Den of champions

When visitors to Creston High School walk through the commons toward the gymnasium, they pass a trophy case displaying a rich tradition in wrestling.

There are six trophies from top-three team placings in the Class 2A individual tournament since 2003, including championship hardware from 2007 and 2016.

The Panthers have qualified for the State Dual Team Tournament 12 times, including a title in 2007 and runner-up finishes in 2008 and 2011. Creston/O-M has placed fourth five times in the past five state dual meets.

Entering his 18th season, head coach Darrell Frain has coached a state finalist 30 times. Panthers were state champions in 18 of those matches, including southwest Iowa’s only four-time titlist, Jake Marlin.

Creston/O-M is the king of southwest Iowa wrestling with 20 total state trophies won, surpassing Lewis Central’s 19 last year. The Panthers have won five straight Hawkeye 10 Conference and John J Harris Invitational championships.

How does Frain and his staff do it?

First of all, by assuming nothing. Frain is the first to tell you that Solon and New Hampton are “loaded” this season. In the preseason rankings by IAwrestle.com this week, Creston/O-M is No. 5 in Class 2A, but Hawkeye 10 rival Atlantic is No. 3, and conference rival Glenwood is ranked sixth in Class 3A. Lewis Central is also considered a ratings contender in Class 3A.

New Hampton is coached by Nick Hemann, a former assistant of Frain’s in Creston when the Panther head coach was transforming his practice schedule.

“When New Hampton comes down for John Harris and we work out in our room together, they’re doing a lot of the same things in terms of pushing the pace,” Frain said. “I’m not sure we’re different from everybody else in what we do. But, we demand it and push and make sure they’re doing it hard every day.”

Coming off a state championship season, Creston/O-M is replacing a senior class that included state placewinners Seth Maitlen, Wyatt Thompson and Cameron Leith, and a fourth with state tourney experience in Joey Huntington.

The Panthers were going hard in the season’s second practice at 3:30 p.m. on Nov. 15. The squad of 27, the lowest since 2008-09, includes nine freshmen. There are only four sophomores, but Frain is excited about a strong eighth-grade class entering the program next year to help fill the void left by this year’s talented class of seven seniors.

Granby clincis

But action in the Creston/O-M wrestling room is not catered to beginners. Not since Frain and assistants Hemann and Todd Stephenson began attending Granby School of Wrestling clinics. The first they attended was held in Wisconsin prior to the 2003-04 season.

It’s a system based on repetition and constant drilling. There’s no wasted motion and no athletes standing around listening to someone talk.

“The biggest thing there was just teaching kids how to practice hard and drill hard,” Frain said. “They geared their practice toward the best kids, the elite kids. Your assistants go around and help those kids gradually build up toward that. Before, if things slowed down, it was because I was helping kids who were the beginner types. And a lot of times, for those top kids, we slowed their process down.”

As a result, everyone follows the lead of the state tourney wrestlers in the Panther practice room tucked behind the weight room on the far east end of the building. The heat is turned up past 80 degrees, approaching 85 at the end of the 130-minute session that Tuesday afternoon. This isn’t a place for the faint of heart.

The system is built on getting opponents tired and going after them. It’s given the program a vision and identity. Amassing flurries of nearfall points through tilts became a trademark of Panther wrestling back to the days of state champions Daniel Scarberry, Andrew Long and Quin Leith, although there has been more of an emphasis on pinning in the past couple of years.

Underneath, a base method of escaping without getting in precarious positions is taught. But, those who have accomplished techniques like switches and stand-up switches, such as Trevor Marlin, have the green light.

“What we teach is maintaining base against pressure,” Frain said. “If you don’t hit a switch, for example, you’re flat. And then you’re spending all that time geting back up. We’re avoiding bad situations. An average wrestler can be in a match if he’s not giving up tons of (back) points. It’s about buying into the core fundamentals.”

“Push with the head! Move them when your hands!” Frain barks out during an early takedown drill. “Turn it and cut the corner faster. Power step! KEEP YOUR FEET MOVING!”

There’s encouragement for constant motion as Frain stalks the room, while assistants Cody Downing and Eric Ehlen roam around to help any wrestler without a partner at the time, or in need of correcting his execution of a move. Another assistant, former team manager Tanner Webb, goes up and down the edge of the mat, offering reminders to underclassmen.

Music plays to break the monotony, but Frain carries the remote control with him and clicks if off when he stops briefly to explain the next drill, or demonstrate details from the current drill. The breaks for such explanations are short and to the point.

“Grip above the elbow!” he shouts. “Thumbs on the outside. Sidestep, then right into your power step and turn the corner. Do a move to set up your move. Keep your feet moving at all times.”

Frain said repetition of fundamental moves, connected in what he calls “chain wrestling,” proved to be a successful tactic from the Granby clinics.

“I don’t get too caught up on not being able to do everything right now, in the second practice,” Frain said after conditioning concluded at 5:40 p.m. “It’s more about just starting to do it. By five days at Granby, they had done it thousands of times in the drilling sessions, and by the end of camp it was ingrained.”

Most of a Panther wrestling practice consists of evenly-matched partners performing technique drills against each other in what Frain estimates as “80 percent live” resistance. As the season progresses, there is more full-go live wrestling and some wrestle-off matches for varsity weight classes.

But, this approach limits injuries sustained in practice, while building precise technique.

“It’s sparring,” Frain said. “We don’t want to drill against a wet noodle who falls down. You get nothing from that. I give them things they have to do and the partner reacts. It’s nonstop while we’re doing that. When (former Iowa and Nodaway Valley wrestler) Mario Galanakis was in the room with us, he was unreal about teaching to always keep your feet moving.”

When Galanakis was an assistant coach, along with Downing — a former Panther wrestler — a tradition started of pounding the side wall of the wrestling room several times during a practice. It’s a booming audible reminder to shed fatigue and keep pushing the pace.

Fatigued wrestling

“We started that when Mario and Matt Long were were with us,” Frain said. “It’s all about being able to do every move when you are as tired as you can be, against an elite wrestler. That’s the goal. You can get away with a lot of bad moves against average wrestlers that won’t work when you get to state.”

“When you’re tired, you have to practice it right,” Ehlen tells the squad in its second practice. “Then when you’re tired in a match, you’ll start doing it right. It makes a huge difference.”

Ehlen, the former Mount Ayr head coach and a product of practices in the Hawkeye wrestling room under head coach Dan Gable, is a disciple of Frain’s training system geared toward wrestling state-tournament opponents in February. Two-a-day workouts begin in mid-January. Currently, the team meets for strength training three mornings a week, in addition to the afternoon practices.

On Friday of the first week of practices this preseason, Frain was pushing especially hard to put a exclamation point on conditioning heading into the weekend break.

“What do you concentrate on when you’re tired?” Frain asks the squad as they work through the drill. “What’s my best takedown? What’s my best set-up? You can’t focus on anything but the next situation. You can’t come back to the middle of the mat thinking, ‘Oh, God, I have two and half minutes left.’ It’s all on technique.”

Quality partners pushing each other during those drills is a tradition in the Creston High School wrestling room.

This year, you’ll see the likes of veteran middleweights Mitchel Swank and Trevor Marlin matched up, along with two-time state champ Chase Shiltz and ranked 195-pounder Jackson MIkkelsen, and the heavyweight duo of Cody Tanner and Blake Sevier. Lower-weight regulars such as Cade Vicker, Kelby Luther and Jacob Goodson keep the pace going strong on the other end of the room.

“Seth Maitlen and Kadon Hulett were the ultimate partners the past few years,” Frain said. “They fed off each other and they were proud when the other one did well.”

Downing, who frequently works with the upper-weight wrestlers as a former 174-pound competitor at Simpson College, admired the daily work ethic of Maitlen and Hulett. Maitlen was a state finalist last year, and Hulett is ranked No. 2 in this preseason after placing fifth at 220 pounds as a junior.

“Maitlen and Hulett had a lot of great matches in here,” Downing said. “When guys build up mental toughness like that every day, and we get to the third period and it’s close, we think we should win. Even if you get beat, you want them to think they don’t want to wrestle you again. It’s not worth it. I’m exhausted. You’re worn out physically after you wrestle us, at least that’s our goal.”

Mental training

In recent years, Frain has incorporated sophisticated mental training, as well. The process includes a self-assessment questionnaire filled out by each wrestler, with updates on progress toward goals being evaluated at periodic times during the season.

“It’s about clarity in goal setting, and learning to stay relaxed under pressure,” Frain said. “You probably get more tired from nerves and anxiety than in your match.”

It’s all about peak performance when the sectional tournament round begins qualification for the coveted prizes at state. Most years, that involves Frain and an assistant dressed up as matside coaches on state championship night, with a team trophy hanging in the balance.

Toil and sweat for two hours or more each day is how they get there. In the practice room, seniors and juniors are frequently heard reminding newcomers to trust the process and the grind. There’s a payoff at the end.

“We know it’s been a tough week,” Frain said as the fifth practice of the week closed with intense conditioning sprints and full-speed moves out of a stance. “Some of you young guys stepped up and fought through it when you got tired. I loved it. That’s part of the deal, guys.”

Frain told them memories are recorded along the way.

“This feels bad right now,” he said. “When you’re five years out of school you think you’re going to talk about wins and losses, but no, you’re going to talk about THIS! The stuff you went through together. You survived, and got better.”

Competition this season begins in a double-dual meet Tuesday at Truro against Nodaway Valley and host Interstate 35, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Winterset is also in the meet, taking on the Wolverines and Roadrunners.