Trojans in second after opening round
A good performance by West High wasn’t good enough to put the Trojans at the top of the team standings after the opening round of the Class 3A state wrestling tournament.
Seven of West’s eight tournament qualifiers advanced to the quarterfinals and six picked up pins in the process, putting the second-ranked Trojans in second place with 26 points. Top-ranked Waverly-Shell Rock won 12 of its 13 opening-round matches to accumulate 38 points.
Nate Moore (125), Nick Moore (140), Derek St. John (145), Jeremy Garvin (160), Grant Gambrall (171) and Matt Behnami (189) opened the tournament with falls and Dylan Carew used a third-period reversal and a two-point near-fall to win a 6-3 decision against Davenport Central’s Tommy Mirocha at 130.
Freshman 112-pounder Hunter St. John was the only Trojan who didn’t survive through the opening day of 3A competition.
“It was a pretty good round,” West coach Mark Reiland said. “You get seven of eight through and you get six falls out of seven (winners), I think for the most part we did what we needed to do.”
City High endured a heart-wrenching opening day. Heavyweight James Ferentz was the only Little Hawk to reach the quarterfinals. The third-ranked senior pinned Spencer’s Casey Muessigmann to run his record to 37-1.
City’s other three state qualifiers went down in the first round. Third-ranked senior Colton Smith dropped a 7-4 decision to No. 2 Jesse Froehner of Cedar Falls at 135 pounds. Stephen Blayer dropped a 7-2 decision against Kyler Risher of Oskaloosa. Top-ranked Michael Moreno of Urbandale pinned Drew Harney at 152.
Blayer and Smith won consolation matches to stay in the tournament. Harney was on track to do the same, leading Fort Dodge’s Kyle Whittington 12-3 in the third-period before the City senior got caught in a neckwrench and pinned.
“That was a pretty devastating loss,” City coach Brad Smith said. “We pretty much dominated the match, had him pinned three times and they didn’t call it and as soon as (Harney is) on his back it’s over.”
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