Bedford/Lenox, Southwest Valley find Saturday success

CORNING – Bedford/Lenox and Southwest Valley found success on the second day of the 66th annual John J. Harris Invitational Saturday.

As a team, host Southwest Valley finished in 18th place with 26 points, while Bedford/Lenox placed 10th with 61 points.

Friday, featuring a new format with 106-145 weight classes due to COVID-19 protocols, saw three Timberwolves go down in the first round.

Southwest Valley entered Friday missing one of its two ranked wrestlers, Class 1A No. 5 106 Brayden Maeder.

“Losing Brayden Maeder with (a) knee injury, didn’t even wrestle this weekend, really kind of set us back on Day 1 because our other freshmen really just had tough draws,” Southwest Valley head coach Cody Konecne said.

Tate Haffner at 132 fell to pin against Missouri Valley’s Andrew Bowman at 1:33. At 138, Ely Rodriguez fell to pin against Bedford/Lenox’s Terence Sheley at 1:44. Evan Timmerman at 145 was the last Southwest Valley wrestler to compete Friday, falling to pin at 1:47 against Mount Ayr’s Class 1A No. 8 145 Trae Ehlen.

The tournament featured a one-and-done format for this first time in the 66-year history. Haffner, Rodriguez and Timmerman were all eliminated after their first-round losses.

“Tournaments like this are really hard because there’s so many seedable kids in front of these guys,” Konecne said. “This year especially, you had to get through that first round to make it. Do I think some of them are good enough to maybe place in the top-6? Yeah. You just have to get through that first round or you have no chance.”

Three of five Southwest Valley wrestlers fell in the first round of Saturday’s session, hosting 152-285.

Kaden Jacobs (182) advanced through the first round after a bye. In the quarterfinals, he fell to pin against Winterset’s Riley Hoven to move into consolations. He recorded an 11-8 decision win over Jase Wilmes of Clarinda.

A third-period pin by Riverside’s Kaiden Hendricks sent Jacobs in the match for fifth place against Missouri Valley’s Brek Boruff. Jacobs fell to a 10-3 decision to Boruff.

Class 1A No. 3 220 Tallen Myers is returning off a meniscus injury from football. Since his return on Jan. 16, Myers was 8-0 entering Saturday’s tournament.

The success continued after a first-round bye, scoring back-to-back pins over Creston/Orient-Macksburg freshman Max Chapman at 1:41 and Riverside’s Edward Vleck at 1:32.

With the semifinal win over Vleck, Myers sent himself into the finals against Class 2A No. 3 220 Crew Howard of Clarinda. Howard scord a takedown at 1:39 before finishing the match with a pin at 1:32, putting Myers as a second-place finisher.

“It seems like there’s no physical limitation,” Konecne said on Myers’ return. “He got done with the semifinal match, and he was actually pretty excited because he felt good like last year, like state tournament time last year. He was really excited and that really excites me.”

Tiger team takes 10th

Bedford/Lenox’s 10th-place finish saw split success throughout the Friday and Saturday as one Tiger made his way to wrestle for first place.

Class 1A No. 4 285 Devin Whipple rolled through the first three rounds Saturday, not allowing a match to enter the second period.

He scored pins over Southwest Iowa’s Chance Roof, Riverside’s Nathan Messerschmidt and Clarke’s Will Smith. The three first-period pins sent Whipple to face Winterset’s Class 2A No. 6 285 Dugan Tolley.

Whipple’s longest match of the day went into overtime tied at five. Whipple scored an escape in the third period down 5-4 to tie things up. In overtime, Whipple shot for a takedown, getting ahold of one leg. He wasn’t able to finish as Tolley slipped out and finished the match on top to score a takedown with nine seconds left on the clock.

“Tolley is a tough kid. He’s had Whipple’s number the last couple years,” Bedford/Lenox coach Jared O’Riley said. “I told him after the match, I’d love to see you lose on a shot, and he defends it and scores than the other way around. I was glad to see him give it his all and take that shot there.”

One other Bedford/Lenox wrestler finished as a placewinner Saturday. Andrew Kennan at 152 made his way to the fifth-place match.

He scored a pin at 3:07 over Clarke’s Mason Fry in the first round and received a medical forfeit over Mount Ayr’s Class 1A No. 5 152 Jaydon Knight before falling to pin against Creston/Orient-Macksburg’s second-place finisher Kaden Bolton.

In consolations, Kennan lost a 2-0 decision to ACGC’s Cale Rowley, moving to a match for fifth place against Clardina’s Tyler Raybourn. He fell to pin at 5:26 against Raybourn.

Dalton Kitzman (126) and Terence Sheley (138) made their way through consolations for a chance at fifth place.

Kitzman’s first-round bye put him against eventual third-place finisher Jake Porter of Winterset. Kitzman was pinned at 3:35 to move into consolation. A 13-8 decision win over Central Decatur’s William Gillis and loss to fall against Nodaway Valley’s Ben Breheny sent Kitzman to a battle for fifth place.

Creston/Orient-Macksburg’s Brandon Briley led 7-0 in the match before scoring a pin at 3:41, giving Kitzman sixth place.

Sheley’s day saw a win over Rodriguez before facing eventual champion Kale Downey of Clarinda. A 6-0 decision loss sent Sheley into consolation where he took an 8-6 decision win over East Mill’s Tyler Prokop.

Sheley lost to Southwest Iowa’s Kyle Kesterson by disqualification and forfeit his fifth-place match to finish in sixth place.

As the final weeks remain before postseason wrestling, Bedford/Lenox is looking to find fire to make a run as a team.

“We’ve got a busy week next week. It’s Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, so we’ll get them warmed up for Sectional time,” O’Riley said. “We’ll have five days of practice right before Sectionals. They’ll be ready to go.”

UP NEXT – Southwest Valley heads to Liberty Center Tuesday to face Southeast Warren and Nodaway Valley at 6 p.m. Bedford/Lenox hosts Griswold and East Union Tuesday in Bedford at 5:30 p.m.

For complete results from Friday and Saturday’s tournament, you can click here.