|
|
|
BY MATT PFIFFNER
Also striking gold for Creston were former State runners-up Quin Leith at 130 and Kalab Evans at 160. Bret Kautz won at 135 and 145-pounder Jeese Harris was another title winner for the Panthers. "Not too bad," Creston Coach Darrell Frain said of the team's performance. "I knew coming in we'd be favored, but I knew Clarinda and Johnston were solid as well. I felt good about where we were at." Creston claimed the team title with 230 points, followed by host Nodaway Valley with 208, Clarinda with 187 and a depleted Johnston squad with 153.5. Long, the 2A State champ at 103 a year ago, was the team's first individual champion on the day. Ranked No. 1 at 112, Long was up a weight and handled Ricky Rodriquez of Johnston, who is ranked fourth in 3A at 112, by an 11-2 major decision. The Panther finished off three takedowns in the third period to pull away. Linderman made it back-to-back titles for Creston with a 5-4 victory over Colby Pedersen of Clarinda. Linderman led 5-1 in the third before giving up an escape and takedown. "I knew it would be a tough match, but it was a lot closer than I wanted it to be. I have a lot to work on," Linderman said. "I try not to think about being a State champion, but it's always in the back of your mind. There's pressure, but I just try to treat it as a new season." Creston won four gold medals in a row when Leith defeated Adam Richards of Johnston at 130 and Kautz upset Johnston's third-ranked 130-pounder Josh South at 135, 9-7. Kautz built up an 8-1 lead in the second period with a pair of takedowns and back points, but had to hold off a furious South rally in the final seconds. "As a head coach, it's frustrating when you control the match early and then coast," Frain said of Kautz's victory. "He can score points, he just has to do it for six minutes." The win streak for Creston was snapped at 140 when Sam Groves of Nodaway Valley dominated Panther Trent Tucker, 14-7. Groves, ranked sixth in 1A, had barely defeated Tucker in a dual meet earlier in the week, but controlled this match from the opening whistle. The Panthers got back on the winning track when Harris scored a takedown late in overtime to hand Nodaway Valley's Spencer Miller a 7-5 loss. In a battle of rated wrestlers at 152, Johnston's 3A third-ranked Eric Reese used a takedown and three back points in the second period for a 6-3 victory over 2A sixth-ranked Caleb Brus of Creston. Creston's final title came from Evans at 160. The Lenox transfer showed he is definitely worthy of his No. 1 ranking with a 12-1 major decision over fifth-ranked Taylor Sump of Clarinda. Nodaway Valley finished the day with four champions, as 103-pounder Adam Hight, 215-pounder David Schwartz and heavyweight Levi Morris joined Groves on the victory stand. Fourth-ranked Hight had two pins and a 10-0 major decision, Schwartz upset eighth-ranked Ryan Hughes of Bedford in the finals and second-ranked Morris recorded three first-period pins. Other
individual champs were Cody Smith of Central Decatur at 112, who used a
cradle in all three matches to win with pins; Brent McKinnon of Clarinda
at 171, who dominated 1A eighth-ranked Tyler Hosfield of Mount Ayr in the
title match, 9-3; and 2A third-ranked Bryant Hummel of Clarinda at 189,
who had a pair of quick falls on his way to the crown.
|
The
Panthers placed nine wrestlers in the finals and six of them walked away
with gold medals, including returning State champs Andrew Long (pictured
on left) at 119 and
Tyler Linderman at 125, who were wrestling up a weight class from where
they will be later in the year.