Atlantic takes the crown at John J. Harris

CORNING — Though most of the nation was experiencing a blast of cold last weekend, the gyms were warm Friday and Saturday in Corning as Southwest Valley hosted the annual John J. Harris wrestling tournament.

Twenty-two teams competed, but it was Atlantic who came home with the gold, scoring 230.5 team points. Ranked No. 7 in Class 1A, Riverside, Oakland placed second with 209 points.

Leading area performances were Nodaway Valley (115.5) in sixth, and Creston (101) in seventh.

The host team finished 11th with 73 points, Clarke placed 15th with 33, Mount Ayr 16th with 30 and Lenox 17th with 25.

Finalists

Six area athletes competed for titles with four taking silver and two earning the gold.

Nodaway Valley’s Caleb Christensen (190) and Ashton Honnold (285), both 40-0 this season, won their weight classes.

Creston had two second-place finishers — Kylen Parsons (126) and Gunner Martwick (285).

“For Gunner to be in the finals and have a chance to wear the gold singlet is always a good thing at that tournament,” Creston coach Cody Downing said.

Martwick (30-11) pinned his first two opponents to reach the semifinals. There he defeated AC-GC’s Jack Sheeder in a tech fall to advance to the finals. That match was also Martwick’s 100th career win. In the finals, he faced Honnold who won in a tech fall.

Creston senior Gunner Martwick’s semifinals win was his 100th career victory. He went on to place second. (CNA photo by CHEYENNE ROCHE)

Parsons came in as the four seed at 126, and Downing said his performance was a nice surprise.

“That was probably one of the highlights of the weekend,” Downing said. “It’s good to see Kylen in the finals.”

In the championship bout, Parsons had a rematch with Kingston Carrigan of Riverside, Oakland. Carrigan came out on top with a 19-3 tech fall.

“I know the score wouldn’t indicate it, but that was a match that was 4-3 at our tournament, and I really thought Kylen had a really good chance to win it,” Downing said. “We just dug a hole early in the first period and couldn’t recover. Those are the things we need ot really fine tune in the next couple of weeks because I think Kylen could go on a little run here and be in the state tournament.”

At 113, Southwest Valley’s Degan Farwell (27-11) pinned two opponents on his way to the finals.

There he faced Sebastian Brooks (29-4) of Winterset. Brooks came away with the victory in a 42 second pin.

Gavin Wetzel (36-8) of Southwest Valley was the team’s other finalist after pinning his first two opponents and defeating Laramie Stoaks of Lenox in a 2-0 decision in the 175-pound semifinals.

In the finals, Wetzel was defeated in a narrow 4-2 decision by Wayne’s Austin Henderson (39-6).

Creston medalists

Three other Panthers earned spots in placement matches, two in the third-place bout and one in the fifth-place contest.

At 138 pounds, Lane Travis (34-8) came in the two seed. In the semifinals, he was down to Max Pollock of Wayne, making some risky moves in an attempt to come back. Polluck ended up winning in a 3:04 pin.

A 10-3 decision over Ty Ganzer of AC-GC put Travis in the third-place match against Luke Schroeder of Missouri Valley. Travis was defeated in a late pin.

“138 has been loaded the last couple weekends,” coach Cody Downing said. “He was ahead in the third and fourth place match.”

That match went scoreless in the first period. In the second, Travis escaped for a point.

In the third period, Schroeder earned a point for the escape, tying up the bout with 1:29 left to wrestle.

With 35 seconds left, Schroeder scored on a takedown and was able to come away with a pin at 5:43.

“If it comes down to conditioning or energy or heart, Lane’s always going to have a chance,” Downing said. “We’ve just got some things to work on. We’ve got to wrestle like we did at the beginning of the year.”

The Panthers are thrilled to have senior Jackson Pettegrew back in the lineup. He wasted no time finding the wins this weekend, going 4-2 in the tournament. Both losses were to Tyler Babe of Shenandoah.

Babe won with an 11-6 decision in the quarterfinals, sending Pettegrew to the consolation rounds where he pinned Atlantic’s Callan Kluever and AC-GC’s Brandon Carlson. In the consolation semis, Pettegrew defeated Laramie Stoaks of Lenox 4-2 to earn a spot in the third-place bout.

There it was a rematch with Babe. This time Pettegrew was pinned in the second period, giving him a fourth-place finish.

“He’s a senior; he’s put in the time,” Downing said. “We just bumped our lineup around, and his teammates are glad to have him back.”

The Panthers’ final medalist was Brodrick Phelps who took sixth.

Brodrick Phelps works Kason Calhoun of CAM before winning in a 4:33 pin. Phelps went on to place sixth at 144. (CNA photo by CHEYENNE ROCHE)

Phelps pinned his first opponent but was defeated by Jack Branan of Riverside, Oakland in the quarterfinals.

He won two consolation rounds to make it to the consolation semifinals where Charlie Christensen of AC-GC won in a 2:53 pin.

In the fifth-place match, Phelps ended up medically forfeiting with a shoulder injury.

“Brodrick was a little dinged up,” Downing said. “We’ll see what [Monday’s] practice looks like. He’s just banged up. We need a week of us getting healthy, and we’ll see what Thursday and Saturday look like.”

Colby Brammer, Jose Avila and Tom Mikkelsen were each a match away from placing at their weight classes.

At 150, Brammer was 2-2, falling to Dayton Gusman of Red Oak in his final round.

Avila won his two bouts in a pin and a technical fall, but lost in the quarterfinals to Jayden Harter of Atlantic. In his final bout, Avila was pinned by Lane Stringer of AC-GC.