Trio from Iowa earn medals in Junior Greco-Roman tourney

BY MATT PFIFFNER
A trio of Junior Greco-Roman wrestlers from Iowa made it onto the medal stand after finishing in the top eight at their weight classes on Tuesday night at the Cadet/Junior Nationals in Fargo, N.D.

Jack Hathaway of Iowa City West placed fifth at 105, Elijah Sullivan finished fifth at 140 and 285-pounder Kyle Kober of West Branch placed eighth.

Hathaway started off the night for the Iowans in the fifth-place bout at 105 against Austin Trott of Georgia.

The Iowa City West grappler wasted little time scoring on a drag-by takedown in the first period for a 1-0 lead. Another takedown led into a gut wrench for a 4-0 lead. Trott scored a late takedown, but Hathaway earned two more points on another turn for a 6-1 first period win.

In the second period, it was more of the same. Hathaway scored an early takedown and turn for a 3-0 lead. Hathaway went back on top with 30 seconds left in the period, locked up an arm bar and turned Trott twice for four points and 7-0 period win, to earn the fifth-place medal.

"My gut is normally my go-to move, but I'll try to get the bar if I can," Hathaway said.

Hathaway earned All-American honors in the Junior division just three days after going 0-2 in the Cadet Greco-Roman Tournament.

I was just going to do Greco for Cadets, but I went up to Junior to get more matches in," he said.

Hathaway said he will take a day off and then come back Thursday to compete in the Junior Freestyle Tournament.

Next up for Iowa was Sullivan at 140, in the fifth-place match against Matt Nereim of Florida.

The Council Bluffs Lewis Central sophomore was just as impressive as Hathaway, with a 4-3, 5-2 win.

The scoring began with a three-point move for Nereim, but Sullivan countered with a three-point move of his own. A lift late in the period gave Sullivan another point and the 4-3 win.

In the second period, Sullivan scored first with a two-point move and then used a lift and throw for three more points and a 5-0 lead. Nereim scored a pair of late takedowns when Sullivan didn't want to give up any big moves, but it wasn't enough, as the Iowan won the period, 5-2, and the fifth-place medal.

"He beat me at duals earlier, so I wanted to get back at him," Sullivan said.

Sullivan made it out of a brutal side of the 140-pound bracket, which included Minnesota studs Luke Vaith and Dylan Ness, Utah's Raider Lofthouse (who failed to place) and Chris Gonzalez of Illinois. Sullivan defeated Ness, Vaith and Lofthouse in succession, but dropped a tough bout to Gonzalez.

In fact, Sullivan has recently defeated both finalists at his weight, champ RaVaughn Perkins of Nebraska and runner-up Ness.

"It doesn't bother me too much, because there's always next year," Sullivan said of watching two guys he has beat wrestle for the title.

Sullivan proved over the past three days that he does belong in the same discussion with the top 140-pounders in the nation.

"Fargo is the National Tournament, so doing well here says a lot," he said.

Now Sullivan will try to heal an aching body for the Junior Freestyle Tournament later this week.

The final Iowan to hit the mats was Kober, in the seventh-place match at 285 against Evan Craig of Pennsylvania. Kober was a Junior Greco-Roman finalist last season, while Craig won the Cadet G-R crown a year ago.

Craig scored a takedown early when he slipped out of a Kober headlock attempt. A step out by Kober and a takedown by Craig made it 3-0 and the Pennsylvania grappler whipped Kober over to his back in the final second and nearly had the fall, but settled for the 6-0 period win. In the second period, Kober was pushed out of bounds and could not score in the final seconds, for a 1-0 period loss to finish eighth.

"I wanted to win, but I wasn't as fired up as I usually get," Kober said.

That is due in large part to the fact that Kober was in the championship match last year. It wasn't to be this week.

"In my fifth match I thought I had a pin and it wasn't called and it went downhill from there," said Kober, who finished the tournament with three straight losses. "I lost my swagger and my confidence. I need to regain my swagger before freestyle starts."

SULLIVAN GOES 2-1 IN MORNING SESSION
Sullivan had to go through a tough trio of opponents in the Tuesday morning session. He picked up must-wins in the first two, but then dropped a heartbreaker in his final bout.

The day began for Sullivan with an impressive 6-0, 5-0 win over Luke Vaith of Minnesota. Sullivan had a two-point takedown and pair of trap arm gut wrenches for the first period win. In the second, Sullivan fought off a bear hug for a takedown with exposure and used a lift with exposure in the closing seconds to win the second period and match.

Next up for Sullivan was Raider Lofthouse of Utah. The first period went down to the final seconds, where Sullivan was able to fight off a turn attempt and win, 1-0. In the second, Sullivan used a side headlock for a three-point throw and finished the match with a gut wrench and takedown, for the 6-0 victory.

That win sent Sullivan into the round robin with Dylan Ness of Minnesota and Chris Gonzalez of Illinois. Sullivan defeated Ness the night before, so he had to face Gonzalez with a trip to the finals on the line.

Sullivan used a throw to go up 3-0 in the first period and won 6-0 after Gonzalez was called for a leg foul. Gonzalez used a pair of push outs in the second period for a 2-0 win. Sullivan had his chance to win the match in the third, but Gonzalez was able to fight off turn attempts late for the 1-0 win.

Gonzalez lost his next match to Ness, which put Ness into the finals, Gonzalez into the third-place match and Sullivan into the fifth-place bout.

Hathaway and Kober each dropped their only matches of the morning session. Hathaway lost 0-6, 2-0, 0-5 to Jade Rauser of Montana and Kober dropped a 0-2, 0-1 decision to Donovan Green of Florida.