Panther grapplers sweep pair of duals

TRURO — Creston/Orient-Macksburg wrestling coach Darrell Frain wasn’t exactly sure what to do at 145 and 152 pounds during the Panthers’ dual against Interstate 35.

Frain chose to put Mitchel Swank at 145 and bump Rylan Luther up to 152.

Frain’s decisions paid off handsomely.

Swank and Luther both won their matches by pin as the Class 2A third-ranked Panthers cruised to a 58-15 win over the Roadrunners.

Creston/Orient-Macksburg won the evening’s other dual handily 58-9 over Nodaway Valley.

Winterset defeated Nodaway Valley 43-18.

“We debated,” Frain said. “I couldn’t make a decision on who I wanted to bump at 45 and 52. I considered having him (Luther) at 45 and Swank at 52. I don’t even know why I did what I did.”

The Panthers have a bit of a log jam at 145 and 152, giving Frain options.

“We’ve got five guys that can wrestle 45, 52,” Frain said. “Whoever I pick it’s going to be.”

Frain’s decision led to two wins by pin and 12 team points.

“I said we’re going to do this and it worked out for us,” Luther said.

Luther won his match by pin in one minute, 33 seconds over Jacob Steinlage.

Luther caught Steinlage out of position.

“He left his arm up one too many times,” Luther said.

The Panther freshman was victorious on opening night.

“It feels pretty good helping out the team,” Luther said. “It felt good that it was a good team and we were getting big wins.”

Luther’s win was one of four that gave the Panthers all of the momentum in the dual.

“Coming in with I-35, I didn’t know if we’d win,” Frain said. “We won four toss up matches. That makes a really tight dual look bad and it really wasn’t.”

Two-time state champion Chase Shiltz, top-ranked in Class 2A at 182, cruised past Dante Arzani, ranked fifth in Class 1A at 182, with a first period pin.

“We anticipated them moving him away from Chase,” Frain said. “That’s what’s going to happen a lot. He stayed down and Chase dominated like we thought.”

Kadon Hulett, ranked second at 220 in Class 2A, won by major decision 15-4 at heavyweight.

“We thought we would let him have a match,” Frain said. “He handled that kid pretty well.”

Jacob Goodson closed out the dual for the Panthers with a solid 4-3 win over Class 1A fourth-ranked Nathan Phillips.

Opening night was a good challenge for Interstate 35.

“We got woke up at some weights, which we needed,” said Interstate 35 coach Ryan Snyder. “We needed to get in some hard-fought action.”

The Roadrunners tested themselves against the Panthers best.

“We didn’t try to get away from anybody,” Snyder said. “We went straight at them. We feel pretty good about that.”

Going up against a team like the Panthers builds up the Roadrunners for later in the season.

“I like to wrestle schools like that,” Snyder said. “We want to see bigger and better schools. We want to see better competition.”

The Roadrunners pushed the Panthers hard.

“We know what we’re going to get from I-35,” Frain said. “They may have some holes, but they wrestle hard. They came after us.

“They wrestle us as hard as anybody we’re going to see.”

Interstate 35 won its other dual, downing Winterset 42-33.

For a small Nodaway Valley lineup, the Wolverines had some quality matches.

“We came down and wrestled good teams right away,” said Nodaway Valley coach Jeff Ohnemus. “It’s good to see where we’re at.”

The Wolverines’ energy stayed up in their matches.

“We had good fight,” Ohnemus said. “They were going out there and getting after it. We might have given up a takedown, but they got back up on their feet, got a reversal, kept pushing themselves. That’s what we’re looking for.”

UP NEXT — Creston/Orient-Macksburg has its first Saturday tournament of the season at the Dallas Center-Grimes Tournament.

Interstate 35 will also be there.

“That’ll be a tough go,” Frain said. “We’ll see where we’re at.”

Nodaway Valley hosts its home tournament Saturday.

Creston Orient-Macksburg 55. Interstate 35 18

120—  Casey Baker (I35) pinned Carson Wheat (C/O-M) 2:41 126— Kelby Luther (C/O-M) pinned Brody Nelson (I35), :39; 132 — Zac Willey (I35) pinned Cade Vicker (C/O-M) 3:21; 138 — Trevor Marlin (C/O-M) dec. Brayden Egli (I35) 12-8; 145: Mitchel Swank (C/O-M) pinned Travis Brownlee (I35) 4:41; 152 — Rylan Luther (C/O-M) pinned Jacob Steinlage (I35) 1:33; 160 — Mason Woosley (I35) pinned Tristan Travis (C/O-M) :41; 170: Dale Boyer (C/O-M) dec. Drew Kirkpatrick (I35) 9-8; 182 — Chase Shiltz (C/O-M) pinned Dante Arzani (I35) 1:40; 195 —Jackson Mikkelsen (C/O-M) won by forfeit 220 — Trevor Kinyon (C/O-M) won by forfeit; 285: Kadon Hulett (C/O-M) maj. dec. Jake Hutton (I35) 15-4; 106: Brodie Starlin (C/O-M) won by forfeit; 113 — Jacob Goodson (C/O-M) dec. Nathan Phillips (I35) 4-3.

Creston Orient-Macksburg 58, Nodaway Valley 9

113 — Jacob Goodson (C/O-M) won by forfeit; 120 — Carson Wheat (C/O-M) won by forfeit; 126 — Kelby Luther (C/O-M) won by forfeit; 132: Cade Vicker (C/O-M) pinned Ryan Hull (NV); 138: Mitchel Swank (C/O-M) maj. dec. Austin Wilson (NV) 13-4; 145: Brody Erlandson (NV) dec. Tristan Travis (C/O-M) 4-2; 152: Sam Chapman (C/O-M) pinned Parker Manning (NV) 4:43; 160: Josh Allsup (NV) dec. Dale Boyer (C/O-M) 11-5; 170 — Trevor Flettre (NV) over Dale Boyer (COM) (Dec 11-5) 182: Chase Shiltz (C/O-M) pinned Trevor Flettre (NV) 1:14; 195 — Jackson Mikkelsen (C/O-M) pinned Colton Newbury (NV) 3:38; 220: Kadon Hulett (C/O-M) won by forfeit;  — Blake Sevier (C/O-M) won by forfeit. 106 — Brodie Starlin (C/O-M) won by forfeit.

Winterset 43, Nodaway Valley 18

106 — Dakota Jenkins (W) won by forfeit; 113 — Trey Allen (W) won by forfeit; 120 — Dylan Wagner (W) won by forfeit; 126 — no match; 1232 — Trenton Cook (W) pinned Ryan Hull (NV) 5:22; 138 — no match; 145 — Austin Wilson (NV) pinned Kade Forsyth (W) 3:24; 152 — Justin Smith (W) pinned Brody Erlandson (NV) :36; 160 — Connor Van Pelt (W) dec. Parker Manning (NV) 7-3; 170 — Josh Allsup (NV) pinned Jay Mrzena (W) 1:43; 182 — Trevor Flettre (NV) pinned Elijah Nuzum (W) 3:33; 195 — Parker Maynes (W) maj. dec. Colton Newbury (NV) 9-1; 220 — Tanner Marquardt (W) won by forfeit; 285 — Bradley Tolley (W) won by forfeit.