Iola High’s wrestlers kicked off a frenetic, and highly successful, beginning to their 2020-21 season Friday and Saturday.
The Mustang wrestlers were in Burlington Friday for the Wildcat Duels, a series of head-to-head matchups with area schools. On Saturday, wrestlers TJ Taylor, Henrik Sieh, Danny Boeken and Damien Wacker traveled to Caney for the Kan-Okla Classic, where both Taylor and Boeken rolled through their respective weight divisions to take first place.
“I was very pleased with how they wrestled,” head coach Jason Bates said. “Obviously, it’s new for a lot of our younger wrestlers. It’s a big step from middle school to varsity for three or four of them. They surprised me and did better than I thought they would. I’m happy with all of them.”
Taylor, a junior wrestling at 126 pounds, won all three of his matches at Saturday’s tournament. He also pinned two other wrestlers Friday at Burlington, while winning three others via forfeit to start 2020-21 with an 8-0 record.
Boeken, a freshman, pinned all four of his opponents to place first Saturday in the 220-pound division. He went 3-1 on Friday, winning a fourth via forfeit to stand at 8-1.
“Danny’s a freshman, but he’s experienced,” Bates said. “He did very well.”
Defending Class 4A heavyweight champion Logan Brown, a senior, wrestled Friday in Burlington, and continued his run of dominance, pinning four of his opponents and winning the fifth via forfeit.
Brown did not compete was at a college visit Saturday and unable to compete in Caney, Bates noted.
Xander Sellman, a freshman wrestling at 106 pounds, went 1-2 in contested matches Friday, claiming two other victories via forfeit.
Iola’s Landon Nading, a senior, wrestled at 113 pounds and went 4-1 Friday in Burlington.
Nading’s comeback from a leg injury that essentially wiped out his freshman and sophomore years brought him a .500 record at 120 pounds in 2019-20, Bates noted.
“He’s off to a good start already this year,” Bates said.
Freshman Damian Wacker, at 120 pounds, won two matches via forfeit Friday and lost three others. He went 0-3 Saturday in Caney.
Senior Henrik Sieh, a foreign exchange student living in Iola this year, went 1-3 in contested matches at 182 pounds Friday, winning a second via forfeit. He 1-2 Saturday to take seventh at Kan-Okla.
Iola will travel to Jayhawk-Linn Thursday, along with Labette County and Girard.
