March 29, 2024

Three area champs at John J. Harris Invite

Kinsella, Shaha and Venteicher headline area performances

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CORNING – With two wins over two opponents ranked in the top 10 by The Predicament, Jackson Kinsella picked up a John J. Harris Invitational title at 170 pounds.

Typically a two-day event, the historic wrestling tournament in Corning was shorten to one full-fledged afternoon in which Creston/Orient-Macksburg finished in fourth as a team.

Kinsella’s win headlined results for the Panthers while Beau Barncastle was the other Panther with a shot at a title at 182 pounds, but fell by 8-3 decision in the first place match.

The junior 170-pound wrestler defeated both Class 2A No. 6 Carter Maynes of Red Oak (4-2 decision) in the semifinals and Class 1A No. 3 Nick Haynes of Missouri Valley (4-3 decision) to take home the bracket.

The first place match saw Kinsella ditch the mask he has worn all season to protect against facial injuries and still pick up a win.

“I was nervous about him taking it off, ... but he was able to battle through it with his competitive nature and I think he could taste the win was really close,” said Panther head coach Cody Downing.

Kaden Bolton, Beau Thompson, Garon Wurster and Rylan Luther all finished in fourth place for Creston/O-M.

Trevor Kinyon was the other Panther grappler to end up on the podium with a fifth place finish at 220 pounds with a first round pin of AC/GC’s Gage Buttler.

Downing had a lot of positive takeaways from the long day Saturday and noted that Creston/O-M needs to get healthy down the final stretch of the season.

Sam Chapman didn’t wrestle at 195 after sustaining a minor injury in practice earlier in the week and the Panthers lost Keaton Street, who suffered a leg injury in the consolation semifinals that held him out of action the rest of the day.

“If we had a healthy lineup we we’re probably the second best team here,” said Downing. “I just wanted to go battle and let the team thing take care of itself.”

The Panthers took fourth as a squad with 120.5 points. Atlantic/CAM won the meet with 224.5.

Venteicher grabs area title

Drew Venteicher of Bedford/Lenox was another area wrestler to pick up a title in the 17-team field, taking home first place at 160 pounds with a 9-8 decision win over Class 2A No. 6 Justin McCunn of Red Oak.

Venteicher snagged another impressive victory over Class 1A No. 6 Bryson Freeberg of Tri-Center in the semifinals, who was sporting a 34-2 record this season.

The junior wrestler jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first period after a takedown and nearfall points and held on the rest of the way.

“Coming back today (Saturday) we’ve been working on some things and Drew was ready to go,” said B/L head coach Derek Weller. “ ... That’s good for Drew. We want to be peaking heading into the postseason.”

The Tigers’ other placewinner was freshman Devin Whipple, who continues to impress his coaching staff after a fourth place finish as a heavyweight wrestler.

Whipple lost in the semifinals by a 9-3 decision to Class 1A No. 3 Arron Olson of Missouri Valley.

“As a freshman that’s something to be proud of,” said Weller.

Shaha earns first for Raiders

Bryce Shaha kept his record at just two losses with three wins that led him to a 113-pound crown.

All three wins came by decision for the Class 1A No. 8 wrestler, but bringing home the title was a nice addition for the Mount Ayr team.

“We brought six guys and had four placewinners so I was pretty happy with that,” said Mount Ayr co-head coach Eric Ehlen. “(Shaha) has been working hard. ... He’s solid every time.”

Mount Ayr finished in 10th as a team.

Josh Cox and Trae Ehlen finished in second and third, respectively, as Cox lost in a tiebreaker at his heavyweight slot.

Ehlen fell by pin to the eventual runner-up, Atlantic’s Steele McLaren, before besting C/O-M’s Thompson by major decision in the consolation finals.

Jarrett Webb was also able to secure sixth place at 106 pounds.’

Cooney just misses continuing unbeaten run

Elliot Cooney of Nodaway Valley had yet to lose this season before his 106-pound finals match against Class 1A No. 10 Jace Rose of Riverside.

Cooney and Rose traded reversal points through the first two rounds before the high scoring contest ended with a Rose pin late in the third round.

“I wanted him to win that one,” said head coach Jesse McCann. “More than anything we haven’t wrestled some tough kids yet so it was good that he had a tough kid to see what we needed to work on.”

The Wolverines have gained even more strength to their lineup with the return over Jevin and Jory Christensen at 126 and 220 pounds, respectively.

Jory Christensen placed third after a late second round win by fall over Southwest Valley’s Tallen Myers. Trevor Flettre also picked up a fifth place finish at 170 while Caelen DeVault took sixth at 132 pounds.

Regaining the two have been a luxury for McCann.

“(Jory’s) wrestled really hard,” said McCann. “It’s nice to have them on the team and back and healthy and they’re tough kids.”

SWV finished well at home tourney

Head coach Cody Konecne had almost nothing but quality things to say about his program after the shorten John J. Harris Invite.

“I think we did better than expected. I don’t think we were in a top 10 situation to start with,” said Konecne.

The Timberwolves had four placewinners led by Teagan Lundquist, who took second at 138 pounds.

Konecne thinks that Lundquist was battling not only with his opponent, but just to be 100 percent after dealing with illness prior in the week.

Bryson Rhamy snagged a third place finish after pinning an Atlantic opponent in the third round of the consolation finals while Myers and Dalton Calkins received fourth and fifth, respectively, at their weight classes.

“(Rhamy) He was getting the flu about a week ago so to have little left in the tank and have circumstantial loss, ... I thought it was good,” said Konecne.

Results

Team results – 1. Atlantic 224.5; 2. Missouri Valley 149.5; 3. Winterset 135; 4. Creston/Orient-Macksburg 120.5; 5. AC/GC 120; 6. Red Oak 109; 7. Clarinda 98; 8. Riverside 76.5; 9. Southwest Valley 67.5; 10. Mount Ayr 66; 11. Nodaway Valley 63; 12. Tri-Center 58; 13. Bedford/Lenox 50; 14. East Mills 29; 15. Griswold 26; 16. Shenandoah 14; 17. Clarinda Academy 0

106 – 1st place match: Jace Rose (Rive) pinned Elliot Cooney (NV) 5:13; 5th place match: Tyler Halloran (Clar) pinned Jarrett Webb (MA) 1:15

113 – 1st place match: Bryce Shaha (MA) dec. Aybren Moore (Atl) 10-7; Ben Breheny (NV) 0-2

120 – 3rd place match: Connor Attkisson (TC) pinned Kaden Bolton (C/O-M) 1:53; 5th place match: Connor Fitzgerald (B/L) dec. Zavier Trovato (MOV) 7-0; Jaxon Christensen (NV) 0-2

126 – 3rd place match: Trae Ehlen (MA) maj. dec. Beau Thompson (C/O-M) 11-0; Jevin Christensen (NV) 0-2

132 – 3rd place match: Gabriel Smith (Rive) dec. Garon Wurster (C/O-M) 10-4; 5th place match: Fred Veatch (MOV) pinned Caelen DeVault (NV) 1:35; Quentin Gregg (MA) 1-2

138 – 1st place match: Chase McLaren (Atl) maj. dec. Teagan Lundquist (SWV) 9-1; 5th place match: Eric McIlnay (MOV) inj. time Keaton Street (C/O-M)

145 – Brayton Chesnut (C/O-M) 1-2; Brendan Knapp (SWV) 0-1; Trey Hill (B/L) 1-2

152 – 3rd place match: Tyler Brown (Wint) pinned Rylan Luther (C/O-M) 0:31; 5th place match: Austin Wilson (NV) dec. Brecken Freeberg (TC) 7-3; Steve Rodriguez (SWV) 0-1

160 – 1st place match: Drew Venteicher (B/L) dec. Justin McCunn (RO) 9-8; Matthew Borha (C/O-M) 0-1; Tyler Breheny (NV) 0-1; Mathew Johnston (SWV) 0-1

170 – 1st place match: Jackson Kinsella (C/O-M) dec. Nick Haynes (MOV) 4-3; 5th place match: Trevor Flettre (NV) pinned Brody Gordon (EM) 1:18

182 – 1st place match: Hunter McMann (RO) dec. Beau Barncastle (C/O-M) 8-3; Kale Haffner (SWV) 0-1; Kooper Brown (NV) 0-1

195 – 3rd place match: Bryson Rhamy (SWV) pinned Sam Martin (Atl) 5:24; Jeffrey Ressler (NV) 0-2

220 – 3rd place match: Jory Christensen (NV) pinned Tallen Myers (SWV) 3:56; 5th place match: Trevor Kinyon (C/O-M) pinned Gage Buttler (AC/GC) 0:54; Chance Strough (B/L) 0-2

285 – 1st place match: Arron Olson (MOV) TB-1 Josh Cox (MA) 2-1; 3rd place match: Storm Howard (Cla) pinned Devin Whipple (B/L) 3:45; 5th place match: Dalton Calkins (SWV) dec. Liam Mahoney (RO) 5-3.