March 29, 2024

Young Raiders shine at POI meet

SWV's Lundquist grabs first POI title

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TRURO — Go to any wrestling meet, dual or invite and you're likely to see kids younger than the varsity competitors doing their best lockups and single-leg shots in between the action that counts.

Mount Ayr's Bryce Shaha and Trae Ehlen have been competing with one another on the wrestling mat since they were kindergartners. They were those kids years ago.

“We’ve wrestled each other for as long as we can remember," Ehlen recalled.

Now, as freshmen, Shaha (106 pounds) and Ehlen (113 pounds) are Pride of Iowa Conference champs and have their sights set on greater heights.

The two continue their rivalry on the practice mats, where Ehlen still gets the upper hand usually. That friendly competition has pushed them to become champions early on in their varsity careers.

Shaha earned a victory over Martensdale-St. Marys' Cael Cassady with a third-period pin after trailing 8-3.

“He definitely beat me on my feet and I didn’t finish shots I should have," Shaha said. "I definitely should have finished more shots. My offense wasn’t working very good and it just made me mad so I pinned him."

Ehlen was even more convincing with a second-period pin of East Union's Levi Parrott for the 113 title, as the Raiders claimed the first two title matches of the day.

“I thought I rode pretty well on top and I kept him down pretty easily. That’s about all I needed to do to win," Ehlen said.

The wins, which helped lead Mount Ayr to finish sixth at the tournament with 98 team points, filled both with confidence, but both noted that they were just looking forward to getting back to work.

"Keep going the extra mile," Ehlen said. "Keep working."

160-pounder Marcus Daughton was the only other Raider to make a final Saturday, where he fell to Class 1A fifth-ranked Jacob Steinlage by maj. dec. 14-2.

Heavyweight Josh Cox took third place with his pin of Southwest Valley's Andy Seals.

Lundquist continues dominance

Southwest Valley's undefeated 126-pounder Teagan Lundquist missed out on last year's Pride of Iowa Conference tournament as a result of sickness.

Lundquist made up for the lost opportunity at a title with a resounding run-through of the field for an easy championship, the Timberwolves' lone title of the day as the team picked up third place overall with 123 team points, behind three-time reigning champion Interstate 35 (238.5) and Martensdale-St. Marys (158).

Lundquist pinned his first two opponents before controlling his final match of the day about as easily.

Lundquist, a state qualifier a year ago, won his title match with Martensdale-St. Marys' Dominick DiCesare by 12-3 major decision. Lundquist has picked up a maj. dec. or win by pin in all of his matches this season.

“I knew I was a lot better on my feet, so a lot of my points came from taking him down and letting him back up," Lundquist said.

One goal for the POI champ is to stay undefeated through Christmas, while he also knows that January's home John J. Harris Invitational in Corning will likely present him the best competition he'll see before a prospective repeat state appearance after finishing seventh in 1A at Wells Fargo last February. Knowing his team was on its way to a third place finish left Lundquist with a much better feeling than after sitting out at last year's POI meet in Afton.

“Trying not to keep a big head about but, but I just want to make myself better," Lundquist said. "I want to do better than last year. I want to be higher on that podium.”

Fellow Timberwolves Bryson Rhamy (second at 220) and Dylan Dalton (3rd at 160) rounded out Southwest Valley's best performances.

Best of the rest

East Union put through a number of wrestlers to at least a third-place match (five to be exact), but picked up its best finishes from Parrott (113) and Sherman Hayes (138) at second place.

“Levi wrestled good today," East Union coach Justin Staver said. "We had Ehlen (who Parrott lost to in the finals) earlier this week. We’ve got to work a little harder.”

Hayes, another returning state qualifier for the Eagles, was visibly disappointed after getting pinned late in the third period of his match against state-ranked Zac Willey of Interstate 35.

"He’s up a weight right now and I think we need to get him down," Staver said. " ... He made a couple mental errors that got in his head a little bit. I think going forward this will be a good thing actually because it may make him work a little harder.”

Cole Wimber (106) picked up third

Others, like Brady Reese and Dylan Steinhoff showed Staver they were capable of better results in the future with more work on technique.

Bedford/Lenox had a similar streak of luck, as it put through Drew Venteicher (152), Derek Venteicher (182), Brenden Christensen (195) to the finals of their respective classes, where they fell.

“Everything went about how we expected," Bedford/Lenox coach Drew Weller said. "We were hoping to have everybody in there hoping to get (Nate) Briggs and Kyler (Christensen) in there, but it didn’t work out that way.”

Chance Strough, who like both Venteichers is state-ranked, was injured and could not compete.

“Brenden, I couldn’t be happier with him. He wrestled a good tournament," Weller said about Christensen, who lost by 5-2 decision to I-35's Joey Bregar. "He did what we told him to do, it just didn’t work out in his favor either. He wrestled to the very end of the match and there was just one inch there on the (out of bounds) line makes the difference. Whether we got those two takedowns or didn’t, it asily could have gone another way.”

Nodaway Valley was led by a third-place finish by Austin Wilson at 138 and Parker Manning at 160.

"Austin showed what he is capable of and he stepped up at the right time," Nodaway Valley coach Jesse McCann said. "Hopefully the moment continues for him and he keeps working hard in the room."

Team results — 1. Interstate 35 238.5; 2. Martensdale-St. Marys 159.5; 3. Southwest Valley 123; 4. Southeast Warren 105; 5. Wayne 104; 6. Mount Ayr 98; 7. East Union 95; 8. Bedford/Lenox 77; 9. Pleasantville 75; 10. Central Decatur 60; 11. Nodaway Valley 40.

All POI final placing matches

106 — Champ: Bryce Shaha (MA) pinned Cael Cassady (MSTM) 4:40; 3rd: Cole Wimber (EU) pinned Drew Kelso (SEW) 1:50; 5th: Ben Breheny pinned Brayden Avila (SWV) 4:59.

113 — Champ: Trae Ehlen (MA) pinned Levi Parrott (EU) 3:40; 3rd: Randy Jimenez (SEW) pinned Logan Jones (CD) 5:52; 5th: Jackson Cobb (Way) dec. Tryston Palmer (I-35) 14-7.

120 — Champ: Casey Baker (I-35) dec. Cole Cassady (MSTM) 3-1; 3rd: Wyatt Dale (CD) pinned Jarryn Stephens (EU) 1:59; Trent Terrell (Way) pinned Kade Hutchings (SWV) 1:50.

126 — Champ: Teagan Lundquist (SWV) maj. dec. Dominick DiCesare (MSTM) 12-3; 3rd: Evan Woosely (I-35) pinned Briar Knapp (MA) 3:12; 5th: Wyatt Boggs (Way) inj. def. Ryan Hull (NV).

132 — Champ: Joshua Tibbits (MSTM) pinned Drew Bartels (Pville) 1:53; 3rd: Brody Nelson (I-35) dec. JT Rowe (SEW) 8-5; 5th: Dominic Nicolas (SWV) bye.

138 — Champ: Zac Willey (I-35) pinned Sherman Hayes (EU) 4:50; 3rd: Austin Wilson (NV) dec. Vincent Giarardi (MSTM) 10-6; 5th: Tanner Dierking (SEW) pinned Dakota Davis (CD) 1:53.

145 — Champ: Ethan Elliot (I-35) pinned Hunter Clark (Way) 1:46; Nate Briggs (B/L) pinned Elliot Ness (CD) 4:57; 5th: Bradley Metz (SEW) pinned Nolan Roff (Pville) 1:00.

152 — Champ: Brayden Egli (I-35) dec. Drew Venteicher (B/L) 14-7; 3rd; Hunter Cobb (Way) pinned Logan Calkins (SWV) 2:41; 5th: Caleb Minor (MSTM) pinned Greyden Henry (CD) 0:33.

160 — Champ: Jacob Steinlage (I-35) maj. dec. Marcus Daughton (MA) 14-2; 3rd: Dylan Dalton (SWV) dec. Parker Manning (NV) 7-0; 5th: Brady Langloss (Way) pinned Seth Chumbley (SEW) 3:08.

170 — Champ: TJ Dierking (SEW) dec. Drew Kirkpatrick (I-35) 7-0; 3rd: Steven Linn (MSTM) dec. Adam Walker (CD) 9-2; 5th: Merik Gaule (SWV) pinned Jordan McAlexander (MA) 0:23.

182 — Champ: Logan Schumacher (MSTM) pinned Derek Venteicher (B/L) 2:32; 3rd: Colby Page (SEW) win by DQ Mason Woosley (I-35); 5th: Dylan Steinhoff (EU) pinned Trent Newton (SWV) 1:21.

195 — Champ: Joey Bregar (I-35) dec. Brenden Christensen (B/L) 5-2; 3rd: Daniel Kenyon (Pville) pinned Brady Reese (EU) 1:34; 5th: Tallen Myers (SWV) pinned Logan Smith (Way) 3:39.

220 — Chaz Clark (Pville) maj. dec. Bryson Rhamy (SWV) 16-4; 3rd: Antonio Arzani (I-35) pinned Alan Allsup (MSTM) 1:54; 5th: Spencer Buban (Way) bye.

285 — Jake Hutton (I-35) pinned Matt Bellon (Way) 3:44; 3rd: Josh Cox (MA) pinned Andy Seals (SWV) 0:57; 5th: Matthew Kauffman (Pville) pinned Kyler Christensen (B/L) 0:53.