SALINA — Iola High senior Stephen McDonald’s bid for a state wrestling title remains on track.
McDonald swept past his first two opponents Friday in the 220-pound division of the Class 4A State Wrestling Tournament.
McDonald opened his day with a third-period pin of Tiler Garcia of Baldwin, then followed it up with a 10-0 win over El Dorado’s Marcus Walker.
With his 2-0 record in hand, McDonald advances to this morning’s semifinal match against Pratt’s Austin Gates. The winner will advance to the 220-pound championship match this afternoon. The loser remains alive but will be relegated to the consolation bracket and a potential-third place finish.
In other action for Iola, Trey Colborn remains alive in the 285-pound division. He dropped his opening match, 5-2, to Brendan Neal of Perry Lecompton before rebounding with an 8-1 romp over Steven Degollado of Ulysses.
Bryce Misenhelter’s competition ended. He lost to highly ranked Levi Eck of Andale in a first-round pin. Then, he dropped a 12-2 decision to Tonganoxie’s Luke Carey.
“STEPHEN wrestled strong today,” Iola coach Brad Carson said. “He looked like he had control of his match.”
In both matches, to be exact.
McDonald narrowly missed earning a pin against Walker in the quarterfinal . He earned two points in each of the first two periods with takedowns, then turned on the jets with an escape, a takedown and a three-point near fall.
“About the only thing he didn’t do was get the pin,” Carson said.
He took care of getting a pin in his first round.
McDonald was so impressive against Garcia that Carson altered his wrestling strategy.
Instead of starting the third round on bottom — usually worth an easy point for most skilled wrestlers — Carson opted to have McDonald start out
on top.
McDonald responded by pinning Garcia midway through the period.
“The way he was controlling the match, I knew it was just a matter of time before he got the pin,” Carson explained.
MISENHELTER had the unenviable task of starting off against Eck, the defending state champion at 170 pounds. Eck has since moved up to 182 pounds this year and continued to show his prowess on the mat.
Eck got the early advantage over Misenhelter and eventually earning a pin 1:24 into the first period.
Then, Carey took the upper hand late in the second period in the consolation match, earning four quick points after Misenhelter had a 2-0 lead. Another takedown early in the third period turned into a pair of three-point near falls and a 12-1 victory.
“Bryce had a touch day,” Carson said. “The Eck kid was very tough, and Bryce should have a 2-0 lead at the end of the second period. It just got away from him.”
COLBORN dropped his opening match, but showed Carson an ability to escape from bottom, “something he has improved on quite a bit.”
Such an example came into focus late in his win over Degollado.
Colborn worked his way to a 5-1 lead, courtesy of a second-period takedown and near fall.
Colborn had been pitching a shutout -— losing only penalty point for stalling — before getting an escape and takedown worth three more points in the last seconds of his 8-1 win.
“I was proud of how he finished,” Carson said.
Colborn faces Cooper Zeller of Holton in a consolation match this morning.
