Iola sweeps SEK double dual

INDEPENDENCE — History was made Thursday night for Iola High’s wrestling program.
Iola has been wrestling for three years but only the past two in varsity action in the Southeast Kansas League. Although the Mustangs recorded two dual wins in SEK action last year, never had the IHS wrestling team swept a league double dual.
That was until Thursday at Independence. The Mustangs posted a 42 21 win over Coffeyville’s Field Kindley High and a 42-39 victory over Independence High on the Bulldogs’ home mat.
“It’s nice to pick up two wins as a team. With all the open weight classes we have, we just focus on winning more matches than the other team. It worked out well for us Thursday night,” said Ron Schomaker, Mustang head wrestling coach.
Iola now has three undefeated wrestlers in SEK matches. Stephen McDonald at 189-pounds and Mike Armstrong at 119-pounds are 6-0. Marcus Sullivan is 4-0. He did not wrestle against Pittsburg and Fort Scott because of illness.
The Mustangs join seven of the other league schools — Coffeyville, Independence, Parsons, Columbus, Labette County and Chanute — at Pittsburg Saturday afternoon. Pittsburg High is hosting a “makeup day” for the league  starting at 3 p.m.
Iola wrestles Parsons in the second round of duals, approximately at 4 p.m. The Mustangs take on Columbus in the third round.
“We really try just to focus on how we prepare and wrestle instead of the results,” Schomaker said. “From all our kids, I saw that we’ve been wrestling better the last two weeks.”
Against Coffeyville, the Mustangs racked up a 24-0 lead as Armstrong, Cody Conner, Lee Berg and Brent Clark each won by forfeits. Coffeyville did not have wrestlers at 119-pounds, 125, 130 or 135.
Coffeyville won the next two matches. Trey Thompson pinned Zeph Larney in 37 seconds in the 140-pound match. Jessie Allison won by forfeit at 145.
Iola’s Devin Culler pinned Brandon Hillyard in 1 minute, 47 seconds for the win at 152. Sullivan pinned Cory Turner in 3:50 in the 160-pound match.
Coffeyville’s C.J. Bolden outlasted Iola’s Zack Vaughn 12-6 in the 171-pound match. McDonald pinned Raul Pascual in 3:45 for the win at 189.
Coffeyville’s Isiah Grundy won by forfeit at 285.
Independence got the quick start on the Mustangs with forfeit wins at 103 to Jared Smith and at 112 to Brandon Dick. Armstrong cut the margin in half by pinning Shawn Delano in 2:41 of the 119-pound match.
The Mustangs picked up 18 straight points on forfeits. Conner, who posted his first SEK wins of the season, at 125, Berg at 130 and Clark at 135 pushed Iola to a 24-12 lead.
Independence tied the score as Cody Adkins pinned Larney in 1:27 at 140 and Devin Mendoza won the 145-pound match via a forfeit. The Bulldogs took a 27-24 lead when Cole Keller defeated Culler 11-6 at 152.
In 56 seconds, Iola had the lead back for good. Sullivan pinned Nathan Gardner in that time at 160. Zack Vaughn got his first league win, by forfeit, at 171 pounds.
McDonald pinned C.J. Hitt in 1:36 of their 189-pound match. That put Iola up 42-27.
Independence added 12 points via forfeits at 215 to Delon Knight and 285 to Zach Snodgrass.
After Saturday, the Mustang varsity wrestlers prepare for the Kansas Class 4A Regional Tournament at Chanute next Friday and Saturday.
“We’re always talking about peaking out at the right time, toward the end of the year,” Schomaker said.
“Hopefully, we can wrestle well Saturday, get a couple of guys to finish at the top of the league and be ready for regionals.”
In junior varsity matches, Iola’s Tristan Sigfusson lost 9-2 to Jacob Johnston of Coffeyville; Iola’s Bryce Misenhelter pinned Coffeyville’s Alan Adel in the third period and pinned Independence Chase Null in the first period; Iola’s Chase Roettgen pinned Adel of Coffeyville in the second period; and Iola’s Travis Rieske pinned Independence’s Toby Therrien in the first period.
The Iola junior varsity wrestlers travel to Burlington on Saturday for their last action of the season.