Iola Middle School wrestlers picked up a number of wins on the mat Tuesday while competing in the 2011 IMS Wrestling Classic.
Three Iolans took home first place in their respective brackets.
Nathaniel Evans was a perfect 3-0, pinning Avery Thomas of Royster, Maddie Goode of Anderson County and Clayton Sharrow of Prairie View. The Sharrow pin came with 15.7 seconds remaining in the third and final period.
Brice Aiello also went 3-0 by pinning Keith Sears of Anderson County, A.J. Montgomery of Independence and Brandon Smith of Central Heights.
Nate Streeter took first place by winning both of his matches, pinning Dalton Rankin of Burlington and Stephen Hoffman of Anderson County.
“Winning the home tournament was great redemption for Brice after coming so close to winning at Burlington last weekend,” IMS wrestling coach Aaron Sweazy said. “Additionally Nate Streeter and Nathaniel Evans had a great week in practice and it showed when they made a complete 180 in a few short days and went from winless last week to undefeated tournament champs this week.”
Sweazy also lauded the efforts of the other wrestlers. He said that Ben Cooper and Mason Snavely both used strong practices to key turnarounds that led to second-place finishes. Andrew Garber, meanwhile, rebounded from a slow start to nab second with a pin and a technical fall victory “in a pretty solid weight class.”
He also praised first-year wrestler Brody Silcox, who lost his first match in less than minute by pin, then lost 9-1 in his second. His improvement continued in the third match as he pinned his opponent.
Sweazy said Iola’s other wrestlers have an opportunity to show improvement as the season progresses as well.
“The tremendous support of Iola as a collective community helped make this event a huge success,” Sweazy said. “I relish the fact that our wrestlers worked extremely hard and adapted to a bit of tweaking with how we wanted to operate as a unit.
“We can’t rest on our laurels, with an Independence tournament on Monday, but for now we can be exicted in the moment and work toward more success tomorrow.”
Other IMS wrestlers and their results follow:
Ben Cooper (second place): won 3-2 decision over Johnny Coltrane, Independence; pinned Brent See, Royster; lost by pin to Trininty Weers, Prairie View.
Mason Snavely (second place): was pinned by Tre Kline, Prairie View; pinned Isaac Morrell, Anderson County.
Judith Branstetter (third place): was pinned by Bam Henry, Prairie View; was pinned by Cameron Dietsch, Royster.
R.J. Holding (second place): defeated Briley Triplett, Royster, 4-3; was pinned by Dillon Roedel, Frontenac.
Domanick Bresee (fourth place): was pinned by Spencer Phillips, Coffeyville; was pinned by Kasey Dixon, Frontenac;
was pinned by Dalton Stukey, Burlington.
Aaron Terhune (third place): was pinned by DeAndre Jones, Independence; was pinned by Trent Crowl, Royster.
Brandon Towne (third place): was pinned by Levi Isch, Burlington; was pinned by Christian Crawford, Frontenac.
Chandler House (fourth place): was pinned by D.J. Kessler, Independence; was pinned by Ricky Bennis, Burlington; was pinned by Jacob Rundle, Anderson County.
Andrew Garber (second place): was pinned by Jaymez Turner, Royster; pinned Bryce Ackerson, Prairie View; won by technical fall 16-0 over Zane Phelps, Anderson County.
Seth Sanford (fourth place): was pinned by Noah Struble, Independence; lost 3-0 decision to Aaron Walker, Frontenac; was pinned by Nathan Vander Linden, Burlington.
Brody Silcox (third place): was pinned by Logan Woods, Royster; was pinned by Dalton Lamb, Royster; pinned Shane Leach, Prairie View.
IMS Ponies find success on wrestling mats
