Creston wins John J. Harris Tournament

CORNING — Last weekend’s 67th annual John J. Harris Tournament team title means a lot to Creston coach Cody Downing as the regular season starts to wind down and the postseason starts to ramp up.

“It means a lot to our program and our community that’s for sure,” Downing said. “It’s an important, big, tournament so [winning] it meant a lot to us.”

Creston edged Atlantic/CAM 212 to 210.

The tournament victory is Creston’s seventh since 2012.

Eight of Creston’s wrestlers made it to the semifinals of day two including Austin Evans, the top seed at 138 pounds, became the lone Creston champion.

Evans, who has pinned a very good Owen Laughlin of Shenandoah and won a major decision over teammate Creston’s Owen Henderson so far this season.

To win the John J. Harris 138 pound weight division, Evans defeated Lane Schroeder of Missouri Valley, Kahne Kibruz of Winterset, Cayden Van Meer of Panorama, and Jaxon Christensen of Nodaway Valley.

“The last two weekends he’s been great,” Downing said. “If you look his schedule that he’s wrestled this year at 138, he’s had just a meat grinder of a schedule.”

“It’s nice, it feels good to get it done,” Evans added. “Hopefully keep the train going next couple weeks to be where we want to be as a team and an indvidual.”

A quintet of other wrestlers, Justin Parsons, Christian Ahrens, Lincoln Keeler, Brandon Briley and Max Chapman placed third.

Chapman’s 7-1 decision over Atlantic/CAM’s Miles Mundorf solidified the win for the Panthers.

“You try to just say ‘Hey, go win a match, the team stuff takes care of itself.’” Downing said. “That’s what we talk about at any tournament no matter if it’s the last match or the first match. I don’t know if he knew it was coming down to that match or not, but if he did, he handled it really well.”

Chapman’s victories at the John J. Harris included pinning Michael Fuller, AC/GC, in 1:35, pinning Brock Comstock of Riverside, Oakland, in :23, pinning Samuel Daly in :47 and finishing his weekend with a 7-1 decision.

“I knew coming into this weekend that I was going to have a couple of tough kids and I knew I would have to battle,” Chapman said. “Coming off a sprained ankle, I didn’t want to use it as an excuse, so I’ve been nursing that and just trying to get back for this meet which I knew would be kind of challenging anyways.”

UP NEXT — Creston will travel to Lewis Central on Tuesday to face Harlan and Carroll in a quad.

“Three good teams with some good individuals and next Saturday at Atlantic, so, we get to do it all over again,” Downing said.

The Panthers are first in the Hawkeye 10 with an 8-0 record in conference and 17-0 overall.

“I really think you’ll see our best in two weeks,” Downing said. “If history means anything that generally when we do our best wrestling. I think when you look at this tournament to graduate the senior class we did last year and to be able to come back over win it and we have 11 guys coming back next year, I think your program is in a good spot for the next couple years.”

Small school results will be in Tuesday’s Creston News Advertiser.

Team scores

1. Creston, 212; 2. Atlantic/CAM, 210; 3. Winterset, 163; 4. Clarinda, 117; 5. Bedford/Lenox, 96; 6. Riverside, 92.5; 7. Nodaway Valley, 84; 8. Missouri Valley, 82; 9. AC/GC, 63.5; 10. Earlham, 63; 11. Southwest Valley, 58.5; 12. Red Oak, 54.5; 13. Panorama, 53; 14. Central Decatur, 47; 15. MVAOCOU, 43; 16. Clarke/Murray, 40.5; 17. Shenandoah, 38; 18. Mount Ayr, 35; 19. Tri-Center, 34; 20. Southwest Iowa, 32.5; 21. Denison-Schleswig, 32; 22. East Mills, 26; 23. Griswold, 6; 24. Des Moines North-Hoover, 2; 25. Wayne, 1.

Championship matches

106: Aiden Smith (Atlantic) pinned Kaden Whipp (Clarinda) 1:16. 113: Tegan Slaybaugh (AC/GC) pinned Brayden Maeder (Southwest Valley) 5:30;120: Jace Rose (Riverside, Oakland) pinned Payton Harger (Earlham) 2:09. 126: Ethan Follmann (Atlantic/CAM) pinned Abe Bushong (Winterset) 4:09; 132: Elliot Cooney (Nodaway Valley) maj. dec. over Easton O’Brien (Atlantic) 11-3. 138: Austin Evans (Creston) major dec. over Jaxon Christensen (Nodaway Valley) 12-2. 145: Kale Downey (Clarinda) dec. over Ryan Stortenbecker (East Mills) 8-3.152: Eduardo Garcia (Winterset) pinned Nolan Moore (Riverside, Oakland) 0:57.160: Dawson Bond (Red Oak) dec. over Logan Fairchild (Winterset) 2-0.170: Kadin Stutzman (Atlantic) major dec. over Kolby Scott (MVAOCOU) 14-0. 182: Gage Clausen (Missouri Valley) dec. over Reilly Hoven (Winterset) 3-2. 195: Jaxson Hildebrand (Denison-Schleswig) dec. Brecken Freeberg (Tri-Center Neola) 5-3. 220: Tegan Carson (Central Decatur) dec. over Cooper Andersen (Panorama) 9-5. 285: Logan Green (Clarinda) pinned Nathan Messerschmidt (Riverside, Oakland) 4:29.

Placing matches for Creston

Third place match — 106: Justin Parsons pinned Dallas Canoyer (Earlham) 1:11.

Third place match — 113: Christian Ahrens dec. over Seth Ettleman (Southwest Iowa) 4-2

Third place match —120: Lincoln Keeler dec. over Travis Allen (Winterset) 7-1.

Third place match — 126: Brandon Briley dec. over Dylan Stein (Bedford/Lenox) 8-6.

Fifth place match — 132: Trey Chesnut major dec. over Jade Spangler (Shenandoah) 10-0.

First place match — 138: Austin Evans major dec. over Jaxon Christensen (Nodaway Valley) 12-2.

Fifth place match — 145: Triston Barncastle pinned Owen Laughlin (Shenandoah) 2:44.

Third place match — 152: Brian South (Atlantic/CAM) dec. over Briley Hayes 6-2.

Fifth place match — 160: William Bolinger medical forfeit over Jayden Dickerson (Shenandoah).

Fifth place match — 195: Brenden Casey (Atlantic/CAM) major dec. over Jagger Luther 10-2.

Third place match — 220: Max Chapman dec. over Miles Mundorf (Atlantic/CAM) 7-1.

Fifth place match — 285: Quinten Fuller pinned Nathan Keiser (Atlantic/CAM) 4:41.