BURLINGTON — Iola High’s junior varsity wrestlers had a strong end to their season Saturday at the Burlington High Junior Varsity Invitational.
Zack Vaughn and Drew Shepherd claimed first place finishes in their weight brackets. The Mustangs notched three second-place performances and four third-place finishes at the tournament.
“It was a pretty good day. Our guys wrestled like they were really into it,” said Ron Schomaker, Mustang head coach. “We beat a few kids that had just beaten us last week.
“These guys have made some really big strides throughout the year.”
Vaughn won his 152-pound weight bracket. He beat Nathan Isom of Burlington 12-6 and Cody Pierce of Topeka-Seaman 5-2 and Sam Biggus of Paola 14-3. Vaughn pinned Dalton Morgan of Silver Lake.
Shepherd and teammate Denton Christian went 1-2 in the 171-pound bracket. Shepherd pinned Jonghoon Kim of Fredonia, Christian, Aaron Smith of Spring Hill and Britton Carter of Pittsburg.
Christian pinned Bret Stumbaugh of Burlington and lost to Shepherd. He defeated Kim 15-0 and Carter 13-7. He pinned Smith.
Zach Crawford and Chase Roettgen, both wrestling at 160, went 3-1 to place second in their respective brackets.
Crawford beat Curtis Hodges of Cherryvale, 10-1, Benato Pinto of Burlington 3-2 and Matt Ridgeway of Seaman 6-3. Crawford was pinned by Dylan Hall of Seaman.
Roettgen was pinned by Michael Dunlop of Prairie View, then won three straight. He pinned Brandon Haggerty of Paola, Chance Miller of Anderson County and Troy Schartz of Spring Hill.
At 152 pounds, Kody Mullins and Justin Baker were in the same bracket. Mullins took third and Baker went 0-2.
Mullins pinned Eli Parker of Burlington, Zack Thorenson of Cherryvale and Baker. He lost 11-5 to Shane Wilson of Silver Lake and was pinned by Eli Lewis of Chanute.
Baker was pinned by Mullins and Wilson.
Zeph Larney went 2-2 for third at 125 pounds. He beat Colin Ferrell of Santa Fe Trail 7-1 and Nic Brier of Seaman 9-4. Larney lost 16-8 to Austin Billingsley of Jayhawk-Linn and was pinned by Braden Sherman of Fredonia.
Jason Tidd was third at 130 pounds. He lost 12-9 to Jacob Thrall of Topeka West and was pinned by Zach Trigg of Paola. Tidd’s win was a 5-0 decision over Andrew Monge of Burlington.
Joe Myrick placed third at 140. He pinned Jon Kelly of Labette County, lost by pin to Dylan Kadous of Seaman, pinned Jeremy Finan of Seaman and was pinned by Caleb Howser of Silver Lake.
Mustang JV wrestlers finish
