|
|
|
BY MATT PFIFFNER
Winterset grabbed four of those individual titles to roll to the team title with 239 points. Griswold finished a distant second with 157, while Nodaway Valley and Riverside (Oakland) tied for third with 153. A pair of championship matches pitting a pair of top-ranked individuals were the exclamation point for another outstanding John Harris Invitational.
Shaffer had defeated Baier twice earlier in the season, but this would definitely be the toughest match of the three. Baier scored the first point of the match in the second period on a second stalling call against Shaffer. The Winterset grappler escaped in the third to tie the score, but was penalized moments later for an illegal headlock. Baier was given his second stalling call with just three seconds left in the match, to give Shaffer a point and send the match into overtime. Shaffer escaped Baier in the 30-second tiebreaker to escape with a 3-2 win. "It's been a battle with him," Shaffer said of his meetings with Baier, who was a State runner-up in 1A at 125 last season. "I figured it would be closer this time. We both know what our weaknesses are. He didn't tie up with me and kept it close. "I enjoyed it. This is the last time I knew we'd get to wrestle each other and I was looking forward to it." Winterset Coach Randy McDonald enjoyed the battle as well. "That was quite a bit tighter than the other two matches they had," he said. "I'm proud of how Laramie hung in there when things weren't going his way. That's a good win."
Blum started the match with a takedown and it looked like he might be too much for Lyons. But the Cardinal grappler countered a Blum takedown attempt in the closing seconds of the first period for a takedown of his own and a 3-2 lead. The pair traded takedowns in the seconds period, but two Lyons escapes gave him a 7-4 lead. Blum earned a reversal to close to within 7-6, but Lyons escaped with one second left in the period for an 8-6 lead. The lone point in the third period came on a Blum escape with 36 seconds left in the match. He had one good takedown attempt in the closing seconds, but Lyons was able to fight it off and claim the impressive victory. Conditioning played a big role in the win, as Lyons seemed very fresh in the third period and Blum was having trouble trying to build up a base underneath a tough Lyons ride. "I wasn't concerned at all (with my conditioning). I've wrestled hard in practice with my coach and six minutes is no problem for me," Lyons said. "I was ready more than any match before. To me, I felt like it was for a State title. "I was just wrestling smart and watching for his mistakes. It was just great. It's really going to boost my confidence even more." Those were the two most anticipated championship matches, but far from the only thrilling ones. At 112, Ryan Brown of Atlantic held off a late-charging Lucas Orstad of Griswold for a 7-4 victory, after building up a 7-0 lead. Sam Groves of Nodaway Valley scored a takedown in the final minute for a 3-1 victory over Brock Mason of Shenandoah at 119.
Joining Shaffer and Byler as individual champs for Winterset were Josh Abel at 145 with a 5-3 win over Caleb Brus of Creston and Calvin Barber at 152, with a dominating 11-3 win over surprise finalist Austin Wright of Riverside. "We brought 13 kids and all 13 placed in the top six. That's a great accomplishment for this tournament," McDonald said. "Calvin Barber wrestled a really good tournament. He's really stepped it up. Josh Abel had a tough weight class and wrestled tough." McDonald said the third-ranked Huskies are looking to make a lot of noise at the State Tournament in February and that this tournament win is a good kick-start to the final month of the season. "We're excited about getting as many guys there as we can and wrestling tough for four days," he said. Other individual champs at the 50th Annual John Harris Invitational were: Colby Pedersen of Clarinda, with a 7-0 win over Andrew Long of Creston; Logan Queck of Nodaway Valley recorded his 100th career win with an 8-0 major decision over Stoney Stuart of Creston at 130; Tom Slater of Shenandoah scored an impressive 19-3 technical fall over Hans Larson of Mount Ayr at 140; Justin Retallic of Atlantic defeated Matt Williamson of Creston 3-1 at 160; Dane Wilson pinned Luke Borkowski of Carroll Kuemper in 3:07 at 171; and Rory Miller of Riverside pinned Andrew Ehrsam of Nodaway Valley in 3:34 at 215. 2005 John Harris Invitational |
At
125, Laramie Shaffer of Winterset, ranked No. 1 in Class 2A, battled
Austin Baier of Nodaway Valley, the top-ranked man in 1A. Shaffer, a 2004
State champ at 119, not only had a 64-match win streak to protect, he was
also trying to become just the fourth four-time John Harris champion in
the tournament's 50-year history.
The
second title bout with a pair of top-ranked individuals going at it came
in the final bout of the night. At heavyweight, Adam Lyons of Central
Decatur, undefeated and ranked No. 1 in 1A, faced Tyler Blum of Atlantic,
undefeated and ranked No. 1 in 2A. Lyons was a State runner-up two seasons
ago and finished seventh last year, while Blum claimed the 2A 215-pound
crown last year.
Ryan
Byler of Winterset, ranked third in 2A, built up a 9-1 lead on freshman
Cody Klindt of Griswold in their title match at 135, but had to hold on
late to escape with a 9-7 victory. In another great championship match,
Thomas Hess (pictured) gave Bedford a title with a 3-1 victory over Cole
Wilson of Riverside (Oakland). Hess, ranked fourth in 1A, scored a
takedown with 40 seconds left in the match and rode Wilson, ranked sixth
in 1A, the remainder of the third period.