Six Iowans lock up Cadet
Greco-Roman A-A honors

BY MATT PFIFFNER
Twenty-three wrestlers from the state of Iowa kicked off the seven-day Cadet/Junior Nationals in Cadet Greco-Roman action on Sunday in Fargo, N.D.

By the end of the night, six Iowans were still alive and had locked up All-Americans honors. The Cadet Greco-Roman medal matches will be competed Monday afternoon.

Two of the Iowa wrestlers - Phillip Laux and Jack Hathaway - made it through the first day of action undefeated.

Laux of Pekin was an All-American in both styles last season at 91 pounds and clinched a medal in Greco-Roman at 98 Sunday. He went 5-0 and is one of four wrestlers left in his pool. The Class 1A State 103-pound third-place finisher only gave up two points Sunday and is one of two undefeated wrestlers remaining on his half of the pool.

Laux finished third in Greco-Roman and second in freestyle last season.

At 112, Jack Hathaway of Iowa City West was a perfect 6-0 on the day and will compete in a round robin with two other undefeated wrestlers Monday morning to decide who goes for what place. He will finish anywhere from first to sixth.

Hathaway has only given up three points in the tournament, all in the same match. His other five matches have been shutout victories.

Hathaway did not place in Cadet action last summer in Fargo, but did finish fifth in the Junior Greco-Roman tournament and was second in the Junior Freestyle tournament, both at 105.

Creston's Jake Marlin, a State champ as a freshman this past season, went 4-2 at 145 and will wrestle Aaron Puckett of Kansas for seventh-place honors Monday.

Marlin won his first four matches, but dropped his next two to finish fourth in his pool.

At 160, Storm Lake foreign exchange student Andras Lukacs-Farkas went 5-1 on the day and is one of four remaining on his side of the pool. Three of the four, including Lukacs-Farkas, have one loss.

Another Iowa City West wrestler, Mickey Pelfrey at 189, went 4-1 Sunday and will compete in a round robin Monday. He has already lost to one of the other two alive, but will wrestle the other competitor, who also has a loss. The winner of that match will probably wrestle for third, while the loser will go for fifth.

At 84, Sam Phillips went 0-2, but still placed fourth out of five wrestlers on his side of the pool. Phillips had won a period in one of his losses, while the other winless wrestler was shutout in both matches.

Phillips will wrestle Hunter Wright of Virginia for seventh-place Monday.

Other Iowans who fell short of placing were Alex Meyer of Southeast Polk at 160, Joe Scanlan of Johnston at 215, Jacob Scanlan of Johnston at 285 and Pedro Gomez of Marshalltown at 285.

Joe Scanlan was double All-American last summer at 215, but went 2-2 in Greco-Roman and was eliminated. Meyer went 4-2, while Gomez was 2-2 and missed out on placing based on total points earned.

Along with the Cadet Greco-Roman action wrapping up Monday, the Junior Greco-Roman athletes will hit the mats for a pair of sessions. Thirty-four Iowans are slated to compete.