Panthers take No. 1 ranking into 2015-16 season

When you only lose three varsity starters off a team that tied for second in Class 2A, leading the state tournament much of finals night, you’re not flying under the radar the following year.

Or, maybe you end up in the center of the bullseye.

That’s Creston/Orient-Macksburg’s situation as the wrestling season opens Tuesday in the traditional quadrangular in Winterset involving Interstate 35 and Nodaway Valley as Panther foes.

IAWrestle.com, a statewide wrestling news site, has Creston/O-M ranked first in Class 2A on its preseason rankings. Hawkeye 10 rival Glenwood is ranked third, and is part of the grouping assigned to the 2A district tournament in Atlantic. Glenwood and Winterset host sectionals, with the Panthers competing at Winterset.

The Predicament’s state rankings have not been released yet.

“The crazy thing is, almost every one of our (ranked) weight classes, Glenwood has somebody ranked, too, so districts could be crazy,” said Darrell Frain, starting his 16th year as head coach of the Panthers.

State runner-up Spencer Wray (138 pounds), 170-pounder Tayler Pettit and heavyweight Jake Gutschenritter graduated from the Panther team that tied Union (LaPorte City) for second in 2A with 86 points behind Mediapolis’ 89 points.

It was a memorable state tournament in that the runner-up finish was attained three days after the life-saving medical rescue of state qualifier Pettit, who suffered a heart-related emergency on the arena floor during the State Dual Tournament.

Pettit was supposed to be one of a school record nine state qualifiers from the 2014 Panther squad.

Creston/O-M went 17-2 in duals — undefeated in the regular season before finishing fourth in state dual competition — and 10-0 in winning its fourth conference dual crown in five years. The Panthers also captured their fourth straight Hawkeye 10 Tournament championship and fourth consecutive John J Harris Tourament title at Corning.

In addition to Wray placing second at state, Chase Shiltz won the 160-pound title as a sophomore, going 35-0 after missing the first half of the season with a knee injury from football. Seth Maitlen was fourth at 195 pounds, Wyatt Thompson was fourth at 132 and Kadon Hulett was sixth at 220. Also qualifying for state were Joey Huntington (145) and Trevor Marlin (120) and Gutschenritter as a senior.

Also, Mitchel Swank (126) and Cameron Leith (152) were district qualifiers.

This year, the high expectations are based on many of those returning standouts in the Panther lineup projected to score highly at state. The five ranked individuals are Thompson (second at 138), Huntington (seventh at 152), Shiltz (first at 170), Maitlen (second at 195) and Hulett (second at 220).

“This is one of the first years we might be a better tournament team than a dual team,” said Frain, again assisted by Cody Downing, Eric Ehlen and Matt Long. “Now it’s up to those other weight classes to step up. I think we have a few kids that hopefully will.”

League race

He sees a rugged three-way battle for top honors in the Hawkeye 10 this season.

“Glenwood has 20 more points coming back from the conference tournament than we do,” Frain said. “Lewis Central may be the favorite. We beat them (245-235) and they had five guys out of the lineup last year. And they return everybody. This might be one of the toughest conference races in a long time. The top LC guys are opposite of ours, so us and Glenwood may beat up on each other while LC gets their guys through.”

Clarinda and Atlantic also have quality wrestlers returning, Frain noted. If the Panthers are to earn a 12th trip to state duals by qualifying at sectionals, it’s still uncertain if they’d be matched up with teams to the west or the east.

“I really think if we both stay ranked where we are,” Frain said, “the state will send Glenwood one direction and us the other. But we may have to go through somebody like (eighth-ranked) Albia. They have a good class coming in and already had some highly-ranked kids.”

The first conference double dual for the Panthers may provide fans an early glimpse of relative strengths, as Glenwood and Denison-Schleswig visit Creston on Dec. 15 in the first home appearance.

However, the Panthers will compete through most of December without their state champion. Shiltz suffered a broken hand in the football playoff victory at Harlan, and played on it at Pella. He is wearing a brace and won’t be cleared for competition until just before the annual tournament in Kansas City.

“We anticipate he’ll be cleared to wrestle Dec. 16,” Frain said. “He’s been doing a lot of working out. He wants to be in as good of shape as possible to go to Kansas City (Dec. 18-19). He will have at least three nationally-ranked kids in his weight class.”

Until Shiltz can compete at either 170 or 182 pounds, Kolby Tomas (2-8 last season), Darrian Fischer (6-5) or Brody Frain (15-18) will fill in at 170. Returnee Jackson Mikkelsen (37-16) is slated for 182 but did certify at 170 during body-fat testing and certification on Wednesday.

Lower weights

Only one squad member, sophomore Cade Vicker (4-5), is certified to wrestle at 106 pounds this season.

A three-way battle between Jacob Goodson (23-18), Kelby Luther (27-20) and Carson Wheat (13-10) will sort itself out at 113 pounds, with one winning the spot the others likely filling the 120 and 126 spots.

Marlin, who did certify at 126, is the likely regular 132-pounder this year. Freshman Tristan Travis is another candidate slowed by a back ailment.

Thompson (39-16) is projected at 138 pounds this year. He injured a shoulder at the University of Missouri summer team camp, but recently returned to full-time practice. He is certified at 132 if needed there.

While Huntington (44-10) did certify again at 145, he is likely to wrestle at 152 with Mitchel Swank (37-18) moving up from 126 to 145 this season.

Leith (27-20) is slated for duty at 160 after nearly making it to state at 152 a year ago.

Mikkelsen (37-16) returns at 182 and the next two weight classes return second-ranked wrestlers in Maitlen (43-9) at 195 and Hulett (45-11) at 220.

Last year, Maitlen lost on a takedown in the final 20 seconds in the third-place match to current top-ranked Izaak Shedenhelm of Denver-Tripoli. And, Hulett edged No. 1-ranked Alex Paulson of Forest City, 4-3, in last year’s quarterfinals.

With Gutschenritter gone, a contigent of four worthy heavyweights is vying for the varsity spot. They are sophomore Trevor Downing (2-6), junior Cody Tanner (0-0), senior Zach Hoffman (3-5) and sophomore Blake Sevier (0-0). Downing just recently resumed practice after a non-wrestling related ankle injury before the season.

“They are all so close,” Frain said. “One of them could easily hold the spot on any given day. We’ll see how it goes.”

Roster

(* — Letterwinner)

Seniors — *Wyatt Thompson (138), *Joey Huntington (145-152), *Darrian Fischer (160-170), *Cameron Leith (160), *Seth Maitlen (195), *Zach Hoffman (285).

Juniors — Moritz Johannknecht (195), Colton Bolinger (220), *Carson Wheat (113-120), *Trevor Marlin (126-132), *Jacob Goodson (113-120), *Brody Frain (160), *Chase Shiltz (170-182), *Jackson Mikkelsen (170-182), *Kadon Hulett (220), Cody Tanner (285).

Sophomores — *Kelby Luther (113-120), *Mason Kinsella (145), *Kolby Tomas (170), *Mitchel Swank (145), Kolton Phelps (195), *Trevor Downing (285), Blake Sevier (285), *Cade Vicker (106).

Freshmen — Tristan Travis (132), Trevor Kinyon (170), Matthew Rouh (113), Issac Davis (160), Matt Borha (138), Austin Nguyen (120), Dale Boyer (170).

Schedule

Dec. 1 — Winterset Quadrangular vs. Interstate 35, Nodaway Valley, 5:30 p.m.

Dec. 5 — at Dallas Center-Grimes Tournament, 10 a.m.

Dec. 5 — at Winterset JV tournament, 9:30 a.m.

Dec. 10 — Double dual at Atlantic vs. Clarinda, Atlantic, 5:30 p.m.

Dec. 11 — at Central Decatur Tournament, Leon, 5 p.m.

Dec. 12 — at Lenox JV tournament, 10 a.m.

Dec. 15 — Double dual vs. Denison-Schleswig, Glenwood, 5:30 p.m.

Dec. 18-19 — at Platte County (Mo.) tournament (Hale Arena)

Jan. 5 — Double dual at Lewis Central vs. Lewis Central, Kuemper Catholic, 5:30 p.m.

Jan. 7 — vs. Harlan, 6:30 p.m.

Jan. 9 — Panther Invitational, 11 a.m.

Jan. 11 — Creston JV tournament, 5 p.m.

Jan. 14 — Double dual vs. Perry, Winterset, 5:30 p.m.

Jan. 16 — at Centerview tournament, Centerville Lakeview Complex, 10 a.m.

Jan. 19 — Double dual at Shenandnoah vs. Red Oak, Shenandoah, 5:30 p.m.

Jan. 22 — at John J Harris Invitational, Corning, 4 p.m.

Jan. 22 — at Glenwood JV tournament, 5 p.m.

Jan. 23 — at John J Harris Invitational, Corning, 10 a.m.

Jan. 25 — at JV Cyclone Invitational, Harlan, 4:30 p.m.

Jan. 28 — Double dual vs. St. Albert Catholic, Sidney, 5:30 p.m.

Jan. 30 — at Hawkeye 10 Tournament, Harlan, 10:30 a.m.

Feb. 4 — at Atlantic JV tournament, 5 p.m.

Feb. 6 — at Sectional tournament at Winterset, noon

Feb. 13 — at District tournament at Atlantic, noon

Feb. 17 — at State Dual Tournament, Des Moines, Wells Fargo Arena

Feb. 18-20 — at State Tournament, Des Moines, Wells Fargo Arena