Mustang wrestlers take two out of three

ERIE — Thursday’s wrestling competition for Iola High produced a mixed bag.
“I can’t be disappointed for going 2-1, but I’m disappointed we didn’t do better,” Mustang coach Brad Carson said.
Iola defeated Jayhawk-Linn 41-15 and host Erie 52-12 in the quadrangular meet, while losing 40-30 to Cherryvale.
Carson praised individual performances on the night, but he saw room for improvement in other areas.
“We need to be physically stronger,” he said. “We tend to get pinned too easily if we find ourselves on bottom. We’re getting better, but we’re not there yet.”
Bryce Misenhelter, wrestling at 182 pounds, helped lead the charge for the Mustangs with three wins on the night. He pinned Wyatt Sandness of Jayhawk-Linn in 42 seconds in his opening match, pinned Kaden Housel of Cherryvale in the second match in 4:27 and defeated Trent Harvey 4-1 on points in his finale.
He was the only Iolan to wrestle — and win — three times, although Tristan Sigfusson, Kaleb Mock and Stephen McDonald also carried perfect marks on the night.
McDonald, wrestling at 220 pounds, won by major decision, 16-0, over Adam Higginbotham of Jayhawk-Linn. He won by pinning Cherryvale’s Curtis Hooges in 25 seconds of the first round. McDonald won his third match by forfeit against Erie.
Sigfusson, at 126 pounds, pinned Matt Morse of Jayhawk-Linn at 3:19 and D.J. Cook of Cherryvale just seconds before the first round was to expire. Sigfusson also won his Erie match by forfeit because the Red Devils did not have a 126-pound wrestler.
Mock also wrestled only once, winning his 132-pound match of Dominic Pontious of Erie by pin in 55 seconds of the opening round. He won in forfeits over Cherryvale and Erie.
At 145 pounds, Cody Conner lost his opening match after he was pinned by Zack Wills of Jayhawk-Linn at the 1:45 mark of the first round. The loss featured a bit of bad luck. Conner was leading 6-1 and looked to be ready to pin Wills, but he rolled too far in his maneuver and wound up at a disadvantage.
“I’m not worried about Conner,” Carson said. “He’s a good wrestler. There is a risk when you’re trying to cradle your opponent and he found himself in a bad position.”
Conner bounced back by pinning Derek Huschka of Cherryale in 46 seconds and Matt Brungardt of Erie in 40 seconds.
Zeph Larney, at 152 pounds, went 2-1 on the night falling to Rico Hugo of Cherryvale, 8-0, and winning over Kyle Dean of Erie 4-0. He also won a match by forfeit.
Travis Rieske had a rough start, losing by pin to Tommy Avery of Jayhawk-Linn in 3 minutes and to Cameron English of Cherryvale one second before the first period ended. He bounced back to defeat Bruce Wolken of Erie 10-2.
Andrew Garber lost a heartbreaker in his opening match, 4-3, to Tad Herrmann of Jayhawk-Linn  at 170 pounds. He escaped Herrmann’s hold in the last 30 seconds of the match for a point and nearly had the upper hand with a potential takedown, and two more points, but received no points from the referee as time expired.
Garber was pinned by Dusty Cook of Cherryvale midway through the first period in his second match.
He rebounded nicely, Carson said, by defeating Josh Forbes of Erie 10-2.
“That was a nice win because he had lost to the Forbes kid at our tournament Saturday,” Carson said. “I told him it was a chance to get some revenge, and he did it. He’s a good kid and getting better.”
Trey Colborn went 2-1, but both of his wins were by forfeit in the 285-pound division. He, too, lost a heart-breaker to Erie’s Jordan Turner.
Colborn led 5-2 after one period and 7-5 early in the third period before Turner got a quick reversal and takedown to grab the points lead before pinning Colborn in the final minute of the third period.
Skyler Rush went 1-1 at 113 pounds, losing to Andrew Wright of Central Heights by pin at 1:20. He rebounded to win Jared Hartzell of Erie in 45 seconds.

IOLA’S JUNIOR varsity wrestlers went 2-2 on the evening.
Chase Roettgen, at 220 pounds, edged Kolton Carbon of Jayhawk-Linn 4-3, while Andrew Branstetter lost his JV match at 152 pounds to Clay Holloway of Cheryvale. He was pinned in the final 10 seconds of the first period.
Jordan Long went 1-1 on the evening. He lost to Cameron English of Cherryvale 11-6 after leading 4-2 after the first period. He defeated Bruce Wolken of Erie in 52 seconds.
Thursday’s competition wraps up the pre-Christmas schedule for the varsity wrestlers. The JV squad is in Cherryvale today for a tournament. The first matches begin at 9 a.m.