Iola wrestler Seth Sanford places third, coach to HOF

BURLINGTON — Iola High’s coach Jason Bates and the wrestling team made its way to Bates’ alma mater of Burlington High School on Saturday.
It wasn’t Iola’s strongest outing as a team, scoring 28 points and finishing in 17th place out of 21 teams. However, individually, the team had some high points — including coach Bates.
Bates was inducted into Burlington’s Hall of Fame after the tournament ended. He was humble about his accomplishments, but spoke about how Burlington helped him do what he loves for most of his life.
“I’ve been a part of this program for quite a while. I grew up here and wrestled in the kids’ club and high school,” Bates said. “After I was done wrestling in college, I came back and coached kids’ club for the past eight or nine years now. It’s been a lot of fun and a great experience, which got me started out coaching.”
Iola’s Seth Sanford finished third place in the 195-pound division, his highest placing of the season. Sanford beat Cherryvale’s Austin Schrimsher by pinning him at the 2:45 mark.
In the quarterfinal match against Wellsville’s Jerod Weekly, Sanford won by a 3-2 decision. He scored two points in the third period to get the win. Sanford lost in the semifinal match in a 3-0 decision that went to Nathan Vander Linden from host Burlington.
Sanford was moved to the consolation bracket, where he got back to his winning ways. He beat Fredonia’s Troy Miller in a 4-2 decision. During the third place match, Sanford’s opponent Tate Schenkel didn’t finish after sustaining an injury. Sanford finished 4-1 on the day to improve his record to 8-7 on the year.
“He’s struggled the last few times out. He’s pretty reserved in matches, while in practice he does great,” Bates said. “He pulls back a little bit when he’s wrestling and that’s cost him a few matches. But, Saturday he had a chance to get some wins and built his confidence a little bit.”
Tavon Blazek earned fifth place in the 182-pound division, but he didn’t get a team score for Iola. Since Andrew Garber competes in the same weight class for Iola’s team score, Blazek wrestles individually.
“It’s his choice,” Bates said. “He’s planned on going to the 170-pound weight class, but hasn’t made it there yet.”
Blazek won his first match by pinning Oskaloosa’s Dante Nelson in 53 seconds. He lost his second match by being pinned himself from Grant Newton of Coffeyville. Blazek was then moved to the consolation bracket.
He won his next two matches. Blazek beat Silver Lake’s Jesse Renfro with an 11-3 major decision. He won his next match due to his opponent getting injured before it started. Blazek had a chance to go to the third place game like Sanford, but lost the consolation semifinal match to Fredonia’s Lane Hawley by fall over at 2:08.
Blazek took the fifth place match because Caney Valley’s Brycen Gulick forfeited. Blazek improved his regular season record to 9-6.
Colton Toney started his season off with an eighth place finish in the 285-pound class. He beat Coffeyville’s Nick Nolan by pinning him at 2:52. Toney was knocked from the championship bracket after being pinned by Eureka’s Grayson Pryce in his second match.
After another win by pin — in 17 seconds — and loss by pin, Toney found himself in the seventh place match. He was pinned at 1:22 to take the loss to Coffeyville’s Nolan, who he beat in his first match.
“This was his first tournament. I think he was 1-2 going into this,” Bates said. “He doesn’t have quite the experience the other guys have had this year, so he’s been playing catchup. He did well.”
Garber, normally the top finisher for Iola, struggled for this first time this season and failed to place.
“Burlington’s tougher than a couple of tournaments we’ve been at before,” Bates said. “For the seeding, everyone’s criteria was about the same — basically everyone had the same winning percentage. None of us had the same opponents. He got a tough draw.”
Garber won his first match over Rock Creek’s Colton Hill in a 7-3 decision. That’s as easy as it got for Garber, who then was pinned by Cherryvale’s Kaden Housel at the 3:51 mark in his second match. Garber then lost by a 6-3 decision to Burlington’s Tyson Breshears.
Garber fell to 10-5 on the season.
Chandler House struggled to find any momentum, losing both of his matches by being pinned. Bates said he’s getting good experience.
“This is the first year he’s wrestled in high school. He’s wrestled before in middle school or kids’ club,” Bates said. “So, he’s got some experience, but high school is a little different. Only having five wrestlers, we don’t go to many JV tournaments. So, he’s kind of thrown right in there.”
The team heads to Labette County for a regular season match on Thursday.