Record nine Panthers headed to state

ATLANTIC — The depth in Creston/O-M’s wrestling lineup paid off in an undefeated dual season and a trip to the Dual State Tournament on Wednesday.

On Saturday, that depth also spelled a school record for state qualifiers.

A record nine Panthers will participate in the 16-man brackets at the Class 2A state tournament beginning 1:30 p.m. Thursday at Wells Fargo Arena. That surpasses the mark of eight Panthers from the 2004 team that placed third in the state in Class 2A, including state champion Daniel Scarberry.

Crowned district champions Saturday were Trevor Marlin (120), Spencer Wray (138), Joey Huntington (145), Chase Shiltz (160), Seth Maitlen (195), Kadon Hulett (220) and Jake Gutschenritter (285).

Going to state as district runners-up are Wyatt Thompson (138) and Tayler Pettit (170).

Bedford/Lenox is sending two wrestlers to state as district champions in fifth-ranked Jared Hensley at 113 pounds and No. 1-ranked Dusten Reed at 132.

Creston/O-M scored 162.5 points to top the 11 participating teams. Atlantic qualified only four of 12 district wrestlers but took second with 107 points. Clarinda had six state qualifiers in scoring 86 points in third place.

Returnees

Some of the Panther state contingent has experience there. Shiltz was state runner-up as a freshman at 145 pounds last year. Maitlen placed eighth last year as a sophomore. Huntington and Pettit each won a match at state a year ago.

Thompson qualified for state two years ago and ran into a loaded district field last year, as did Hulett as a freshman, losing out to two state placewinners at district.

Only four Panthers are ranked individually, and the team is still not in The Predicament’s top 10 of 2A tournament teams — the Panthers are fifth in the dual ratings — and yet it’s a team that keeps performing at an elite level when it counts.

The team’s mantra — “Gunnin’ for Gold” — pertains to a quest to end the season with championship hardware in both the dual and individual tournaments. So far, both are in play.

“I think it’s pretty impressive for this team to set the (qualifiers) record, because we’ve had some pretty talented groups come through, including the state championship and runner-up groups,” coach Darrell Frain said. “This is not a flashy group. They just come in and do their job, and it showed on the mat. A lot of these matches went just like our practice does.”

Frain said the team’s depth is a daily factor in improvement, citing the head-to-head battles between Hulett and Maitlen, who are both state-ranked, and the daily middleweight battles of qualifiers like Thompson, Wray and Huntington, along with district qualifiers Mitchel Swank and Cam Leith.

“We might have a guy who has been getting beat on in our room for two days straight,” Frain said. “You get to the third period, you better be scoring a lot of points before then, or you could be in trouble. Our guys are battling well in the third period.”

Tight matches

Indeed, there were some dramatic finishes in getting the Panther qualifier list up to nine on Saturday.

In an important heavyweight semifinal match for Gutschenritter, the only scoring was his second-period escape in a 1-0 win over Missouri Valley’s Seth Jimmerson.

Then, in the finals, he and Clarinda’s Jared DeVoe were tied 1-1 at the end of regulation, and neither wrestler scored in the first one-minute overtime period. Then came the two 30-second riding periods, and Gutschenritter was able to escape with 11 seconds left in the first one. He then rode out DeVore in the next 30 seconds to hold on for a 2-1 victory.

“He’s as athletic or more athletic on the mat than the guys are going to football at South Dakota State (DeVore) and Iowa Central (Atlantic’s Skyler Svoboda). He outscrambles those guys every time. When he rides those bigger guys, he really digs in and he’s on them hard the whole time.”

Wray fell behind 2-0 and was still tied 3-3 early in the second period before locking up Atlantic’s Austin Williamson in a fall in 2:55.

“Spencer is never out of a match and he has a chance to score on anybody,” Frain said. “He really deserves this. Every single day, even when he was ineligible the first semester, he came in and worked hard. He made other kids better because of it.”

A rival of Wray’s last year, Red Oak’s Tanner Mertz, brought a 39-7 record into the day but lost to Huntington in the 145-pound finals, 6-4. Huntington also trailed 2-0, gradually took over the lead and escaped late for the final 6-4 margin.

“If you’re going to beat Joey, it has to happen the first one or two minutes, because he will push the pace on you in the third period,” Frain said.

For the second week in a row, Maitlen had to score in overtime to defeat Clarinda’s Christian Lauritsen. He turned a single-leg shot into a double-leg takedown with two seconds left in the first one-minute overtime period for a 3-1 win.

Leith worked a third-period tilt to gain a 3-2 victory in the third place match at 152 and earn a wrestleback chance against Clarinda’s Luke Strong, who was pinned in the finals by Atlantic’s Reid Nichols. Strong snared second place with a 12-4 major decision over Leith.

“Cam took Nichols to the wire in the semis,” Frain said. “He beat a pretty good kid from Missouri Valley and had a chance there in the wrestleback.”

Pettit had to earn his spot at state through the wrestleback round, after getting pinned by Clarinda’s J.J. Clark in the finals. Pettit dominated Atlantic’s Drake Roller, winning by fall in 1:46.

“Clark is just pretty physical and got us to our back,” Frain said. “I thought Tayler would be fine in the wrestleback.”

Rated matchup

In a battle of state-ranked wrestlers, the No. 1-ranked Shiltz methodically put together a 7-2 victory over Central Decatur’s Colton Ranney (a 50-match winner) in the 160 finals.

“It wasn’t a big score, but Ranney is really good and Chase wasn’t really threatened. It was probably good for him to go out and wrestle hard for six minutes,” Frain said.

Shiltz had time to get two takedowns before winning his semifinal match in just 22 seconds.

Marlin’s continued improvement was cited by Frain as a big factor in the record-setting performance.

“Before John Harris, I’m not sure anybody would have picked him as a district champion,” Frain said. “He’s wrestling with confidence now.”

“Underneath I’m trying to stay moving and not just sit there waiting for him to do stuff,” Marlin said. “I’ve been working with Matt (Long) and working the wrists more on top, knowing more what to do on top. Just staying off my knees is a big thing.”

With nine competitors, Frain is hopeful of accumulating enough points to be a factor in the trophy race (top three). How they fare Thursday will go a long way in determining that.

“Day one is going to be huge,” Frain said. “If we can keep people going into Friday, then everybody is a match from placing and the points start racking up. You never know.”

Class 2A District

At Atlantic

Team scoring — 1. Creston/Orient-Macksburg 162.5; 2. Atlantic 107; 3. Clarinda 86; 4. Central Decatur 51; 5. Winterset 44.5; 6. Bedford/Lenox 39; 7. Kuemper Catholic 19; 8. Shenandoah 18; 9. Missouri Valley 17; 10. Red Oak 14; 11. Harlan 10.

106 — Semifinals: Logan Allen (Wint) tech fall Skylor Rice (Shen), 18-1 (5:36); Kole Hansen (Atl) major dec. Wyatt Dale (CD), 11-1. Champ: Hansen (Atl) dec. Allen (Wint), 3-0. Third: Dale (CD) pinned Rice (Shen), 3:45. Wrestleback: Allen (Atl) pinned Dale (CD), 1:02.

113 — Semifinals: Jared Hensley (B-L) tech fall Brandon Trevino (Harl), 17-1 (3:34); Carter Cox (Atl) dec. Britton Gibson (Wint), 7-2. Champ: Hensley (B-L) pinned Cox (Atl), 4:29. Third: Gibson (Wint) dec. Trevino (Harl), 9-2. No wrestleback.

120 — Semifinals: Trevor Marlin (C/O-M) major dec. Colby Sorensen (Atl), 10-0; Derek Koster (Wint) dec. Elias Shaeffer (Harl), 9-3. Champ: Marlin (C/O-M) dec. Koster (Wint), 6-0. Third: Shaeffer (Harl) pinned Sorensen (Atl), :56. No wrestleback.

126 — Semifinals: Austin Gutknecht (Clar) major dec. Marshal McDermott (Atl), 8-0; Nick Rounds (MV) major dec. Mitchel Swank (C/O-M), 10-2. Champ: Rounds (MV) dec. Gutknecht (Clar), 6-4. Third: McDermott (Atl) dec. Swank (C/O-M), 6-5. No wrestleback.

132 — Semifinals: Dusten Reed (B-L) pinned Tanner Mauk (Atl), :37; Wyatt Thompson (C/O-M) major dec. Tim Sibbel (CK), 12-1. Champ: Reed (B-L) tech fall Thompson (C/O-M), 15-0 (3:05). Third: Sibbel (CK) major dec. Mauk (Atl), 10-1. No wrestleback.

138 — Semifinals: Spencer Wray (C/O-M) pinned Jake Johnson (Shen), 5:49; Austin Williamson (Atl) dec. Jacob Jenkins (Wint), 3-2, OT. Champ: Wray (C/O-M) pinned Williamson (Atl), 2:55. Third: Johnson (Shen) dec. Jenkins (Wint), 6-2. Wrestleback: Williamson (Atl) dec. Johnson (Shen), 9-8.

145 — Semifinals: Joey Huntington (C/O-M) tech fall Jacob Koke (Harl), 15-0 (5:18); Tanner Mertz (RO) pinned Justin Smith (Wint), 5:20. Champ: Huntington (C/O-M) dec. Mertz (RO), 6-4. Third: Smith (Wint) major dec. Koke (Harl), 20-9. No wrestleback.

152 — Semifinals: Luke Strong (Clar) dec. Nathan Haynes (MV), 6-5; Reid Nichols (Atl) dec. Cameron Leith (C/O-M), 6-3. Champ: Nichols (Atl) pinned Strong (Clar), 4:59. Third: Leith (C/O-M) dec. Haynes (MV), 3-2. Wrestleback: Strong (Clar) major dec. Leith (C/O-M), 12-4.

160 — Semifinals: Chase Shiltz (C/O-M) pinned Winston Veatch (MV), :22; Colton Ranney (CD) major dec. Zac Stork (Atl), 8-0. Champ: Shiltz (C/O-M) dec. Ranney (CD), 7-2. Third: Stork (Atl) pnned Veatch (MV), 2:39. No wrestleback.

170 — Semifinals: J.J. Clark (Clar) pinned Drake Roller (Atl), 1:25; Tayler Pettit (C/O-M) pinned Zane Harvey (MV), 4:36. Champ: Clark (Clar) pinned Pettit (C/O-M), 1:06. Third: Roller (Atl) pinned Harvey (MV), 1:34. Wrestleback: Pettit (C/O-M) pinned Roller (Atl), 1:46.

182 — Semifinals: Trenton Wells (CD) dec. Travis Petersen (Atl), 9-2; Trey Stickler (Clar) pinned JD Lewis (Shen), 1:15. Champ: Wells (CD) dec. Stickler (Clar), 1-0. Third: Lewis (Shen) pinned Petersen (Atl), 6:43. No wrestleback.

195 — Semifinals: Seth Maitlen (C/O-M) pinned Aaron Johannsen (Harl), 2:48; Christian Lauritsen (Clar) dec. Keagan Hosfelt (Atl), 5-1. Champ: Maitlen (C/O-M) dec. Lauritsen (Clar), 3-1 OT. Third: Hosfelt (Atl) pinned Johannsen (Harl), 1:47. No wrestleback.

220 — Semifinals: Kadon Hulett (C/O-M) major dec. Tom Rief (MV), 8-0; Trace Carson (CD) dec. Seth Gehling (CK), 6-5 OT. Champ: Hulett (C/O-M) pinned Carson (CD), :58. Third: Gehling (CK) pinned Rief (MV), 1:34. No wrestleback.

285 — Semifinals: Jake Gutschenritter (C/O-M) dec. Seth Jimmerson (MV), 1-0; Jared DeVoe (Clar) pinned Skyler Svoboda (Atl), 3:02. Champ: Gutschenritter (C/O-M) dec. DeVoe (Clar), 1-0, OT. Third: Svoboda (Atl) pinned Jimmerson (MV), 5:17. No wrestleback.

State tournament

Thursday, 1:30 p.m.

(State rating)

113 — No. 5 Jared Hensley (B-L) vs. No. 7 Travis Pulse (Davenport Assumption).

120 — Trevor Marlin (C/O-M) vs. Freddie Seeley (Webster City).

132 — Wyatt Thompson (C/O-M) vs. No. 6 Chase Leinhard (Crestwood); No. 1 Dusten Reed (B-L) vs. Drew Davis (Independence).

138 — No. 8 Spencer Wray (C/O-M) vs. No. 7 Austin Moen (Saydel).

145 — Joey Huntington (C/O-M) vs. Zack Konz (Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley).

160 — No. 1 Chase Shiltz (C/O-M) vs. Trevor Nelson (Solon).

170 — Tayler Pettit (C/O-M) vs. No. 3 Beau Sorensen (Forest City).

195 — No. 7 Seth Maitlen (C/O-M) vs. No. 3 Zach Lamphere (Oelwein).

220 — No. 8 Kadon Hulett (C/O-M) vs. Zach Ostendorf (ADM).

285 — Jake Gutschenritter (C/O-M) vs. Colten Smolders (Sioux Center).