ALTAMONT — It was another productive weekend on the mats for Iola High’s younger wrestlers.
The Mustang grapplers competed in a junior varsity tournament at Labette County High School Saturday, braving the cold on the way to multiple top-three finishes.
Leading the charge was Ean DeLaTorre, who won both of his matches to win the 157-pound division.
DeLaTorre pinned Hector Gomez-Gonzalez of Carthage in 42 seconds, then won by decision over Bryson Hietsch of Independence, 11-4.
Meanwhile, Iola’s Tripp Mathes took second at 126 pounds.
He pinned Zayne Al-Bureni of Independence in 56 seconds before falling in a tough match to Elijah Marban of Pittsburg, who won a 7-5 decision. Mathes responded with a 7-0 win over Olvin Vicente of Carthage.
Broderick Peters also took second at 190 pounds.
He pinned Ryan Reid of Fredonia in 2 minutes, 3 seconds. Peters lost via pin to Sam Weaver of Columbus in the championship match.
Trapper Boren took third at 106 pounds. He lost a pair of hard-fought decisions, falling 4-3 to Wyatt Reed of Carthage and 8-4 to Denis Velasque of Carthage.
IOLA’S ZOIE Hesse continued her early dominance during the 2023-24 season.
The Mustang freshman competed in a girls tournament in Wellsville Thursday, where she pinned all five of her opponents — all in under a minute — in the 170-pound category.
She pinned Nikki Trego of Osage City in 13 seconds, Morgan Tadlock of Gardner Edgerton in 19 seconds, Paige Ferrara of Burlington in 50 seconds, Rebecca Lewis of Prairie View in 32 seconds, and Davija Eiche of Wellsville in 47 seconds.
