Panthers take third at Riverside

OAKLAND – In a loaded field of 17 teams, the Creston/O-M grapplers placed third as a team and went home with one individual winner at the Riverside Invitational Saturday.

The Panthers tallied 178 points, behind second-place’s Papillion-La Vista of Nebraska (186) and champion Logan Magnolia’s 228.5 points.

The top-3 finish for the Panthers was something they were happy with, feeling there were a lot of opportunities to improve on throughout the day.

“I told myself we were top three at the beginning of the day, and I would be happy if that’s where we end up, but I thought we left a lot of points on the table,” said Creston/O-M head coach Cody Downing. “We had a couple of guys that really struggled today. I don’t know if it was just an off day for a few weight classes, ... we had a terrible second round and when you lose second round you can’t come back for third or fourth. ... That cost us a lot.”

The Panthers had multiple wrestlers battle in a fifth place match. Garon Wurster and Owen Henderson both found their ways to the podium, Wurster winning on injury time and Henderson picking up a pin at 1:06. Hayden Green (170) had a fifth place win over Javyn Bladt of Audubon (2:52).

At 106, Justin Parsons also found a podium spot for fifth, battling his way to a pin over Lathrop’s Deon Turner in the second period at 3:40. Falling short of fifth place was Triston Barncastle, who fell in a technical fall to Daniel Rangel-Kramp (15-0).

Other Panther wrestlers to fall in a fifth place match were Aidan Anderson, who was pinned in 1:42 by Riverside’s Rhett Bentley, Austin Seaton by pin in 1:23, Andy Weis (220) by pin in 0:49 and Chris Wilson (285) in a decision loss (4-0).

Downing was satisfied in the fight the guys had wrestling against a field that included 40 ranked wrestlers, including teams from Nebraska and Missouri.

“Overall, they fought back hard and a lot of guys could have quit (but didn’t). A lot of guys could have not placed at all, so they came back and got fifth,” Downing said.

But, despite the satisfaction in seeing his boys battle for fifth, Downing expressed his disappointment with some of his team.

“To be honest, I’m a little disappointed with a few of the weights,” said Downing. “... When we wrestle competition that we’re better than, we were stepping up and when we faced guys that we were equal or better, we weren’t as aggressive and didn’t handle the moment as well. Some guys did and some didn’t, but it was kind of an average day for some people.”

Those who rose up to the occasion on the right side of the bracket were Class 2A 182 No. 2 Jackson Kinsella, who took his individual class over West Sioux’s Carson Lynott (Class 1A 182 No. 6). The match pushed Kinsella to go the distance, hanging on by a point in an 8-7 decision where Lynott nearly had an opportunity to steal the match from Kinsella late.

“Good for Jackson to get a full six minute competitive match. That’s a state tournament-type wrestler (Lynott). Good for him to get pushed,” said Downing. “The kid had kind of an unorthodox type style that it was good for Jackson to fight through. He was really trying to catch Jackson out of position and he wasn’t really forcing anything.”

For Sam Chapman, his match also came down to the final seconds with him on the losing end. A takedown by Lathrop’s Dorian Walters for two points was the go-ahead score leading to Chapman’s second place finish.

“I really felt like (Walters) was just hanging back and waiting for Sam to make a mistake,” said Downing. “Sam, I’ll give him credit, was being aggressive late and it just didn’t get deep enough on his shot and ended up getting taken down late. Good for both of them (Kinsella and Chapman) to get pushed six minutes hard. Now, we’ve got to go back and fix some mistakes.”

Downing understands the depth of the tournament and the amount of talent present under one roof and is excited to see how some of his wrestlers battle against other competition later on in the season.

“Beau Thompson, he had a deep weight class and I’ll be anxious to see how he wrestles some guys later on in the season,” said Downing. “Same thing with Kaden Bolton. Garon Wurster, he loses a match then comes back and tears everybody up for fifth. I think he got away from the stuff that was working in his loss, and that’s the stuff we have to fix. The same mentality no matter the opponent.”

Thompson (126) wrestled his way to an eighth place finish by falling in the seventh place match. Bolton (138) placed seventh, wrestling to an 8-3 decision victory over Garrison Gettler of AHSTW on the left side of the bracket.

UP NEXT – Creston/O-M will next be in action at home for its first home dual of the season Tuesday night. The Panthers will face Glenwood and Treynor starting at 5:30 p.m.

106 – 1. Mikey Baker (West Sioux) pinned Tyler Durden (Papillion-La Vista) 0:50; 3. Gage Schottel (Savannah) maj. dec. over Jacob Downey (Logan-Magnolia) 11-3; 5. Justin Parsons (Creston/O-M) pinned Deon Turner (Lathrop) 3:40.

113 –1. Sean Thompson (Lo-Ma) pinned Mick Shroder (Riverside) 0:49; 3. Cam Ralston (PLV) by dec. over Hayden Fischer (6-3); 5. Owen Hendersen (C/O-M) pinned Zach Biggerstaff (East Mills) 1:06.

120 – 1. Wyatt Reisz (Lo-Ma) by dec. over Jace Rose (Riverside) 5-3; 3. Chance Phillips (Sav.) pinned Drayven Kraft (West Sioux) 5:32; 5. Gabe Gilgen (West Harrison) by dec. over Kenny Needham (PLV) 5-2.

126 – 1. Adam Allard (West Sioux) by dec. over Hagen Heistand (Lo-Ma) 3-1; 3. Seth Danker (ACGC) pinned Brodyn Wray (East Mills) 0:55; 5. Daniel Rangel-Kramp (PLV) tec. fall over Triston Barncastle (C/O-M) 15-0.

132 – 1. Cullen Koedam (West Sioux) by dec. over John Enzolera (PLV) 6-0; 3. Gunnar Larsen (ACGC) by dec. over Brady Thompson (Lo-Ma) 7-0; 5. Garon Wurster (C/O-M) inj. time Ryan Stortenbecker (East Mills) 5:40.

138 – 1. Stone Sindelar (PLV) maj. dec. over Drystin Dotson (Lathrop) 9-0; 3. Nolan Moore (Riverside) forfeit over Carter Andreason (ACGC); 5. Michael Jones (Pekin) pinned Cayden Jensen (ACGC) 4:54.

145 – 1. Andrew Beane (Lathrop) pinned Bryce Hudnut (Lo-Ma) 5:33; 3. Brayton Chesnut (C/O-M) pinned Cale Rowley (ACGC) 1:46; 5. Rhett Bentley (Riverside) pinned Aidan Anderson (C/O-M) 1:42.

152 – 1. Briar Reisz (Lo-Ma) over Alex Iriszarry (PLV) TB-1 9-8; 3. Jaedan Rasmussen (AHSTW) by dec. Cael Baker (Pekin) 5-4; 5. Jackson Wray (East Mills) by dec. Briley Hayes (C/O-M) 8-4.

160 – 1. Tyler Paul (Lathrop) pinned Denver Pauley (AHSTW) 2:09; 3. Jack Nelson (Woodbine) pinned Seth Salker (West Sioux) 2:48; 5. Austin Kremkoski (Riverside) pinned Austin Seaton (C/O-M) 1:23.

170 – 1. Cade Schendt (PLV) by dec. Brody Gordon (EM) 9-6; 3. Tanner Dallinghaus (Lathrop) pinned Bryan Hernandez (West Sioux) 2:31; 5. Hayden Green (C/O-M) pinned Javyn Baldt (Audubon) 2:52.

182 – 1. Jackson Kinsella (C/O-M) by dec. Carson Lynott (West Sioux) 8-7; 3. Cole Rindour (Clarinda) by dec. Gabriel Hummer (Sav.) 4-0; 5. Jakob Childs (Clarinda) by dec. over Avery Martin (Shen.) 3-2.

195 – 1. Dorian Walters (Lathrop) by dec. Sam Chapman (C/O-M) 3-1; 3. Kyler Bak (West Sioux) pinned Gavyn Fischer (AHSTW) 0:37; 5. Jess Gilse (Sav.) pinned Edwart Vleck (Riverside) 1:16.

220 – 1. Rex Johnston (Lo-Ma) pinned Mason Juhl (Pekin) 2:42; 3. Tyler Robinson (PLV) pinned Luke Mosinksi (Audubon) 1:51; 5. Anthony Sperry (Lathrop) pinned Andy Weis (C/O-M) 0:49.

285 – 1. Barrett Pitt (Lo-Ma) pinned Cole Leonard (Lo-Ma) 3:13; 3. Jarod McGregor (Clarinda) pinned Andrew Jackson (East Mills) 2:18; 5. Drake Chisam (Lathrop) by dec. Chris Wilson (C/O-M) 4-0.