GARNETT — Spearheaded by a pair of perfect marks by senior Stephen McDonald and junior Cody Conner, Iola High’s wrestling team took home fourth place Saturday at the Anderson County Invitational Tournament.
McDonald romped through the 220-pound division, winning all five of his matches, including the championship by pinning Anthony Fitchett of Blue Valley Southwest with 1 second left in the second period.
Conner, meanwhile, was even more dominant in the 145-pound division. He pinned all five of his opponents, never taking more than 74 seconds in any of them. The IHS junior won his division by pinning Zach Wills of Jayhawk Linn in the championship match.
They highlighted a solid day of wrestling for the Mustang squad that included Zeph Larney, who grabbed second place in the 152-pound division; Bryce Misenhelter, who claimed third at 182 pounds; Brice Aiello, who finished third at 145 pounds; Tristan Sigfusson, sixth at 125 pounds; Travis Rieske, sixth at 160 pounds; Chase Roettgen, fifth at 220 pounds; Andrew Garber, seventh at 160 pounds; and Trey Colborn, seventh at 285 pounds.
“I’m happy with how we wrestled, but we are by no means satisfied,” wrestling coach Brad Carson said. “As I told the guys last week, I’ve seen flashes of what we are capable of, so my expectations are higher. We’re getting there.”
The championship match victories both were evidence of hard work by McDonald and Conner, Carson said.
McDonald breezed through his two pool round matches, winning each by pins.
He started bracket play by pinning Roettgen in the quarterfinals, then pinning Kenny Brown of Caney Valley in the semifinals.
Carson, who also coaches football, compared the two sports.
“Successful football teams need to excel in three areas — offense, defense and special teams,” he said. “A wrestler also needs to be successful in three areas — on his feet, on the bottom and by being able to ride his opponent while on top. Stephen is very good in all three phases. Stephen works very hard, and he has set some specific goals for himself this season. I like his focus.”
Conner took all of 19 seconds to earn his first pin of the day. He then breezed through his other three pool opponents by pins.
“He had one scare in his final pool match,” Carson said, in which he had Trace Baldwin in a hold and nearly got rolled onto his back.
“But Cody was strong and quick enough to get out of it before the other guy even could get more than a point out of it,” Carson said.
Conner regrouped, earning the pin in 1 minute, 12 seconds. He wrapped up the championship by defeating Wills.
LARNEY started pool play with a win over Mickey Brown of Blue Valley Southwest. Following a bye, he was pinned by Southwest’s Paul Greico one second before the first round ended.
“I was proud of how Zeph bounced back,” Carson said.
Larney responded by defeating Ethan Hess of Frontenac with a pin midway through the second period.
That put Larney up against Greico again in the championship. Larney put up a better showing, but again was pinned by Greico, this time in 3:46.
“Zeph was in a tough bracket,” Carson said. “He has a few moves he’s working on to add to his tool box. He’s going to continue to get better.”
MISENHELTER rolled through his first three matches, the first by pinning Brycen Gulick of Caney Valley, the second two by scores of 16-0 and 17-2.
The momentum ended with an 8-2 loss to Lee Koch of Anderson County to wrap up pool play.
The defeat put Misenhelter in the third-place match in the medal round, where he defeated Austin McBee of Blue Valley Southwest, 5-3.
“Bryce has got some tools to have a successful year,” Carson said. “He’s so long and he’s able to stretch out his opponents to great effect. He has to work on protecting his legs. There are times he’s trying moves and it leaves him exposed. It was great to see him end the day with a win.”
BECAUSE CONNER already represents Iola at 145 pounds, Aiello wrestled as unaffiliated in the same division.
“It’s too bad because he could have scored some team points for us,” Carson said.
Aiello went 2-2 in pool play before ending the day by pinning Stephen Kaufman of Anderson County in the third-place match.
“Brice is just a freshman and he’s showing some great promise,” Carson said. “He’s getting some good experience, and he’s doing well.”
Likewise, Roettgen was unaffiliated in the 220-pound division. He went 1-1 in pool play, then was seeded against McDonald to open the medal round. McDonald won by pin.
Roettgen ended the day with two straight wins, including a pin over Dustin Gorsic of Osawatomie in the fifth-place match.
“Chase was in a tough bracket, and he only lost two matches all day,” Carson said. “The two kids he lost to wound up in the finals.”
SIGFUSSON ended the day with a 2-3 record, falling to Cody DeMoss of Blue Valley Southwest in the fifth-place match.
“Tristan wasn’t feeling well, so we tried to stress on him getting vitamins and staying hydrated,” Carson said. “
Rieske also went 2-3, dropping his fifth-place match to Dillon Shamblin of Caney Valley.
“Travis is a good kid and he’s working hard,” Carson said. “He’s at a weight level where he’s going up against stronger kids, so he has to be sound with his technique. There are two or three things we’re working on.”
GARBER started with consecutive wins before dropping his next two matches. He ended the day by defeating Chase Turner of Frontenac 1-0.
“He’s doing some nice things as a freshman,” Carson said. “He’s learning at what stages of the match it’s time for him to be more aggressive.”
Colborn struggled early on, dropping his first two matches.
He rebounded by pinning Jordan Turner of Erie, “who’s a pretty tough wrestler,” Carson said.
But Colborn could not sustain the momentum, falling to Tanner Foulk of Osawatomie in the semifinals, 6-0.
Colborn did not have a final-round match.
“There are some things he’s working on and there are some things he’s struggling with,” Carson said. “He’ll get better.”
McDonald, Conner sweep to tourney titles
