March 29, 2024

Panthers dominate for fifth straight H-10 tourney title

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HARLAN — The Creston/O-M wrestling team won its fifth straight Hawkeye 10 Conference Tournament here Saturday, piecing together yet another dominating performance.

With 145-pounder Mitchel Swank out because of mononucleosis, head coach Darrell Frain had anticipated a close competition for the team title with Glenwood and Lewis Central.

It was a close race — just not at the top.

All 13 Panther wrestlers advanced to the semifinals and nine of those advanced to the finals. Creston/O-M won six of nine championship matches on its way to scoring 275 points.

Glenwood won a close three-team battle with Atlantic and Lewis Central for the runner-up spot with 188.5 points. Atlantic finished third with 186.5 points and Lewis Central was fourth with 184 points.

“I didn’t anticipate that,” Frain said. “I really did think it was going to be a tight score. When you get some of those third seeds winning in the semis, the lead gets up there real fast. We had a lot of kids step up today and wrestle really well. Along the way, we had some slip ups, but you’ve got to be proud of the ones that did get the wins for us.”

Wyatt Thompson (138), Joey Huntington (145), Cameron Leith (160), Chase Shiltz (170), Seth Maitlen (195) and Kadon Hulett (220) all won individual titles for the Panthers. Jacob Goodson (113), Kelby Luther (120) and Trevor Marlin (126) all finished as runner-up.

Cade Vicker (106) and Jackson Mikkelsen (182) took third in their respective weight classes. Heavyweight Cody Tanner finished fifth and Brody Frain, who entered the lineup in Swank’s absence, finished sixth at 152 pounds after having to forfeit his final match because of a knee injury.

The Panthers went 35-10 on the day and didn’t lose a match until the semifinal round. It was that team depth that made it such a dominant performance by the Panthers.

“You look at the guys that step up each day. That’s what it’s about,” Frain said. “All those lightweights coming through, even though they weren’t champions, battling to get third and they score points for you. Having Brody step in, even though he couldn’t finish because of injury, he stepped in and scored points for us.

“Those are the guys that make us better than what people think. They all look at guys like Shiltz and Maitlen and Hulett and Wyatt Thompson, but those are the guys that put us over the top against some of these teams.”

Expanding matches

One of the biggest things Frain was looking for from his team on Saturday was expanding in matches.

“We want to set a pace and we want the mental part of it (to be strong) and to expand each time,” he said. “If we’re getting beat, close the gap. If we’re winning, expand on it. Right now we’re getting pretty good at that.”

Maitlen was a prime example of expanding. The third-ranked senior won a 6-5 decision over Glenwood’s sixth-ranked Zach Haggstrom on Dec. 15.

But in Saturday’s 195-pound final, Maitlen controlled the pace and won a 10-1 major decision over Haggstrom.

“That’s a tough weight class,” Frain said. “All those guys — (Hayden) Waldstein, the LC wrestler didn’t even make it to the semifinal and he was ranked most of the year until he got injured. It shows you how tough that weight class is. Seth expanded. It wasn’t a one-point, two-point win. He did what he had to do and got big wins, so excited for him.”

“He’s a very good wrestler,” Maitlen said. “I just knew I needed to go out and be physical and do what I do. When you wrestle hard for six full minutes, it all works out.”

Luther also showed expansion at 120 pounds, winning a 4-2 decision over Harlan’s Brandon Trevino in the semifinals after losing by fall to Trevino in the dual on Jan. 7.

“We just changed a couple of things this week watching film with him,” Frain said. “It worked out for us. I’m excited for him to take that step, now we just have to take another one next week.”

Fourth-ranked Hulett was a 2-1 victor over Seth Gehling of Kuemper Catholic in the dual on Jan. 5, but won a 9-2 decision in Saturday’s championship match.

In one of the biggest matches of the day, top-ranked Shiltz dominated second-ranked Anthony Sherry of Glenwood in the 170-pound final.

After a scoreless first period, Shiltz was never threatened in a 7-1 decision.

Second-ranked Thompson had a dominant day at 138 pounds, winning by a pair of first-period falls and then winning an 11-3 major decision over Tim Sibbel of Kuemper Catholic.

Huntington, who dropped down to 145 pounds with Swank out of the lineup, picked up a 17-0 technical fall and a pair of pins on his way to the finals. After trailing early, Huntington won a 6-3 decision over Shenandoah’s Jake Johnson in the finals.

Leith, battling a shoulder injury, won an 8-0 major decision and a 6-4 decision over Lewis Central’s Cory Lear to reach the finals, where he won a 9-5 decision over Harlan’s Jacob Wingert.

“A lot of times I talk to the kids about how you approach your last round,” Frain said. “When you get six of nine wins in the finals, that’s a pretty good round. Every one of them did great. Some of them expected to win, but they all got bigger leads or expanded on matches they had before. They all did great.”

Five straight

Winning five straight Hawkeye 10 Conference Tournament championships is a major accomplishment for Frain and his program, but it’s a launching pad for bigger goals.

“It’s not one of your major goals, but it’s a stepping stone to where you need to be,” he said. “We used to train through this. Even the year we won state, we didn’t win it. We’ve started putting a little more emphasis on it now. It’s really important to the community and the school. Sometimes you have to approach it that way. They make a big deal out of it and so we make a big deal out of it.”

The community support has helped the Panther wrestling program reach this sustained level of success.

“Everybody buys in. That’s what it is,” Frain said. “It isn’t so much that we do anything better, it’s just that everybody buys into what we do and they give it everything they’ve got. They love the approach of the program. That pays off as you buy in.”

Maitlen said the Panthers still have more goals to check off their list this year.

“It’s kind of weird how you win it so often, it kind of loses its prestige,” Maitlen said. “But looking at your conference, we’re really good. Being able to win five of them and being part of four, my senior class, we worked hard and we have high goals set. This is just the beginning of them.”

Creston/O-M returns to action Saturday at the Class 2A sectional meet in Winterset, where wrestling starts at 12 p.m.

Frain said he expects to find out today whether or not Swank will be medically cleared to compete.

Hawkeye 10 Conference Tournament

Team scores (individual champions) — 1. Creston/O-M (6) 275, 2. Glenwood (3) 188.5, 3. Atlantic (3) 186.5, 4. Lewis Central 184, 5. Harlan 144, 6. Clarinda (2) 102, 7. Red Oak 80.5, 8. Kuemper Catholic 74, 9. Denison-Schleswig 64, 10. Shenandoah 54, 11. Council Bluffs St. Albert 3.

106 — 1. Kole Hansen (Atl) pinned Paxton Whiteaker (LC), 2:32; 3. Cade Vicker (COM) dec. Ronan Noeth (Har), 3-1.

113 — 1. Carter Cox (Atl) dec. Jacob Goodson (COM), 8-5.

120 — 1. Chase McLaren (Atl) major dec. Kelby Luther (COM), 11-3.

126 — 1. Trevor Anderson (Glen) dec. Trevor Marlin (COM), 10-5.

132 — 1. Austin Gutknecht (Clar) dec. Kyle Kuckta (LC), 6-5.

138 — 1. Wyatt Thompson (COM) major dec. Tim Sibbel (KC), 11-3.

145 — 1. Joey Huntington (COM) dec. Jake Johnson (Shen), 6-3.

152 — 1. Matt Malcom (Glen) tech fall Logan Roberts (Shen), 22-7 (5:24); 5. Luke Mellott (RO) won by forfeit over Brody Frain (COM).

160 — 1. Cameron Leith (COM) dec. Jacob Wingert (Har), 9-5.

170 — 1. Chase Shiltz (COM) dec. Anthony Sherry (Glen), 7-1.

182 — 1. JJ Clark (Clar) dec. Zac Stork (Atl), 12-7; 3. Jackson Mikkelsen (COM) dec. Isaac Bales (Glen), 3-2 (UTB).

195 — 1. Seth Maitlen (COM) major dec. Zach Haggstrom (Glen), 10-1.

220 — 1. Kadon Hulett (COM) dec. Seth Gehling (KC), 9-2.

285 — 1. Caleb Sanders (Glen) dec. John McConkey (Atl), 3-2; 5. Cody Tanner (COM) pinned Daniel Soll (Har), 1:36.