group of Iowans are nine undefeated wrestlers. They are Phillip Laux at 91, Eric DeVos at 112, Brandon Sorensen and Drake Chase at 119, Justin Koethe at 145, 171-pounder Travis Mallo, Bruce McWilliams at 189, Joe Scanlan at 215 and heavyweight Caleb White.

Laux, Koethe, Scanlan and White are looking to add freestyle hardware to the medals they won earlier this week in the Cadet Greco-Roman Tournament.

Laux had little trouble in his three wins, as he outscored his three foes 40-7. Koethe was the most impressive Iowan on the day, with three wins by technical fall and two by fall. Scanlan had a fall and pair of decision wins, while White had two falls and a decision.

DeVos had trouble early in the tournament, but got stronger as the day went on. In his first match against Jarod Maynes of Washington, DeVos lost the flip for the clinch in the third period, but was able to fight off Maynes' takedown attempt for the deciding point in a 7-0, 1-4, 1-0 win. He also went to the third period in his third bout, but closed the night out very strong, with a pin and decision win over fellow undefeated Issiah Martinez of California.

Sorensen was very impressive in his first day at Fargo. The incoming freshman didn't lose a period in rolling to a 5-0 record. He only allowed nine points in his five decision wins.

Chase had a pin, technical fall and three decision wins to join Sorensen at 5-0 at 119.

Mallo had a pair of 6-0, 6-0 technical fall wins to begin his tournament and then won a pair of decisions for a perfect 4-0 record.

McWilliams began his tourney run with a 30-second fall and then had a decision win and pair of technical falls to close out the night.

Joining those nine undefeated wrestlers in the third session on Thursday will be one-loss wrestlers Colby Knight at 98, Sawyer Farris at 112, Kyle Larson at 125, Logan Mulnix at 130, Chad Ryan at 135, Gradey Gambrall at 135, Zeb Wahle and Gabriel Moreno at 140 and 171-pounder Brett Waughop.

The Junior Freestyle Tournament begins Thursday morning at 9:30 a.m., with the Cadets and Juniors taking the mats together at 3:30 p.m.