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BY MATT PFIFFNER Iowa won 11 of the 16 matches in the first of what the directors hope will become an annual event. Six of team Iowa's wins earned bonus points, while all five of Nebraska's victories were by regular decisions. The evening began with a bang from Mark Kist, the top-ranked 112-pounder in the nation. After No. 22 Joel Torpy of Millard South shot in on a single leg in the opening seconds, Kist, a three-time State champ at Eagle Grove, hit a headlock and pinned his opponent in 37 seconds, for a quick 6-0 lead for Iowa. "That was the goal. I wanted to go out there tough and get the Iowa team fired up," he said. "It took me by surprise that he had my leg. But I was comfortable. Coach puts me situations like that all the time in practice." Kist said pride was definitely on the line in the dual. "We've always been known as a wrestling-rich tradition. So this is nice to wrestle another state and prove that," he said. For Kist, the was the first of several all-star meets he will be participating in. "In two weeks I do the Dapper Dan and then right after that is the Dream Time. I can't wait," Kist said. After Kist left the mat, Iowa sent another multiple State champ out there, in two-time 3A champ and four-time place finisher Russell Weakley of Fort Madison. He took on another two-time champ and four-time medalists, Shane Castillo of Kearney Catholic. Weakley's attacking style was too much for Castillo, as he scored four takedowns, including one with two seconds left in the 119-pound match, for a 9-1 major decision and 10-0 Iowa lead. Jeff Rau of Council Bluffs Lewis Central made it 13-0 with an 8-2 win at 125 over Robert McMickell of Hastings St. Cecilia in a bout between 2006 State champs. There were a pair of matches at 130 and Iowa recorded falls in both, for a commanding 25-0 lead. Zack Morley of Urbandale fell behind in the opening seconds against Guy Smith of Omaha Central, but escaped, scored a takedown and used his tough riding skills for five near fall points to take an 8-4 lead into the second period. "It always wakes you up when they score quick like that. It scared me a bit, actually," Morley said. Surprisingly, Smith chose down to start the second period. Morley made him pay, l as he turned him to his back again and earned the fall in 2:40. Smith used an arm bar and locked up Smith's head with his legs to get the pin. "I'm usually confident on top. It's my strong spot. I'm a pretty tough rider. That's one of the moves I pin a lot of people with. When I got it in, I figured it was going to be over," Morley said. Kelby Ryerson of Eagle Grove hit Brett Hodgen of Hastings St. Cecilia with a headlock several times in his match at 130, including one midway through the third period for a fall in 5:06. One of the night's more competitive matches was next, as three-time State champ Derek Moyer of Oskaloosa and two-time Nebraska champ Jay Sherer of Columbus met at 135. Moyer jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first period, but had to fight off the late-charging Sherer for a 12-10 victory and 28-0 Iowa lead. By this time, Nebraska had to wonder what is was going to take to win a match. That was answered in the next bout at 140, as four-time State champ Matt Vacanti of Papllion La Vista, ranked fifth in the nation, defeated 16th-ranked Chris Sandy of Spirit Lake Park, 9-3. The most impressive performance of the night for Nebraska was turned in at 145, as three-time State champ and four-time finalist Jeremy McCoy of Omaha North dazzled the crowd with his takedown skills against Seth Pugh of Columbus Junction. Pugh, no slouch himself in the neutral position, was taken down five times in an 11-4 loss. That made it a 28-6 Iowa lead at the intermission. Like Kist did to start the night, Emmetsburg's Aaron Janssen started the second half of the dual off with a big win to get Iowa rolling. Janssen had four takedowns and scored seven near fall points in a 16-1 technical fall over Stephen Medina of Millard South, in a battle at 152 between 2006 State champs. The E-Hawk said he just went through his normal pre-match routine, including some drilling with teammate Justin Kerber. "Warming up with Kerber always gets me going. Then I sit back and relax and go out there fully energized and ready to go. That's my thing," he said. Janssen said the meet was a great experience, especially because of the final score. "The Iowa team was a great bunch of guys to be with," he said. "There were some good matches out here and overall it was pretty good. Obviously, it was good since we won." An added bonus for Janssen was getting one last chance to wrestle with retiring Emmetsburg Coach Bob Kenny in his corner. Kenny was an honorary coach, along with Darin Schreck of Eagle Grove and Trevor Carritt of CB Lewis Central. "Mr. Kenny has meant a lot to me and meant a lot to our program. It's been a fun four years. It's great having him come out here in not as serious of an atmosphere," Janssen said. After Janssen's win made it 33-6, Jake Kerr of Oskaloosa at 152 and 160-pounder Kerber of Emmetsburg recorded decision wins for a 39-6 lead. Kerber's win sealed the win for team Iowa. Ben Becker of Ft. Dodge St. Edmond scored an impressive 6-0 win at 171 to give Iowa a 42-6 lead. Urbandale's Austin Boehm was defeated at 189, as was Brady Punt of Sioux Center at 215, to make it a 42-12 score. Iowa's last win of the night came in the second 215-pound match, where Mike Freeman of Newton dominated sixth-ranked Cameron Browne of Plattsmouth, 12-4. Freeman used his favorite move, the cradle, to send Browne to his back in the opening moments of the match. It looked like Freeman was going to pin Browne several times, but he had to settle for a 5-0 lead. "He was sticking that knee right up by his head, so I just use what works and what's there. And that was definitely there," Freeman said. "I thought I had the fall about four times. Then I was like, if they're not going to give me the fall, then I'm just going to finish the match and wrestle." And Freeman did finish the match strong. Browne pulled to within 6-4 early in the second period with his second reversal of the match, but Freeman dominated the match on their feet and scored two more takedowns for the major decision. "I think he was pretty confident in the neutral position, because he kept cutting me. But he just wasn't getting the takedown like he was looking for and I was getting them like I was looking for. It just turned out my way today," he said. Freeman had met Browne once before, but had no idea about his high national ranking. "I didn't even know he was ranked until after I was done. I wrestled him in Greco last year in duals and he ended up beating me by a point or so, so I had something to prove," Freeman said. The Cardinal grappler said the coaching staff let the wrestlers know before the meet how important it was. "I guess the border of this state and the border of Nebraska kind of have a little rivalry going on. The coaches were on us saying you guys better kick it in gear because this is pretty important to Iowa," he said. "I thought it was going to be a lot closer than it was. But we were just picking up the bonus points and wrestling tough." Nebraska closed out the night with its fifth win, a 3-2 decision at heavyweight from No. 13 Aaron Terry of Omaha North over No. 24 Trent Hardin of Van Buren. Hardin pushed the action for much of the match, but couldn't get through the defense of his much bigger opponent. Next year's dual is scheduled to be in Sioux City, as part of the reason for having the event is to help funding for the Dana and Morningside wrestling programs.
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