WRESTLING: Wolverines defend Lenox title

Nodaway Valley/OM’s boys wrestlers defended their team title from a year ago at the Lenox tournament, winning it again Saturday, Dec. 9.

The Wolverines had six wrestlers make it to the championship match with four coming out on top and two finishing second.

To add to it, it was the second week NV/OM has had solid performances from wrestlers on the back side of the tournament. That helped the Wolverines tally 215 points to finish ahead of the Indianola JV’s 208.5 in a race of 13 scoring teams.

“It was an all around good day. We only filled 12 weights but we needed all 12 guys to get it done. It was pretty close all day. We would widen the gap and then they’d catch back up,” NV/OM co-head coach Kolby Baier said. “It made for a fun day and gave everybody a reason — even the guys on the back side — to do as much as they could and get us as close as they could.”

Baier said to have strong performances from the team’s entire lineup makes “a world of difference.”

“When you can go to a tournament and have a couple of champs or a couple of finalists, it makes it a lot more fun when you also have guys going for third and are getting another chance at a match where they got beat earlier in the tournament. It’s more than just the finals, it’s fun when everyone’s going after it,” Baier said.

Ty Strode (113 pounds), Bradley Gebbie (126), 1A fourth-ranked 190-pounder Ashton Honnold (215) and ninth-ranked Trent Warner (285) were the Wolverines’ champions for the day.

Class 1A’s 11th-ranked Keyin Steeve (120) and Carmine Shaw (150) were runners-up.

This was Strode’s first Iowa tournament win and Gebbie’s first career tournament win.

“We lost a couple of close ones — Keyin lost a heck of a match with [1A ninth-ranked Brayden] Maeder from Southwest Valley. He wrestled a really good match and ended up getting put on his back, but to go two full periods with a guy like that, that was a good deal,” Baier said. Shaw lost by fall in 2:32 to Jared Rodriguez of West Central Valley.

Honnold and Warner were “top dogs” at their weights on the day, Baier said, and they accomplished what needed to be done to win it all.

Kasen Hansen was third at 138 pounds while fourth place finishes were earned by Eli Harris (144), Caleb Christensen (165), Dylan Bartles (175) and Charles Rudolf (190). Ayden Goetz also wrestled at 175 and took sixth.

Wrestlers stay perfect in dual meets

The Wolverines ran their dual record to 5-0 on the season with a 48-34 win over the Martensdale-St. Marys Blue Devils and a 60-21 victory over the Wayne Falcons Thursday in Martensdale.

In the MStM dual, which started at 165 pounds, the Wolverines got on the board with forfeits received by Charles Rudolf (190) and Honnold (215), then a pin from Warner at 285 in 1:06. Strode extended the lead with a win at 120 pounds, beating returning state qualifier Elijah Wheeldon with a pin in 1:35.

Steeve (126), Gebbie (132), Hansen (138) and Harris (144) rounded out the dual against the Blue Devils with falls — all but one of them coming in the first period.

Martensdale-St. Marys has two ranked wrestlers — the state’s fifth-ranked 157-pounder Conor Cassady and the seventh-ranked 113-pounder, Jensen Dyer. Both picked up wins against the Wolverines.

NV/OM beat the Falcons by winning four of six live matches. Christensen won at 165 with a fall in 3:44. Goetz pinned his man in 1:50 at 175. Ashton Honnold pinned his opponent in 2:18.

Moving to the lighter weights, the Wolverines got pins from Steeve (126) and Harris (144) to pull away even more.

NV/OM was scheduled to wrestle in a non-conference quad meet Tuesday at Missouri Valley with Audubon, AHSTW and Missouri Valley, before returning home for a meet Thursday that includes POI foes East Union, Mount Ayr and Wayne.

This Friday is the Pride of Iowa Conference Tournament, hosted by Southwest Valley (Corning). That meet concludes the 2023 portion of the team’s schedule.

“We have three weigh-ins this week: Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. We have a couple of tough duals, especially with Missouri Valley and Martensdale [in the conference tournament]. Those are ones where we’re going to need everybody to win,” Baier said. “This is what it’s all about. It can be a long week but it can also be a really fun week. If you go in and work hard for a couple days [in these duals] then Friday’s our conference tournament, then we’re off till after the new year. January’s a whole new year and we go for the state tournament after that.”