INDEPENDENCE — Finishing seven of 12 wrestlers in the top two of their respective weight brackets, Iola Middle School’s Ponies had a good night in their third tournament of the season.
Seventh-grader Mason Snavely and eighth-grader Andrew Garber claimed gold medals for the Ponies at Monday’s Independence Middle School tournament.
Snavely won his 90-pound bracket with a 10-2 decision over Cherryvale’s Garrett Vijil and pinning Iola teammate Judith Brandstetter in 12 seconds.
Garber earned his first gold after finishing second in the first two tournaments this year. Garber defeated John Hawley of Fredonia then pinned Iola teammate Nate Streeter to win the 165-A bracket.
“Mason might have had the most solid wrestling performance of the year in his two wins,” said Aaron Sweazy, Iola Middle School wrestling head coach. “Mason looked smooth in both his matches.
“Andrew had a solid win to open up the tournament then made short work of Nate. Nate was a champion last week at our tournament. Andrew had back-to-back close tournaments ending up in second, so it was good to see him win his bracket this week.”
Iola had five wrestlers finish second in bracket action. Ben Cooper was second in his 80-pound bracket. He bounced back from being pinned by Fredonia’s Jaxon Kyton in his first match to pin Octavion Cook of Parsons in 48 seconds and claiming a 16-0 technical fall — a 15-point advantage — over Brent See of Chanute.
In the 134-B bracket, Brice Aiello was second as he lost 11-9 to Trey Miller of Fredonia then pinned Spencer Phillips of Coffeyville in 28 seconds. R.J. Holding was second in the 134-C bracket. He was pinned by Ogrick Edwards of Parsons and defeated DeAndre Jones of Independence 8-5.
Iola’s Chandler House was second in the 141-B bracket, losing by a fall to A.J. Montgomery of Independence and earning an 18-1 technical fall over Iola teammate Brandon Towne.
Seth Sanford was 2-1 for second in the 180-A bracket. Sanford opened with a 6-0 decision over Tyler Gress of Parsons then was pinned by Seth Stroble of Independence. He won by injury default over Jordan Stamps of Parsons.
Brandstetter, Towne and Streeter were all 0-2 in the tournament. Rhett Allen in the 141-A bracket and Michael Trainor in the 165-B bracket were 0-3.
Iola travels to Coffeyville for a tournament Saturday.
Pony wrestlers earn medals
