GARNETT — Four of the seven Iola High Mustang wrestlers were through to the medal rounds of the 2010 Anderson County High Invitational wrestling tournament. One was in the championship match of his weight class while three others would be wrestling for third place in their respective divisions Saturday.
The Mustangs earned four medals on the day as they finished seventh as a team with 82 points. Caney Valley won the team championship with 262 points.
“We had several wrestlers have very good days, a couple with good days and then we had a couple who didn’t have as good of a showing as we expected,” said Ron Schomaker, IHS head coach.
Sophomore Stephen McDonald, who had taken fourth in the tournament last year, went 3-0 in pool matches to make it to the championship semifinals of the 189-pound class. He pinned Stephen Baker of Caney Valley in 1 minute, 8 seconds of the six-minute semifinal match.
That set him up to face Class 4A second-ranked Zack Grimes of Osawatomie for first place. Grimes was the fourth state-ranked wrestler McDonald had taken on in just over a week. Grimes was able to pin McDonald in the first minute of the title match Saturday.
McDonald claimed the silver medal in the 189 division. He was first in his pool by pinning Christian Murphy of Erie in 3:01 and Matt Martinez of Parsons in 1:50. In his final pool match, McDonald came from a 1-0 deficit with a reversal for two points in the third period to win 2-1 over Jacob Currence of Blue Valley Southwest.
“Stephen really wrestled well today. That was a big match for him against the Blue Valley kid,” Schomaker said. “He gave up the escape point right at the end of the second period then Stephen made the switch for two points in the third. He did a good job of controlling the Blue Valley kid late in the match for the win. Now, Stephen learned where he needs to be after the quick pin in the championship match.”
Brent Clark, a junior, finished sixth a year ago. He earned his second medal of the season by beating Billy Virtue of Parsons 10-5 in the third-place match in the 135-pound division. Clark lost 19-5 to Colby Brownrigg of Anderson County in the semifinals.
Clark went 2-1 in pool matches. He was pinned by Devon Dozier of Osawatomie in 2:44 of his first match of the day. Clark came back with pins over Andy Long of Caney Valley in 4:32 and Chance Nelson of Blue Valley SW in 1:30.
Junior Zack Vaughn captured the third-place medal in the 171-pound class. His opponent Tyler Daniels of Osawatomie defaulted because of an injury. Vaughn had made it to the semifinals by going 2-1 in pool matches.
Vaughn was pinned by Max Hopkins of Anderson County in 1:44 of the semifinal match. In pool action, Vaughn opened with a pin of Dillion Schwab of Central Heights in 4:53 then was pinned by Riley Denny of Caney Valley in 1:30. Vaughn pinned J.R. Dunivan of Central Heights, who was entered unattached, in 3:42.
“Brent and Zack are two more kids who wrestled well throughout the day. They took steps forward,” Schomaker said. “Mike (Armstrong) had a good day but learned somethings as a freshman.”
In the 119-pound class, freshman Michael Armstrong earned the fourth-place medal. He lost 6-1 to Sawyer Like of Blue Valley SW in the third-place match. Dalton Murdock of Parsons beat Armstrong 13-0 in the semifinal match.
Armstrong was 2-1 in pool matches, pinning Devin Tate of Blue Valley SW (unattached) in 1:15 and Shawn Delano of Independence in 46 seconds. He lost 8-2 to Nate Hudson of Caney Valley.
Iola had two wrestlers take fifth place and one finishing seventh.
Senior Lee Berg was in a round-robin format in the 130-pound weight class. He lost his first four matches by pins to T.J. Henderson of Caney Valley, Logan Bjorgo of Blue Valley SW, Andrew Cannon of Osawatomie and Levi Snow of Central Heights. Berg claimed a pin in 2:08 over Zach McDaniel of Independence to take fifth place.
Joe Myrick, a sophomore, placed fifth in the 145-pound class. He went 1-2 in pool action being pinned by Lukas Bjorgo of Blue Valley SW in 3:20 in the first match then losing 12-5 to Jackson Fuhrman of Parsons. Myrick pinned Tyler Jenkins in 47 seconds.
Myrick got a bye in the consolation round to put in the fifth-place match. Myrick took down Dylan Stewart of Osawatomie and pinned him in 43 seconds.
Zeph Larney, a sophomore, recorded his first win of the season to take seventh in the 140-pound class. Larney defeated Josh Forbes of Erie 9-3. He was pinned by Mason Craig of Jayhawk-Linn in 2:43 of their consolation semifinal match. Larney lost by first-period pins in his three pool matches to Brant Johnson of Osawatomie, Cody Adkins of Independence and Tyler Wood of Caney Valley.
Iola was without junior Devin Culler, who was out with a concussion, and seniors Drew Shepherd, injury, and Marcus Sullivan because of academic testing. Culler wrestles at 152, Sullivan at 160 and Shepherd at 171.
Iola’s varsity goes to Cherryvale Thursday along with Jayhawk-Linn and Erie.
Mustangs capture four medals
