On to districts

ADEL – Creston/O-M wrestling fell just short as a team Saturday, but will send four wrestlers through to districts after top-2 finishes at the Class 2A Sectional 3 at ADM.

Advancing out of sectionals are Garon Wurster (132) Hayden Green (170), Jackson Kinsella (182) and Sam Chapman (195). Wurster placed second, winning his wrestleback while Green, Kinsella and Chapman placed first.

Creston/O-M as a unit was third with 170.5 points. Winterset (214) and Atlantic (206.5) placed first and second, respectively, and will advance as teams to the Regional dual tournament Wednesday night.

Creston head coach Cody Downing knew it was going to be hard for the Panthers to make up ground with an empty 220 slot due to Andy Weis’ arm injury from the Hawkeye 10 tournament, but feels the Panthers wrestled well as the No. 15 ranked team in Class 2A.

“We wrestled at or above our seed at 10 weights,” said Downing. “If you had told me that , I would have taken that before the day started. ... It was loaded in that 138 through 160, and we got a lot of points in those weights at conference. There was just so much depth in those weight classes and were so top heavy that we couldn’t generate enough points there. That ended up being the difference.”

Downing realized the chance of Creston/O-M advancing as a team was going to be steep once the 170-plus weights started.

“I thought Atlantic was going to get enough points there because those weren’t as top heavy,” said Downing. “Those are the the weights we were going to get points out of pretty much automatically, ... just kind of the complete opposite of last week.”

Downing had great faith in Kinsella and Chapman on advancing, similar to their route last year, but was especially satisfied to see Green advance out of sectionals with a first-place finish. Downing added his ability to push through prior injury while working with two of Creston/O-M’s best wrestlers as reasons for his improvement.

“He’s a product and has stuck it out for a few years,” said Downing. “He was really like a senior who’s just now coming out because he’s been hurt so much these last few years, but you throw in the fact every couple of nights he’s got to wrestle Kinsella or Chapman (in practice), you’ve got [a chance] to get better. ... I think he’s got a really legit shot next week to get through.”

Kinsella and Chapman’s day were a breeze, both benefiting from byes before Kinsella locked up first with a pin over Winterset’s Riley Hoven and Chapman locked up first with a pin on Atlantic’s Devin McKay. Both Hoven and McKay advanced out of the sectional with a second-place finish with wins in the wrestleback.

For Wurster, his day was a little more unconventional from the rest as he fell in the 132 final to undefeated Winterset wrestler Class 2A 132 No. 6 Bryce Hatten. Wurster was given

second-place by default, winning the wrestleback against Atlantic’s Jaxon Bell by no contest. Wurster beat Bell in the semis in a 5-0 decision.

There were two wrestlers who nearly kept their season alive, but fell in the wrestleback for second. Justin Parsons (106) ran into Atlantic’s Easton O’Brien and was pinned at 32 seconds, and Keaton Street (145) who fell in a 10-8 decision to Panorama’s Emry Colby.

Downing feels some younger wrestlers fell back into previously broken habits, but thinks it’s good for them to face tough competition in order to move forward as their 2019-20 season comes to a close.

“Our younger guys I thought went into some old, bad habits and that’s just the emotions of it being a sectional,” said Downing. “A do or die type of event, I thought we went into some old habits. Now they’ve been through it, they’ll be a little more battle tested next year.”

UP NEXT – Wurster, Green, Kinsella and Chapman will wrestle at Class 2A District 2 in Atlantic Saturday afternoon.

The Panthers will see the same wrestlers from its sectional in Adel as well as ones from 2A Sectional 4 in Glenwood.

Notable wrestlers to make it out of Glenwood that the Panthers will see are Clarinda’s Kale Downey and Glenwood’s Abby McIntyre at 132, Carter Bendorf of Harlan and Bruce Lukehart of Red Oak at 170, Mitch Mayberry from Glenwood and Jakob Childs of Clarinda at 182 and Class 2A No. 7 Carter Maynes of Red Oak and Sully Woods from Glenwood at 195.

Standings – 1. Winterset 214; 2. Atlantic 206.5; 3. Creston/O-M 170.5; 4. Greene County 146; 5. Panorama 120; 6. Kuemper Catholic 110; 7. ADM 104.

106 – 1. McKinley Robbins (Greene County) pinned Easton O`Brien (Atlantic) 0:50; Wrestleback: Easton O`Brien (Atlantic) pinned Justin Parsons (Creston) 0:32; 3. Justin Parsons (Creston) dec. Travis Allen (Winterset) 7-5; 5. Riley Parkis (Kuemper Catholic) fall Cooper Greenslade (ADM - Adel) 2:57.

113 – 1. Aybren Moore (Atlantic) maj. dec. Brenner Gallagher (Greene County) 12-3; Wrestleback: Brenner Gallagher (Greene County) pin Zeke Hoven (Winterset) 3:24; 3. Zeke Hoven (Winterset) pinned Owen Henderson (Creston) 2:55.

120 – 1. Ben Schmitz (Kuemper Catholic) dec. Ethan Follmann (Atlantic) 5-3; Wrestleback: Ethan Follmann (Atlantic) over Logan Christe (Panorama) NC; 3. Logan Christe (Panorama) pinned Ben Smith (ADM) 5:05; 5. Jake Porter (Winterset) pinned Braden Gallagher (Greene County) 1:59.

126 – 1. Joe Weaver (Atlantic) maj. dec. Keegan Jensen (Winterset) 10-1; Wrestleback: Keegan Jensen (Winterset) pinned David Finnegan (ADM) 5:10; 3. David Finnegan (ADM) pinned Beau Thompson (Creston) 5:12; 5. Chance McCollom (Greene County) inj. time Connor Reicks (Kuemper Catholic) 0:45.

132 – 1. Bryce Hatten (Winterset) dec. Garon Wurster (Creston) 3-0; Wrestleback: Garon Wurster (Creston) over Jaxson Bell (Atlantic) NC; 3. Jaxson Bell (Atlantic) tech. fall Kadin O`Connor (ADM) 5:56 18-3; 5. Hayden Stout (Kuemper Catholic) pinned Kael Wirt (Panorama) 4:32.

138 – 1. Kruise Kiburz (Winterset) dec. Shea Parkis (Kuemper Catholic) 13-6; Wrestleback: Shea Parkis (Kuemper Catholic) over Brady Stauffer (Greene County) NC; 3. Brady Stauffer (Greene County) dec. Kaden Bolton (Creston) 7-1; 5. Brian South (Atlantic) dec. Ryan Fees (Panorama) 6-5.

145 – 1. Jack West (Winterset) dec. Emry Colby (Panorama) 6-1; Wrestlback: Emry Colby (Panorama) dec. Keaton Street (Creston) 10-8; 3. Keaton Street (Creston) dec. Nathan Black (Greene County) 6-5; 5. Ty Hook (ADM) dec. Tanner O`Brien (Atlantic) 14-7.

152 – 1. Wyatt Appleseth (Panorama) dec. Tyler Brown (Winterset) 4-2; Wrestleback: Tyler Brown (Winterset) over Kadin Stutzman (Atlantic) NC; 3. Kadin Stutzman (Atlantic) pinned Brayton Chesnut (Creston) 0:39; 5. Joe Davis (Greene County) pinned Nathan Royer (ADM) 3:16.

160 – 1. Brady Barringer (Winterset) dec. Will Hansen (Greene County) 7-1; Wrestleback: Will Hansen (Greene County) over Collin Wiederin (Kuemper Catholic) NC; 3. Collin Wiederin (Kuemper Catholic) pinned Landon Goodenberger (Panorama) 1:26; 5. Jarrett Armstrong (Atlantic) pinned Austin Seaton (Creston) 4:23.

170 – 1. Hayden Green (Creston) dec. Kade Forsyth (Winterset) 4-3; Wrestleback: Payton Fewson (Atlantic) pinned Kade Forsyth (Winterset) 5:11; 3. Payton Fewson (Atlantic) pinned Dillon Bennett (Panorama) 0:44; 5. Brayden Reisberg (Kuemper Catholic) pinned Jacob Crystal (ADM - Adel) 4:26.

182 – 1. Jackson Kinsella (Creston) pinned Riley Hoven (Winterset) 1:30; Wrestleback: Riley Hoven (Winterset) over Cooper Andersen (Panorama) NC; 3. Cooper Andersen (Panorama) tech. fall Brenden Casey (Atlantic) 2:06 16-0; 5. Jagger Luetje (Kuemper Catholic).

195 – 1. Sam Chapman (Creston) pinned Devin McKay (Atlantic) 4:12; Wrestleback: Devin McKay (Atlantic) sudden victory Gage Michaelsen (Greene County) SV-1 3-1; 3. Gage Michaelsen (Greene County) dec. Keyton Van Gundy (Panorama) 12-5; 5. Gabe Heitz (ADM) pinned Kory Pike (Winterset) 1:32.

220 – 1. Cal Wanninger (Kuemper Catholic) dec. Sawyer Schiltz (Greene County) 11-4; Wrestleback: Sawyer Schiltz (Greene County) over Thomas Boorn (ADM - Adel) NC; 3. Thomas Boorn (ADM) pinned Henry Tromba (Winterset) 1:16; 5. James Hein (Panorama) pinned Noah Vandevanter (Atlantic) 1:11.

285 – 1. Kaden Sutton (ADM - Adel) maj. dec. Cale Roller (Atlantic) 8-0; Wrestleback: Cale Roller (Atlantic) over Dugan Tolley (Winterset) NC; 3. Dugan Tolley (Winterset) dec. Chris Wilson (Creston) 4-0; 5. Matthew Naberhaus (Greene County).