Iola’s Garber wrestles way to first-place finish

GARNETT — Andrew Garber had a good week of wrestling, earning first place in the 182-pound division at the Anderson County Invitational Saturday.
Garber went 5-0 on the day, to improve his overall record to 8-1 through the first two tournaments of the season. Tavon Blazek, also in the 182-pound division, took fourth after going 3-2 to improve his record to 5-4.
“Both of them have been opening up in practice and doing new moves,” coach Jason Bates said. “I’ve seen that in the tournaments so I hope they do (well Thursday).”
Iola hosts home matches Thursday. Bates said he wants his team to come out strong at home.
Garber won his first four matches by pins. He beat Uniontown’s Blaine Ross in 53 seconds, Caney’s Isaac Jonnes in 1 minute, 3 seconds, Caney’s Brycen Gulick in 3:56 and teammate Blazek in 5:40. He won the first-place match over Osawatomie’s Cole Wallace by 4-3 decision.
Blazek beat Gulick by decision in his first match, while winning with pins against Ross and Jones. After losing to Garber, he vied for third place against Independence’s Ricky Pando. He lost by a pin in 2:26.
Seth Sanford and Chandler House placed sixth and seventh in their weight classes.
“Both of them have been making little mistakes, so we’ve been working to fix those,” Bates said.
Sanford competed in the 195-pound division, where he went 1-3. He lost his first match by injury default to Independence’s DJ Kessler. Sanford was bleeding and it didn’t stop quick enough. In his second match, he lost to Caney’s Wyatt Anderson by a pin. His first win of the day came against Southeast Cherokee’s Colton Charlton by a pin in 1:56. Sanford lost the fifth place match to Osawatomie’s Seth Kingsolver by decision.
House ended the day on a high note, going 2-3. He lost in the first two rounds by a pin. In his third match, he beat Independence’s Kris Gilmore with a pin at 2:50. He then lost in double overtime to Caney’s Hunter Post. In the seventh place match, he was on the winning end of double overtime against Gilmore.
Iola will have a fifth wrestler compete on Thursday. The addition of Colten Toney will help Iola improve its team score.
“They don’t score Blazek since he’s under the same class as Garber,” Bates said. “So, Toney adds another weight class. He should be able to score more points.”
As a team, Iola finished in 13th of 15 teams with 41 points. Garber’s first place finish gave Iola 30 points, Sanford scored seven points and House scored four points.
The Mustangs host a tournament on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.