Mustang wrestlers dominate on Erie’s mats

ERIE – Four years in – only three years of varsity competition – and Iola High’s wrestling team is 5-0 for the first time.
The Mustang varsity swept triple dual action hosted by Erie High Thursday. Iola rolled to a 48-27 team victory against Cherryvale High, then beat Erie 28-21 and finished with a 30-18 win over Jayhawk-Linn High.
“Iola’s program has never been 5-0 in dual meets.This is great for our kids,” said Aaron Sweazy, Mustang wrestling head coach.
“I don’t want to take anything away from these three teams, or from what our kids have done, but these are 3A teams and we’re a 4A team.
“The confidence our guys have built in these early season matches should help us when we get into SEK competition after Christmas.”
Iola is atop the Southeast Kansas League ranks at 5-0 overall. Several league schools have dual tournaments to wrestle before Christmas break.
Southeast Kansas League action opens Jan. 5 for the Mustangs, whe they host Fort Scott and Pittsburg.
Iola won eight of 13 matches contested against Cherryvale’s Chargers Thursday. Cherryvale’s Andrew Wright won the 106-pound match by forfeit because Iola does not have a wrestler at that weight.
The next four matches went quickly with pins within the first minute of action. Iola won three of the matches.
Iola’s Mike Armstrong only needed 11 seconds for a takedown and a pin of Travis Cook in the 120-pound weight class. Kaleb Mock followed suit but took 51 seconds to pin Alex Cariman in the 126-pound match.
Cherryvale’s Reio Hugo pinned Cody Conner in 49 seconds at 132. Iola broke back with Brent Clark winning by a fall in 1 minute, 9 seconds over Chase Davidson.
Iola’s Jacob Rhoads recorded a win by fall, 4:40, over Derek Huschka in the 145-pound class. Zeph Larney pushed the Mustang lead to 30-12 with a pin of Alex Haskett in 3:01 of their 152-pound match.
Devin Culler claimed an 8-4 decision over Cherryvale’s Kaden Housel at 160. Zack Vaughn’s pin of Colton Cheatham in 3:23 in the 170-pound match pushed Iola’s advantage to 42-12.
Cherryvale won the next three matches. Dusty Clark pinned Iola’s Bryce Misenhelter with just two-tenths of a seconds left in the 182-pound match. Cody Hockett beat Iola’s Chase Roettgen 6-4 at 195 and Neal Higginbotham pinned Denton Christian in 3:04 at 220.
In the 285-pound match, Iola’s Trey Colborn ended the competition by pinning Dalton Menzer in 44 seconds.
With just 10 matchups between Iola and Erie, the Mustangs came out on top in six. One of the swing matches in the team competition was at 170.
Vaughn and Erie’s Christ Bohren were tied 2-2 after one period and 4-4 after two periods. Bohren had turned Vaughn for a three-point near fall.
Down by three points, Vaughn scored an escape for one point, then came up with a tying takedown with 21 seconds left in the six-minute match. Vaughn prevented Bohren from scoring and forced the match into overtime.
In overtime, it is sudden death in the first minute of action, which usually means the wrestler who gets a takedown wins. Vaughn did just that, winning 9-7 which bumped the Mustangs’ advantage to 22-15.
Iola built a 13-0 lead over Erie. Armstrong beat Ryan Pearson 6-2 at 120, Mock scored a major decision, 18-9, over Riley McMillian at 126 and Conner pinned Zack Kane in 33 seconds at 132.
Clark lost a tough 12-5 match to Rian Lahey in the 138-pound class. Danny Yarnell pinned Iola’s Larney in 52 seconds at 152 which put Erie up 15-13.
Culler made things right again for Iola. He pinned Josh Forbes in 1:35 in their 160-pound match. Then came the Vaughn overtime win.
Iola won out quickly. Misenhelter pinned Jodie Murphy in 38 seconds at 182 pounds. Christian pinned Jordan Turner in 48 seconds in the 195-pound match.
Iola started down 6-0 against Jayhawk-Linn High’s Jayhawks. Matt Morse won by forfeit in the 113-pound class.
Iola claimed five of the next six matches by pins. Conner pinned Zach Willis in 48 seconds at 132, Clark won the 138-pound match in 32 seconds over Dakota Murrow and Rhoads took the 145-pound match in 23 seconds over Trace Snyder.
Jayhawk-Linn’s Tommy Avery pinned Larney in 2:20 of the 152-pound match. Then Culler won by pin at 160 over Tadd Herrmann in 2:28. Christian pinned Alec Pennington in 29 seconds of the 195-pound match.
Adam Higginbotham won the 220-pound match by forfeit for the Jayhawks.
“I was concerned about Cherryvale because they had beaten Labette County (a SEK team) earlier this season but our guys came out focused,” Sweazy said.
“Erie was going to bring it because this was their only home dual action of the season. They are strong in the middle weights and we responded pretty well.”
Sweazy said Iola had Jayhawk-Linn on numbers.
Iola’s Tristan Sigfusson was not able to wrestle Thursday. He was not cleared by officials upon the skin check.
Sigfusson has a skin blemish, which looked like ringworm but had been checked out in Iola before hand and determined not to be ringworm. Iola did not have the required skin form to present to officials, so Sigfusson could wrestle.
In junior varsity action Thursday, Iola’s Jordan Long was pinned by Erie’s Lane Brewer at 145 and Travis Reiske pinned Erie’s Kyle Dean at 152. Roettgen won by fall over a Cherryvale opponent. Tyler Jenkins of Jayhawk-Linn pinned Iola’ Raymond Branstetter at 152.
The Iola junior varsity concludes first-semester action today at Cherryvale’s tournament