Lynnville-Sully wrestling finishes fifth, Colfax-Mingo eighth at SICL tournament

COLFAX — Lynnville-Sully senior Gentry Walston made quick work of his two matches at the South Iowa Cedar League tournament on Saturday.

And the first thing he did after pinning his way to the 120-pound championship was look over at the BGM corner. He remembered what that coaching staff did during a dual earlier this season.

“There is a little bit of beef there,” Walston said. “They bumped away from me at our last home meet. I was just a little bit upset and used that aggression to my advantage.”

Walston was the lone area champion and his individual title led the Hawks to a fifth-place finish.

Colfax-Mingo’s John McGill (160) and Cason Fitch (113) both finished second at their weights and the Tigerhawks were eighth in the 10-team field.

Belle Plaine was the only squad in the conference which fielded a full roster and the Plainsmen won the SICL championship with 241 points.

The next closest team was North Mahaska, but the Warhawks were a distant second with 169 points.

Sigourney-Keota scored 168 points in third and Iowa Valley (154) and Lynnville-Sully (105) completed the top five. English Valleys/Tri-County (97), BGM (75), Colfax-Mingo (66), Montezuma (57) and HLV (18) rounded out the 10-team field.

Neither L-S head wrestling coach Jason Walston nor Colfax-Mingo head wrestling coach Stacey Rice was particularly pleased with the entire day’s work of their squads.

There were plenty of ups and downs for the Tigerhawks, but it’s been that way all season for a team which features plenty of first-year grapplers.

“We have a young team so it’s been up and down a lot this year,” Rice said. “Every time we compete, it’s a learning experience for them.

“Our belief in them needs to filter to them, but right now it’s not translating to the mat. And that can be a bit deflating.”

The Hawks recently got Reese Dunsbergen back from an injury but lost Terran Gosselink during the tournament Saturday to an injury.

Four of the eight Hawks who competed finished in the top three. Class 1A No. 7 Gentry Walston and Kyle Squires both reached the championship matches at their weights and Dunsbergen and Ben Squires placed third at theirs.

Walston (38-4) was 2-0 for the day with two first-period pins. He got his second pin with a half Nelson.

It was Walston’s second straight SICL championship at 120 pounds.

“It was just a regular half. I kept it under control and got it tight,” Walston said. “It feels great to go out there, wrestle my match, pin him and do my job.”

Kyle Squires (25-15) reached the championship match at 182 after winning his semifinal bout against Montezuma’s Braxton Plants in overtime.

The bout went several overtime periods before Squires recorded a win by pin. His other win was a first-period fall and his only loss came in the finals to 1A No. 9 Chase Wickwire of Belle Plaine.

It was the third meeting between Kyle Squires and Plants and the Hawk senior now has a 2-1 advantage.

“Kyle has been working really hard. The strategy was to push the pace and be more controlling and staying under control,” Coach Walston said about Squires’ semifinal match. “He got out of control in the last match against that guy. He was more under control this time but didn’t push it as much as he needs to. I think there’s a happy medium to find before districts.”

Fitch and McGill both lost in the finals for Colfax-Mingo.

Fitch (30-7) only had two matches at 113. He opened with a 6-0 win and then lost 9-1 to North Mahaska’s Joel DeJong in the finals. DeJong is 2-0 against Fitch this season.

Class 1A No. 10 McGill (34-5) also faced a familiar foe in the 160 finals. He was 2-1 for the day with two first-period pins but lost 10-5 to Belle Plaine’s Connor Timm, who defeated McGill 8-0 earlier this season.

McGill and Timm were tied at 2-all after one period, but the Plainsmen grappler caught McGill in a scramble and scored back points in the second period.

McGill has 27 pins this season, which is just three shy of the school record.

“John just got caught in a scramble and put on his back,” Rice said. “That’s huge in a match like that. If you give up bonus points it makes it difficult.

“We had momentum in the third. If you take those three points off the board, we have more options to work with.”

Dunsbergen was third at 170 for L-S, and Ben Squires placed third at 285.

Dunsbergen (21-13) opened his day with a 10-5 win over C-M’s Austin Lane and finished it with back-to-back pins. His lone loss came against 1A No. 2 Jack Clarahan of Sigourney-Keota.

Lane (21-12) finished sixth at the weight for the Tigerhawks. He won 5-4 after the loss to Dunsbergen but finished his day with back-to-back losses.

Ben Squires (22-15) was 3-1 for the day with three first-period pins. His lone loss was a 7-2 decision against 10th-ranked Trace Goemaat of North Mahaska.

Colfax-Mingo’s Jermaine Cross (25-17) finished fifth at 285. He opened with a win by pin and finished with a win by pin.

Lynnville-Sully’s Trevor Van Wyk placed fourth at 138 and Gosselink (152) and Hunter Van Wyk (113) finished sixth at their weights.

Trevor Van Wyk (24-15) was 2-2 for the day with two pins and Hunter Van Wyk was 1-4 with one pin.

Gosselink (32-12) opened with a pin but was injured in his second match and medical forfeited the rest of his day.

Coach Walston hopes to get Gosselink back for the district tournament.

Kendric Johnson (132) also competed for L-S but was 0-2.

“We did not do as well as I hoped. We got a bit banged up today,” Coach Walston said. “We are looking forward to districts. We have a few weeks to fix some things, polish some stuff and iron things out and we’ll be good.”

Colfax-Mingo got a fifth-place finish from Seth Brant at 145 and Sullivan Wilkins (126) and Isaiah Baucom (182) both placed sixth. James Cherveny (132), Davion Long (152) and Donavan Baucom (220) all finished 0-2.

Brant opened with a 19-8 loss but went 2-2 for the day with two pins. Wilkins and Isaiah Baucom lost all three of their matches, too.

“This is a tougher tournament. You have to show up mentally ready and if you don’t, there are quality kids who will knock you off,” Rice said. “It came back to bite us in some situations today.

“Our experienced guys, John McGill and Cason Fitch, came in ready to go. A lot of our other kids are in their first year of wrestling. We have to force feed them a little bit to try to get them caught up, but they are taking losses along the way so it is affecting the mental side of it and hurting their confidence.”

Notes: The Hawks were open at 106, 126, 145, 160, 195 and 220. Colfax-Mingo was open at 106, 120, 138 and 195. … Neither Gentry Walston nor his father Jason cares about the state rankings. Gentry Walston recently went from No. 4 to No. 7 at 1A 120. Coach Walston said he didn’t even know his son was ranked. “I don’t care and it doesn’t matter,” Coach Walston said. “You have to beat everybody. It doesn’t matter what they are ranked.”