March 28, 2024

Creston/O-M places at DCG Invitational

Junior Varsity wins add to 'a good day for our program'

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GRIMES – An all-day Dallas Center-Grimes’ Invitational was capped off Saturday afternoon with 11 area wrestlers placing in the top-6 for Creston/Orient-Macksburg and Interstate-35.

The Panthers had seven wrestlers place in a strong performance during the teams’ third-place finish with 158 points. C/O-M trailed only Dallas Center-Grimes with 256 points and Ankeny Centennial 198 points.

Jackson Kinsella and Sam Chapman finished in first at 182 and 195, respectively. Kaden Bolton was the Panthers’ fourth place finisher at 138. Keaton Street and Austin Seaton finished fourth at 145 and 160, respectively. Justin Parsons took sixth place at the 106 pound division. Hayden Greene rounded out C/O-M with a sixth-place finsh at 170.

Things were a breeze early on for The Predicament’s Class 2A’s 182 No. 2 Kinsella and Class 2A’s 195 No. 5 Chapman. A first-round bye for Kinsella and two consecutive pins put him in the championship match without expending much energy.

In the longest match of the day, Kinsella scored an early takedown off a single leg in the first period. With the first coming to a close, he owned a 4-1 lead. Going into the second period for the first time in three matches, he ended it with a fall to take first place.

Panthers' leaders have state
aspirations

Chapman’s route mirrored Kinsella’s. A first-round bye followed by two quick pins put Chapman in the championship match. Things were a little different though as Chapman had to face I-35’s Brock Thompson in the final match of the day.

The two have battled it out before I-35 head coach Cody Swim said with Thompson being pinned. Things were a little different this time despite Swim not being completely happy with the outcome.

“We’ve just got to do a better job at pulling the trigger,” said Swim. “Brock (Thompson) started doing that today, and I think it was a closer matchup than last time.”

In a close match with neither gaining the early advantage, the match was 0-0 at the end of the first period. Things remained close throughout. With the coaches giving each wrestler guidance, Chapman gained the advantage with a near fall late in the third.

Chapman kept the lead at 6-2 in a decision win. Even though Kinsella and Chapman have an early-season win over a strong opponent, the duo of Kinsella and Chapman aren’t going to be content.

“They both have similar goals,” said Creston head coach Cody Downing. “They both want to be state champions this year. It’s a good start.”

With goals set for the top-ranked duo, the remaining Panthers made moves of their own. Street and Seaton climbed up to the semi-final match with back-to-back wins before losing. With the losses, it sent them to the match for third place.

Street struggled against Dallas Center-Grimes’ Gavin Moran. Seaton eventually fell in decision 7-1. At 160, Seaton lost to a pin in the third period at 1:10. With both dropping their final match of the day, the two each finished in fourth place to earn a spot on the podium.

Bolton took the fourth-place spot for the Panthers. A first-round bye put Bolton in a good spot to conserve energy. A pin at 2:56 put C/O-M’s 138-pound wrestler in the semi-final round, where he fell to, eventual winner, PCM’s Landon Fenton.

The loss put Bolton in a match for third-place. In a full three-period match, it was a disappointment for Bolton as he fell in an 8-2 decision.

With so many top finishes, Downing feels confident about the track his team is on early compared to last season’s start, but he continues to plan for the remainder of the year.

“What we’ve talked about as a team is we want to come in these first couple of weeks, see where we are, what we got. We’re going to sit down over Christmas break and figure out where we want to go from here,” said Downing. “I think we’re pretty close to being a good team. Definitely made some improvements over last year at this time.”

Finishing in sixth for the Panthers was Parsons. A first-round fall for Parsons put him in a good position at 106 pounds, but he couldn’t extend the quick success to the second round. After a pin at 1:05, Parsons went on a roll, winning three straight matches, decisively.

Parsons recorded a majority decision win 14-3 and then a first-period pin to put him in the match for fifth place. Ultimately, Parsons couldn’t finish the day out on top. Ankeny Christian’s Cael Wiener pinned Parsons at 0:53 to put him in sixth place.

Greene took the final spot on the podium for C/O-M. He started with a bye in the first round but fell to pin to put himself on the opposite side of the bracket.

Back-to-back falls against Carroll’s Nate Beyerink and Des Moines East’s Zach Truitt, put Greene in the match for fifth-place. It was a close contest throughout the match. At the end of the first period, it was 0-0 with neither gaining a clear advantage. A reversal at 0:40 gave Greene a 2-1 lead, but it wouldn’t be enough.

A third-period escape for Urbandale’s Mason Sherwood sent the match into overtime. Sherwood took the final points at 0:35 to take a 4-2 decision win.

Downing isn’t completely satisfied with the finish as he hopes that will be passed on to his team.

“Everything is perspective. I want more,” said Downing. “I want to be first, second place. Last year we were walking out of here in 10th. … No finalists, no champs, so compared to last year, I’m happy with where we’re at. It’s time to be greedy sometimes. Sometimes you want first or second, but all things considered, we’ll move on from here and move forward.”

Junior Varsity wins add to ‘a good day for our program’

GREENFIELD – Creston/Orient-Macksburg’s junior varsity competed in the Coach Riley Invitational Saturday and finished with five wrestlers on the podium.

Brayton Chesnut (138) and Aidan Anderson (145) both finished second place. Chris Aragon took fourth place at 152, Owen Henderson finished in fifth place at 120 and Ty Morrison rounded out the place winners with sixth-place at 160.

Chesnut recorded back-to-back pins leading up to the first-place match.

Things were tight after the first period with Mount Ayr’s Trae Ehlen taking a 2-0 lead off of a takedown, but things started to go down hill after that. An escape, takedown and three point near fall in the second period extended Ehlen’s lead to 8-0. A takedown in the third period sealed the deal at 10-0, and Chesnut finished in second place.

Anderson’s route to the finals was similar, recording two consecutive falls to face Mount Ayr’s Jaydon Knight. Anderson’s match mirrored his teammate Chesnut’s. He was down 2-0 after the first and things became extremely difficult after a slow second period.

Now down 4-0 in the third period, Anderson was making up ground after a takedown put him down 4-2, but an escape and penalty gave Knight the 6-2 lead. That was all Knight needed en route to a 6-2 win.

Chris Aragon got the revenge for the Panthers during his defeat over Mount Ayr’s Keaton White in the first round, but Aragon lost an 11-5 decision in the quarterfinals that sent him to the match for third place.

Clarke’s Coel Reece scored quick takedown, but Aragon scored a reversal that led to a takedown, giving him the fifth spot at 152.

Owen Henderson fell in his first-round match, but had a bye to put him a match for fifth place. After being taken down by Bedford/Lenox’s Chance Valenzuela, Henderson scored a reversal and won with a fall at 1:21 to secure fifth place.

Ty Morrison finished in sixth place behind a win by fall in the opening round and injury time. In the fifth place matchup, Morrison struggled with Bedford/Lenox’s Andrew Kennan.

With a quick takedown and five points off near fall, Morrison couldn’t do enough to get out of the tough situation and ultimately fell at 1:59 to take sixth place and round out the Panther place winners.

Despite being at Dallas Center-Grimes, head coach Cody Downing heard the news through the grapevine and was pleased with the performance from his teams.

“We had a couple guys in the finals, several place winners so overall a pretty good day for our program in general,” Downing said.

Assistant coach kruz Adamson was equally appreciative of the work his team put in at the tournament.

“It was a great day for the guys, and I was super proud of them,” Adamson said.

UP NEXT – C/O-M travels to Red Oak for a dual meet Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.