North country warriors

HUMBOLDT — The Creston wrestling team enters the holiday break coming off an impressive performance during a weekend trip to northern Iowa.

The Panthers remain perfect so far in the 2021-22 season, standing 10-0 in duals with team championships in all three tournaments the varsity squad has entered at Dallas Center-Grimes, Riverside and Fort Dodge.

The Panthers’ depth — all 14 wrestlers in the lineup have records of .500 or better going into the break — paid off again Saturday as Creston edged Class 3A power Ankeny Centennial for the team title at the Don Miller Invitational in Fort Dodge, 195.5 to 191. Webster City, like Creston a 2A team in a field of some strong 3A teams, took third place ahead of the host Dodgers, who had won their own tourney the previous four years.

Every Creston varsity wrestler placed in the top six Saturday, including 145-pound champion Triston Barncastle. Also making the finals were Lincoln Keeler (120), Brandon Briley in his debut at 126 pounds and Max Chapman at 220 pounds.

The previous week, Creston won the Riverside title with no individual champions. Doing it with just one champ on Saturday was again credit to the team’s ability to score from each weight class.

“With all 14 in the top six, that balance is what won it,” coach Cody Downing said. “That’s what we are this year. The key was, nobody gave up after they got knocked off. We had guys fight back and win out to get fifth place, or take third after losing in the semis. Coming back strong after a loss is what you have to do for the team to be successful.”

Barncastle improved to 16-3 for the season with two bonus point wins by a fall and major decision on his way to the finals, where he outscored Drew Dunn of Centennial, 11-7. (That was one of several pivotal Creston-Centennial matchups.)

Barncastle, who doesn’t plan to have a knee injury repaired until after the wrestling season, said was disappointed with his fourth place finish at Riverside one week earlier.

“I got tired of losing, I guess,” he said smiling after the team championship was announced. “Today it was just staying in good position, pushing the pace. In that last match I knew he was gassed a little. I could feel it.”

Downing said his senior returning state placewinner is learning how to adjust to the injury, which is wrapped in a brace during competition.

“Barncastle is learning what he can and can’t do with his knee,” Downing said. “You have to remember, he’s wrestling with a torn ACL. That speaks volumes to what type of toughness he has. He just wrestles hard.”

Third-period wrestling was a key all day for Creston, inclduing a semifinal takedown at the buzzer by Keeler to win in the semifinals, and a late semifinal pin by Briley.

Victory at Humboldt

Saturday’s performance was followed by more competition just 20 hours later in the dual meet at Humboldt. The 1:30 p.m. dual was a preliminary match to the Iowa State vs. Purdue dual meet arranged in the high school gym at 5 p.m because both head coaches — Iowa State’s Kevin Dresser and Purdue’s Tony Ersland — are former state champions from Humboldt. (ISU won that dual, 23-13, with the Creston team among the crowd of 1,500.)

Creston, ranked fifth in Class 2A, defeated the 13th-ranked Wildcats, 40-24. The meet started at 126 pounds and the Wildcats moved out to a 9-3 lead before Creston won eight of the next 10 matches. Creston won by fall in four matches along with one major decision, and lost by fall three times.

“You never like to get pinned, but we did enough to give ourselves a little leeway,” Downing said. “I told the guys, a win is a win. The depth in our lineup gives us a little bit of an edge.”

Some close matches went Creston’s way in the end. Briley Hayes won a 1-0 decision at 152 pounds. Jagger Luther won 5-1 after the 195-pound match was still locked at 0-0 after two periods. Trey Chesnut finished strong in a 10-6 win. Ty Morrison trailed 2-0 early and won by fall. Austin Evans kept his 138-pound match close against a state placewinner after losing by technical fall to the same wrestler on Saturday.

There were many positive signs as the Panthers prepare for the second half of the season, Downing said.

“This was a great experience for the guys, and one reason I wanted to do this weekend is that we had to do a two-day weigh-in, because that’s what you have to do at state,” Downing said. “Today’s meet was like a regional dual, a single dual in front of a noisy crowd against a good team. It was good for us.”

Creston jumps right back into a key dual quadrangular on Jan. 6 at Clarinda against the Cardinals (coached by Creston graduates Jared and Collin Bevins) along with St. Albert and Carroll Kuemper. Clarinda, like Creston, is undefeated in Hawkeye Ten duals after recently knocking off Harlan to improve to 7-0 overall and 4-0 in the conference. Creston is 10-0 and 3-0.

Don Miller Invitational

Team scoring — 1. Creston 195.5; 2. Ankeny Centennial 191; 3. Webster City 177; 4. Fort Dodge 160; 5. Emmetsburg 141; 6. Humboldt 125; 7. Decorah 79.5; 8. Mason City 68; 9. Spirit Lake Park 66; 10. Storm Lake 59; 11. Lewis Central 52; 12. Sioux City East 7.

Creston placings, record and team points:

106 — 3. Justin Parsons (14-4), 17 points. 113 — 3. Christian Ahrens (14-4), 13 points. 120 — 2. Lincoln Keeler 13-4), 18 points. 126 — 2. Brandon Briley (9-5), 20 points. 132 — 5. Trey Chesnut 12-7), 7 points. 138 — 4. Austin Evans 12-6), 11 points. 145 — 1. Triston Barncastle (16-3), 25 points.

152 — 4. Briley Hayes (8-8), 11 points. 160 — 4. Brennan Hayes (11-8), 11 points. 170 — 6. Kaden Street (12-7), 7 points. 182 — 5. Ty Morrison (14-8), 11.5 points. 195 — 5. Jagger Luther (13-5), 9 points. 220 — 2. Max Chapman (13-5), 22 points. 285 — 5. Chris Wilson (13-7), 13 points.

Other Panthers wrestling unattached to team points:

126 — 6. Milo Staver (3-2), 13 points. 145 — Carson Rieck (0-2) 0-2 with a bye. 145 — 6. Chris Aragon (3-2), 9 points. 182 — Austin Seaton (2-2) 2-2, 7 points. 285 —Andre Davis (0-2) 0-2 with a bye. Girls 191 (round robin) — 3. Savannah Sistad 1-2

Creston 40, Humboldt 24

126 — Jayden Gargano (H) pinned Brandon Briley (Cr), 2:24. 132 — Trey Chesnut (Cr) dec. Dusty Pate (H), 10-6. 138 — Jase Goodell (H) dec. Austin Evans (Cr), 6-4; 145 — Triston Barncastle (Cr) pinned Sayn Feaster (H), 1:38; 152 — Briley Hayes (Cr) dec. Ty Gargano (H), 1-0; 160 — Joe Weydert (H) pinned Brennan Hayes (Cr), :20; 170 — Kaden Street (Cr) major dec. Landon Halverson (H), 17-3.

182 — Ty Morrison (Cr) pinned Christian Alcala (H), 5:08; 195 — Jagger Luther (Cr) dec. Christian Lee (H), 5-1; 220 — Max Chapman (Cr) dec. Tanner McKimmey (H), 9-2; 285 — Chris Wilson (Cr) pinned Tayeton Lohaus (H), 1:51; 106 — Cyler Cirks (H) dec. Justin Parsons (Cr), 7-0. 113 — Christian Ahrens (Cr) pinned Owen Mayall (H), 2:33; 120 — Tyce Clarken (H) pinned LIncoln Keeler (Cr), 2:50.

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