IMS wrestlers give crowd plenty to cheer

A pair of Iola Middle School wrestlers tasted success for the first time Tuesday, winning their matches in front of a boisterous home crowd.
Eighth-grader Kendall Jay, a newcomer to the wrestling circuit, went 2-1 in the IMS Invitational, defeating the first two opponents he faced in the 80-pound division.
Jay defeated Johnathan Bownes of Jayhawk-Linn 18-2 before pinning Johnathan Short of Burlington. Jay lost when he was pinned by Johnny Lingerfelter of Independence in his final match.
Meanwhile, seventh-grader Isaiah Wicoff also picked up his first wrestling victory, defeating Mikel Duffy of Burlington in the 155-pound class. Wicoff went 1-1 on the night, losing to Lee Dylan of Anderson County.
“It was pretty exciting to see both of those kids get their first wins,” coach Cameron Jesseph said. “Kendall deserved to get a win because of how hard he’s worked, as has Isaiah. Wrestling in front of the home crowd really got the guys excited.”
Leading the charge for Iola were eighth-graders Colton Toney, R.J. Holding and Seth Sanford and seventh-grader Blake Mittelmeier.
Holding went 2-1 on the day, earning a three-way tie for first place in the 148-pound divison. Holding pinned Austin Akes of Anderson County in his first match, then used a late takedown to defeat Kasey Dixon of Frontenac 3-1 in overtime. He dropped his third match 8-3 to Jacob Jackson of Independence.
Toney swept past his two opponents, downing Gardner Coyd of Central Heights and Brandon Stephenson of Frontenac, both by pins.
Mittelmeier also tied for first place in his 100-pound division. He defeated K.W. Hale of Frontenac, 8-2, in the first round before losing to Brandon Jones, 13-11. All three wrestlers went 1-1 in the division.
Sanford took third in the 215-pound class, despite his 2-1 record. Sanford shutout Sean McIntosh of Coffeyville, 4-0, and pinned Dillon Tomblin of Prairie View.
Sanford’s lone loss was not without controversy.
He lost three potential points on a takedown because the referee called him for an illegal hold. Then his opponent, Seth Stoble of Independence, was awarded three points in the final seconds of the match on a near fall, giving Stoble a 6-5 win.
Jesseph disagreed with the call.
“You’ll have that,” he said.
Eighth-grader Dacoda Settlemyer dropped his three matches of the evening, falling to Trystan Pringle of Royster, Henry Jesse of Prairie View and Jocob Dunivan of Central Heights.
Jesseph said Settlemyer, like Iola’s other wrestlers, has shown improvement on the young season.
“All these kids have done a great job,” Jesseph said. “They’ve all progressed further than I thought they would at this point.”
The wrestlers return to the mat Monday at Independence.