Pony wrestlers open season at Burlington

BURLINGTON – Coming home with “hardware” is always a good thing, according to first-year Iola Middle School wrestling head coach Aaron Sweazy.
Iola Middle School’s Ponies had three second-place finishers at the 13th annual Burlington Middle School Bobcat Classic Thursday. Iola had 14 wrestlers competing in the 32 four-wrestler brackets at the tournament.
“We started out with a lot of losses in that first round but as we got into the second and third rounds, we found out our identity,” Sweazy said. “Our athletes realized their potential and we as coaches did also.”
Sweazy said he and assistant coach Rick Horton found out the things they needed to help the Pony wrestlers correct.
“We’ll work on things in practices so we can have a better showing next week at home,” Sweazy said.
The Ponies host their annual IMS Classic Tuesday at Iola High School. Matches begin at 3:30 p.m. in the high school gym.
Eighth-graders Brice Aiello and Andrew Garber looked like the experienced wrestlers they are on Thursday. Seventh-grader Seth Sanford, who has youth wrestling experience, joined Aiello and Garber in going 2-1 in their respective brackets for second-place medals.
Aiello beat Rico Cherico of Cherryvale 5-1 and Joey Cunningham of Wellsville 4-0. He got pinned by Austin Waltrip of Caney Valley.
Garber pinned Clay Halloway of Cherryvale and beat Jared Reed of Fredonia 7-0. He lost 4-3 to Brycen Gulick of Caney Valley.
Sanford quickly pinned Chris Ray of Eureka then defeated Wyatt Sandness of Jayhawk-Linn 4-1. He lost 3-0 to Nathan Vander Linden of Burlington.
Iola had five wrestlers go 1-2 on the night. Domanick Breese beat teammate Aaron Terhune 6-3 in their bracket. R. J. Holding executed an escape move in overtime to beat Anthony Clark of Burlington 2-1.
Chandler House pinned Wyatt Campbell of Wellsville. Rhett Allen pinned Dunreath West of Wellsville. Brody Silcox got a win via a bye “but he got the first takedown in his third-round match but his inexperience came into play as the other kid switched and pinned Brody,” Sweazy said.
Ben Cooper, Judy Branstetter, Nathan Evans, Mason Snavely, Aaron Terhune, Brandon Towne and Nate Streeter each lost all three of their matches in the tournament.
Snavely lost two by decisions – 10-0 and 11-0. Sweazy said Evans was up 8-0 on Aaron See of Wellsville in his third match.
“Nathan just got caught on a defensive pin. The referee for the match told me how impressed he was with Nathan’s athletic abilities,” Sweazy said.
“We saw a lot of good things from our young wrestlers. Most have never wrestled before. This was their first tournament and it was eye-opening for them.”