Panther grapplers third in Leon

LEON – Jackson Kinsella led the Panther wrestling effort Friday with a first-place finish at 170 pounds in the Dan Christensen Invite at Central Decatur High School.

Kinsella won his first round match by pin, second round by major decision, semifinal by decision and then brought home a gold medal after a 13-0 major decision win in the finals over Caden Hill of Davis County.

“Good to see him get on a roll with some offense,” said head coach Cody Downing.

As a collective unit, the Creston/Orient-Macksburg team took home third with 178 1/2 points behind only Van Meter/Earlham and MFL-Mar-Mac, which won with 218 1/2 points.

Downing thought that was right about where the Panthers should have finished as a team given the point they are at so far this season.

Garon Wurster took second for the Panthers at 132 pounds, falling in the finals to Josh Tibbits, who is highly ranked out of Martensdale-St. Marys.

“Probably the surprise of the tournament for us and we’ve been expecting to happen was Wurster at 132,” said Downing. “Unseeded, makes the finals and really dominated his way to the finals. ... That was good.”

Beau Barncastle also snagged second place at 182 pounds for the Panthers as he returns to the team after originally not participating.

“He had a really good tournament,” said Downing. “Originally he was going to graduate a semester early and join the service. ...They moved that date back and he went ahead and enrolled for classes in the second semester and joined the team. He has great leadership qualities and he really adds to the competitiveness in the room.”

Sam Chapman grabbed a pin in the late third round to solidify a third-place finish in the 195-pound weight class.

Beau Thompson (126), Kaden Bolton (120) and Andy Weis (285) all got on the medal stand with fourth place results in their respective weight classes.

“I think he just missed the finals and I would agree,” said Downing about Bolton who had dropped down to 120 pounds after starting the year at 126. “I think he thinks 20 is his spot. Just getting used to the weight. Thompson finished fourth also and he was right on the edge.”

Weis was returning to action for the Panthers and his result pleased his head coach.

“Finally got him back. He had a nice tournament finishing fourth. We’re finally getting a feel for those upper weights and how to balance the weight,” said Downing.

“We were able to get most guys in the placing rounds, which was good,” said Downing.

Creston/Orient-Macksburg sent its JV team to the Lenox Invitational where it took sixth. A full recap of that tournament can be found in Tuesday’s edition of the News Advertiser.

UP NEXT – Creston/O-M travels to Glenwood Tuesday for a quad wth the Rams, Treynor and Underwood.

Creston/Orient-Macksburg results

Team results – 1. MFL-Mar-Mac 218.5; 2. Van Meter/Earlham 192; 3. Creston/Orient-Macksburg 178.5; 4. Albia 157.5; 5. Red Oak 142; 6. Davis County 113; 7. Martensdale-St. Marys 91.5; 8. Wayne 86; 9. Mount Ayr 79.5; 10. Panorama 72; 11. Southeast Warren 67; 12. Pleasantville 62; 13. Central Decatur 60; 14. Mid-Buchanan 42; 15. Chariton 39; 16. Clarinda Academy 0.

106 – 7th place match: Justin Parson (C/O-M) wins by default, (0-2 on the day)

113 – 7th place match: Triston Barncastle (C/O-M) maj. dec. Logan Carter (AL) 14-2, (3-1 on the day)

120 – 3rd place match: Zane Dodson (VME) pinned Kaden Bolton (C/O-M) 1:17, (3-2)

126 – 3rd place match: Colby Wiederholt (VME) dec. Beau Thompson (C/O-M) 6-5, (2-2)

132 – 1st place match: Joshua Tibbits (MTSM) tech fall Garon Wurster (C/O-M) 3:48, (3-1)

138 – 5th place match: Drew Bartels (PV) pinned Keaton Street (C/O-M) 2:59, (2-3)

145 – 7th place match: Brayton Chesnut (C/O-M) dec. Zac Guerra (RO), 13-6, (3-2)

152 – Consolation quarterfinals: Devin Shall (MTSM) pinned Hayden Green (C/O-M) 3:37, (1-2)

160 – 5th place match: Tate Padilla (AL) pinned Rylan Luther (C/O-M) 4:53, (1-3)

170 – 1st place match: Jackson Kinsella (C/O-M) maj. dec. Caden Hill (DC) 13-0, (4-0)

182 – 1st place match: Carter Maynes (RO) pinned Beau Barncastle (C/O-M) 3:28, (2-1)

195 – 3rd place match: Sam Chapman (C/O-M) pinned Daniel Kinyon (PV) 5:39, (3-1)

220 – 5th place match: Colton Kinnison (RO) pinned Kendall Crawford (C/O-M) 1:16, (2-3)

285 – 3rd place match: Matthew Kauffman (PV) pinned Andy Weis (C/O-M) 2:27, (3-2)