CHANUTE — Iola Middle School’s Ponies wrapped up an incredibly successful 2016 wrestling season by picking up five individual championships at Royster Middle School’s tournament on Monday in Chanute.
Logan Brown and Dylon Reiter capped undefeated eighth-grade campaigns with championships. Brown finished the season at 15-0, while Reiter was 11-0.
“Dylon has a great background and has really started to allow himself to be coached. He listens well and that has really helped him improve his wrestling,” IMS head coach Jason Bates said. “Brown is very strong and explosive. He has a lot of potential in the future.”
Drake Sellman, Trenton Varney and Rylan Green finished their years on a high note with first-place victories on Monday.
“Trenton is an extremely aggressive wrestler,” Bates said.
Sellman was 12-3 this season and Varney finished 12-4.
“Drake is a first-year guy who is trying out sports,” Bates said. “He has come in and worked really hard. He turned out to be quite a wrestler.”
Green finishes with a 6-4 record but saved his best performance for last.
“Rylan was hurt early on, but he was able to come back and wrestle hard for us,” Bates said.
The Ponies secured three second-place wrestlers: Trent Jones, Landen Nading and Tyler Boeken.
“Tyler has improved so much,” Bates said. “Throughout the year, he has gotten stronger and been able to figure out what position he needs to be in to win matches and he has done a very good job of that.”
Jones suffered his only loss of the season on Monday, finishing his seventh-grade season with a 15-1 record.
“Trent has really learned to develop offense,” Bates said. “He really attacks the legs and has dominated his matches.”
Boeken had a fantastic season as well with a 14-3 record; Nading finished at 12-5.
“Landen is a great kid and a great athlete,” Bates said. “He is the type of guy every coach wants to have. He asks questions and is able to watch and observe. He is is always asking how he can get better.”
T.J. Taylor and Adam Atwell each took third-place marks in Chanute to round out the Pony competitors.
