CANEY — Twenty-two match wins and seven medalists equals third-place team trophy.
Iola High’s Mustangs made school wrestling history Saturday in capturing their first team trophy. The three-year-old program took third at the 37th Annual KAN-OKLA Classic Wrestling Tournament at Caney Valley High School.
“It was nice getting our first-ever trophy. Some of the hard work these guys have been doing is starting to pay off,” said Ron Schomaker, Mustang head wrestling coach.
“We wrestled tough throughout the day and some of the guys really seemed to gain confidence as the day went on.”
A year ago, the Mustangs finished sixth at the tournament and had only two wrestlers place in weight brackets. Seven of the eight wrestlers entered in this year’s tournament finished in the top four of their individual weight classes.
The tournament was divided into pools then cross-bracketed.
Lee Berg captured second place in the 130-pound division. Berg went 4-1 with four pins.
Berg pinned T.J. Henderson of Caney Valley, not once, but twice on the day. He also scored pins of Mc- Daniel of Independence and Mike Culvaro of Cherryvale. He lost 15-0 to Michael Hamilton of Bartlesville, Okla.
Marcus Sullivan also was 4-1 for second in the 160-pound division. He pinned Dillon Shamblin and Gage Griffin, both of Caney Valley.
Sullivan beat Dusty Cook of Cherryvale 13-1 and pinned Cory Turner of Coffeyville. Aaron Lewis of Bartlesville defeated Sullivan 5-1.
Devin Culler was 4-1 and placed third in the 152-pound bracket. He pinned Vladislay Stehnily of Fredonia, Colton Cheatham of Cherryvale and Chase Null of Independence.
Culler was pinned by Caney Valley’s Derek Bayless. Culler came back to defeat Cole Keller of Independence 8-5.
Taking third at 135 was Brent Clark. He pinned Blaine Kimmel of Coffeyville, lost to Kyle McKinney of Bartlesville 6-2 and beat Kyle Wink of Bartlesville 8-6.
Mike Armstrong was third at 119. He pinned Independence’s Shawn Delano then lost to Caney Valley’s Nate Hudson 9-4. He beat Ryan Brown of Bartlesville 5-4.
Zack Vaughn went 2-2 for fourth at 171. He pinned Mason Orr of Bartlesville then was pinned by Riley Denny of Caney Valley. He came back to pin Coffeyville’s Adel then was pinned by West Elk’s Nick Jacobs.
Finishing fourth in the 189 class was Stephen McDonald. He pinned Caney Valley’s Trevor Harrison and Independence’s Sam Collins. He lost to Taylor Woolman of Bartlesville 13-2 and to Fredonia’s Thomas Durham 9-4.
In the 145-pound class, Joe Myrick was 2-3. He pinned Fredonia’s Zach Wiedmeyer and West Elk’s Taylor Cable.
Myrick was pinned by Tim Hamilton of Bart-lesville and Mendoza of Independence. He lost 5-1 to Coffeyville’s Derrick Frost.
Mustang wrestlers take third
