BURLINGTON — Iola High’s Bryce Misenhelter finds himself with a choice to make as he approaches the second half ot the Mustangs’ wrestling season.
Misenhelter, a standout wrestler at 182 pounds who qualified for state as a junior, didn’t miss a beat as he moved up a weight class Saturday for the first time.
Misenhelter dominated the competition at 195 pounds to take home first place at the 2014 Burlington Invitational, going 4-0. He pinned three of his four opponents, including Burlington’s Joe Metzger in the championship match.
“We thought it might be a little easier for Bryce to move him up a weight,” Iola head coach Brad Carson said. “We’re still trying to figure out if he wants to stay at 195. He was a little more athletic than most of the 195-pounders at the tournament, and he’s just as strong as they are. With his style, it may be a better fit than 182, but I’ll let him decide.”
The Mustangs brought home two other top-four finishers. Senior Cody Conner took third at 152 pounds, losing only to eventual champion Lucas Lovvorn of Holton in the semifinals. Conner responded by pinning his last two opponents to cap a 4-1 record on the day.
“Cody had a good day,” Carson said, noting Lovvorn finished fourth at state last season. “Of course, we know he’ll probably have the Holton kid to deal with again if Cody makes it to state. He still needs to work on attacking at angles. He’s so used to going at his opponent straight-on. It works for him, but if he can learn to attack at angles, he’ll get even better.”
Michael Armstrong also went 4-1 on the day, but was relegated to fourth place because of a tournament rule prohibiting wrestlers from having more than five matches on the day. He fell to Wellsville’s Drake Williams in the quarterfinals on a 3-2 decision. Armstrong responded by winning the next three matches. But he had to forfeit his rematch against Williams in the third-place match because he had already wrestled five times.
“A lot of what Michael needs to work on is his focus,” Carson said. “He almost had a takedown late in his match against the Wellsville kid. But he couldn’t quite keep hold of the kid’s leg, and couldn’t get the points.
“I didn’t like that he had to forfeit the last match,” Carson said.
The Mustangs collectively finished ninth among the 20 teams in attendance, racking up 95 points on the day. Holton, the defending Class 4A state champion, won the team standings with 303 points.
“It was a good day for us,” Carson said. “Burlington takes a lot of pride in their tournament, and they bring in some of the toughest teams around. Everybody on the team won at least twice today, and we finished in the upper half of the team standings. That says a lot, especially since we didn’t have anybody to wrestle in the lighter weights.”
IN OTHER competition:
— John Whitworth went 3-2 on the day to finish in seventh place at 160 pounds.
“He had a tough day,” Carson said. Whitworth’s consolation semifinal against Oskaloosa’s Ben Harvey was a particularly bitter pill to swallow.
Whitworth was leading, 5-0, midway through the third round, and was on top of his opponent and seemingly in control.
