State dreams still alive for Mustangs

BURLINGTON — Iola High’s Bryce Misenhelter guaranteed himself a return trip to the Class 4A State Wrestling Tournament Friday.
The Iola High senior, wrestling at 195 pounds, swept past his first two opponents to seal a top-two finish at the 4A Regional Tournament, hosted by Burlington High School.
The wins — a dominating 11-0 win over Paola’s Duncan Watrous and a second-period pin of Spring Hill’s Dylan Thompson — sets up a titanic regional championship match against Ottawa’s Dalton Weidl. Weidl (34-3) is the second ranked 195-wrestler in Class 4A this year. Misenhelter (35-2) is ranked third.
Misenhelter is guaranteed a slot at the state tournament, which begins next Friday at Salina’s Bicentennial Center.
“Bryce did an excellent job,” Iola head coach said. “We were a little nervous against the Spring Hill kid, because they had such similar styles, but Bryce pretty much controlled him.”
His teammates have some work to do if they want to join him.
Three other Mustang wrestlers opened the regional competition with victories, but lost in their respective quarterfinal matches.
In order to qualify for state, a wrestler must finish in the top four of his weight bracket at regionals.
Whitworth is a win away from that goal.
He won his first round and quarterfinal matches at 160 pounds, pinning Anthony Morton of Parsons and Dillon Flora of Frontenac, both in the first round. But his semifinal match came against Taylor Watkins — the state’s top ranked 160-pound wrestler in Class 4A. Watkins pinned Whitworth midway through the first period of their matchup.
Whitworth falls to the consolation semifinals, where he will face one of four potential opponents, who must first duke it out in order to advance. A win in the semifinals puts Whitworth in the third place match — and guaranteed in the top four.
“We were happy with how John started,” Carson said. “He came out aggressively. That’s something but that kid was just so aggressive. He’s strong.  You can tell the way he turned him. John fought hard.
It’s a bit trickier for Cody Conner (152 pounds), Tavon Blazek (170) and Andrew Garber (182); each must win three straight matches in the consolation bracket today to qualify for state.
“Cody had his chances, and that Dees kid probably should have been a 3 seed,” Carson said. “He had him on his back a couple of times, but couldn’t quite get it done.”
Three other Iola wrestlers also remain alive, but have not yet won matches.
Travis Rieske lost to Ethan Hess of Frontenac with a second period pin at 145 pounds. Seth Sanford lost at 220 pounds to Keenan Dodd of Parsons with a second-period pin. Colton Toney lost in his quarterfinal match at 285 pounds with Spring Hill’s Keanan Clark. They, too, must win three straight consolation matches to earn state bids.

THE DAY STARTED a bright note, but turned for three Mustang wrestlers at the hands of opponents from nearby Chanute High.
Conner pinned Aubrey Hamilton of Columbus in the first period, but fell behind early against Daniel Dees of Chanute in the quarterfinal match. Dees eventually earned the pin late in the second period.
Blazek pinned Kevin Rivera of Parsons late in the third period before getting pinned himself by Chanute’s Alex Son late in the first period.
Garber, meanwhile, pinned Garrett Gross of Ottawa less than a second before their second period ended. He went the distance against Chanute’s Ethin VanAnne, but dropped an 11-2 decision.
“Losing three straight matches to Chanute wasn’t something we were happy about, but Chanute has a great program,” Carson said. “We still have a good shot at getting three guys to state. If we can get four, this will have been an excellent meet for us.”
The action resumes this morning at 11 at the BHS gymnasium.