BURLINGTON — Iola High senior Chase Roettgen parlayed a day full of close calls to a second-place finish Saturday at the Burlington Wrestling Invitational.
The 195-pound Roettgen narrowly missed winning his weight division outright, falling only in the championship match to Mission Valley High senior Easton Sommer in overtime.
Sommer’s escape in the overtime period gave him a point and a 3-2 win over Roettgen.
To illustrate how close the match was, Mustang coach Brad Carson said all five points were scored by Roettgen or Sommer by escaping their opponent’s grasp when they started periods on bottom.
“The other kid had the choice of top or bottom in the sudden death period,” Carson said. “He chose bottom, and got the escape.”
The heart-breaking finish notwithstanding, Carson was effusive in his praise for Roettgen.
“Chase did just an incredible job,” Carson said. “He’s come so far in practice just from the start of the season. He’s a great kid who comes to practice every day ready to work hard and improve.”
The championship match culminated a day of narrow finishes. Roettgen edged Preston Rash of Cherryvale, 5-4, in the quarterfinals and Nate Vander Linden of Burlington, 2-1, before facing Sommer.
“I think the quarterfinal match was key,” Carson said. “That gave him some confidence. And then Chase beat a coach’s son in the semifinal match. He deserved everything he got.”
Roettgen’s finish was the highlight of the day for the Mustangs, who took 10th overall in the 20-team tournament. Iola wound up with 70.5 points on the day.
Holton won the tournament with 244 points, including five first-place finishes. Prairie View was second at 179 points.
Junior Cody Conner also shined on the mats for Iola, who went 4-1 on the day to grab third place in the 145-pound division. Conner won his first two matches of the day by pins before losing in the semifinals to William Holland of Prairie View.
Conner rebounded to pin Derek Huschka of Cherryvale in 43 seconds and Chase Ridder of Rock Creek in the third place match in 3 minutes, 27 seconds.
“Cody did a good job after a tough night (Thursday),” Carson said. “He was a little hesitant on his feet at the start, but he got better as the day went on.”
IN OTHER MATCHES:
— Tristan Sigfusson went 1-3 on the day at 126 pounds, falling to Jonah Lutz of Holton in the opening round and defeating Prairie View’s Acetin Bennedick with a 9-2 decision. Joe Gleason eliminated Sigfusson with a second-round pin.
— Brice Aiello went 1-2 on the day at 152 pounds. He opened the tournament by beating Wyatt Fouts of Rock Creek 7-2 before falling to Reid Hugo of Cherryvale, 12-5, and Ryan Alley of Anderson County, 9-2.
— Travis Rieske captured seventh place at 160 pounds, going 2-2 on the day. He fell to Braden Sherman of Fredonia and Tommy Avery of Jayhawk-Linn. In between those losses, he pinned Jake Trumbly of Anderson County with 11 seconds left in the opening period. He captured seventh place by thumping Blake Paulie of Erie, 17-2.
— Andrew Garber lost his first two matches of the day, eliminating him from the tournament at 170 pounds, falling to Lance Hickman of Oskaloosa and Dylan Rice of Prairie View. Carson said Garber won an exhibition match at the end of the day, “which was good for him to get some success. He’s a nice kid and a good wrestler. He just needs more of a mean streak at times.”
— Bryce Misenhelter finished sixth at 182 pounds, which may be misleading, Carson said. “He was in the toughest bracket of the tournament,” Carson said.
Misenhelter pinned Bryce Smith of Wellsville to open the tournament before falling to Kaden Housel of Cherryvale in his quarterfinal match. He rebounded to pin Cody Smallwood of Mission Valley and Chris Ray of Eureka. He was relegated to sixth place on the heels of a coin flip. Fifth place went to Justin War of Rock Creek.
“Bryce has some good moves, and he’s working at getting better on his feet,” Carson said. “They used a coin flip to decide who got fifth because Bryce was at his limit for the day.”
— Trey Colborn went 2-2 to take seventh at 285 pounds. He was pinned by Quade McCoy seconds before the first period ended in his opening match.
“Trey did kind of a desperation move at the end of the period, and he got put in an awkward position,” Carson said. “The other kid was able to get him turned.”
Colborn rebounded to pin Travis Gustafson of Burlingame in 34 seconds in the consolation bracket, but fell to Alec Smith of Burlington, 3-0.
Colborn wrapped up his day by pinning Bradley Hooper of Rock Creek in 52 seconds in the seventh-place bout.
“Trey is still struggling with his conditioning,” Carson said. “He’s putting in extra work with that to help his stamina.”
Carson noted both Colborn and Misenhelter lost matches to opponents they had beaten previously this season.
“I don’t know if you can call it revenge,” Carson said. “It was more a day of payback at times, and we happened to be on the wrong end. They were pretty evenly matched with the kids that beat them. I just don’t like seeing us lose to kids we’ve beaten before.”
Roettgen takes second at Burlington
