CHANUTE ? After a year away from the Class 4A State Wrestling Tournament, the Iola Mustangs are state-bound once again.
Five Iola wrestlers made their way south to Chanute for the regional tournament on Saturday and out of that group, one wrestler ? 145-pound freshman Trent Jones ? qualified for state.
Despite the excitement of a return to state, left hanging in the air was what could have been.
In addition to Jones, two other Mustang freshmen ? 106-pound T.J. Taylor and 138-pound Adam Atwell ? made it to the blood round where the stakes are win and qualify for state or lose and go home.
Atwell and Taylor fell victim to older wrestlers but still showed that they have what it takes to make a run to the state tournament when they?re sophomores.
?Those freshmen are right where they need to be,? head coach Jason Bates said. ?They knew that they?d have a hard match and they?d had to have their best performances to pull it off and it turned out to be that. But we?re young.?
The Mustangs were also ravaged by sickness. Three wrestlers ? senior Elijah Luedke, junior Casen Barker and sophomore Logan Brown ? were unable to compete due to illness. Both Luedke and Brown were seeded in the top-four in their weight classes meaning that if things went as they should, they, too, would have qualified for state.
But the five Mustangs ? the three mentioned before and 220-pound junior Gary Lower and 152-pound sophomore C.J. Shields ? journeyed on without them.
Freshman T.J. Taylor tries to find an advantage versus Augusta?s Andy Lin at the 4A Regional Wrestling Tournament in Chanute on Saturday
JONES STARTED his path to state with a with a 1:02 pin of Tommy Stewart of Independence before getting a 2-0 win by decision over Winfield?s Parker Smith.
Jones was stopped short of the finals with a 57 second pin to senior and eventual regional champion Mason Jameson of Frontenac.
The freshman had to sit and weight for several hours before he hit the mat again and during that time, he just tried to stay focused.
In the blood round, Jones matched up with a familiar opponent in Burlington?s Damon Hoback. The two squared off for several periods before Jones finally managed to get a 7-0 win over Hoback. And to top it all off, once the match was won, he jumped to his feet and let out a celebratory roar.
?After that loss, I just told myself that it?s a learning process,? Jones said. ?I just needed to keep working hard. I knew that I could beat the next guy I had to face. I beleived in the blood and sweat that I?ve put in to this program so far this season.?
In the third place game, Jones fell to El Dorado junior Jake Knowles by 4-0 decision.
