Ten Panthers seeded at John J. Harris Tournament
Creston/O-M defends title in two-day event
CORNING — Last year, Creston/O-M ended Atlantic’s three-year reign as champion of the John J. Harris Wrestling Tournament.
Atlantic’s first title in that run ended a similar three-year championship period by the Panthers.
Now, will the Class 2A No. 5-ranked Panthers defend their title when 22 teams assemble in the Corning Activity Center Friday and Saturday for the 58th edition of this prestigious southwest Iowa event?
A total of 19 state-ranked grapplers will be in the 2013 field, according to The Predicament wrestling publication.
Creston/O-M and Neola Tri-Center, No. 6 in 1A, are the only state-ranked teams in this year’s field. But, Atlantic has a strong team again, and nearly every team in the field has individuals capable of competing for a weight-class championship.
The most loaded weight class appears to be 113, with three state-ranked wrestlers in Class 2A No. 1 Mason Miller of Winterset, Class 1A No. 8 Jacob Vogel of Oakland Riverside and Class 1A No. 9 Christian Polley of Tri-Center.
Mount Ayr sophomore heavyweight Joe Ricker is in an interesting field that includes Class 1A sixth-ranked David Howell of East Mills. Ricker is ranked 10th.
Creston/O-M top-ranked wrestlers are Jake Marlin at 138 and Keaton Hulett at 195, while Trevor Frain is No. 5 at 160, but wrestling at 170 this weekend. All three are seeded first.
In all, Creston/O-M has 10 seeded wrestlers.
Nodaway Valley’s Kain Queck, ranked eighth, has a No. 1-ranked wrestler in the same 152-pound bracket of this year’s tourney in Loren Williams of Tri-Center.
The host Corning Red Raiders have a top-seeded wrestler in 160-pounder Kallan Schmelzer. Mount Ayr’s Erik Freed is top-seeded at 132 pounds.
Action starts at 4 p.m. Friday with pigtail round matches, and quarterfinals at 6:30. First consolation matches at 10 a.m. Saturday precede the semifinals. Championship and third-place matches will conclude the event late Saturday afternoon.
John J. Harris Tournament
Time schedule
Friday — Weigh-ins, 2 p.m.; coaches meeting, 2:30 p.m.; pigtail round, 4 p.m.; quarterfinals, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday — Coaches meeting, 8:30 a.m.; First consolation, 10 a.m.; second consolation and semifinals; third consolation. (Break.) Fifth-sixth consolation awards; third-place and championship matches.
Competing teams — Atlantic, Bedford/Lenox, Central Decatur, Chariton, Clarinda, Clarke, Coon Rapids, Corning, Creston/O-M, East Mills, Griswold, Missouri Valley, Mount Ayr, Nodaway Valley, Panorama, Red Oak, Riverside, Shenandoah, Southwest Iowa, Neola Tri-Center, Wayne of Corydon, Winterset.
Ranked wrestlers
106 — Tanner Mertz, So., Red Oak, Class 2A No. 6; Nick Rounds, Fr., Missouri Valley, Class 2A No. 10.
113 — Mason Miller, Jr., Winterset, Class 2A No. 1; Jacob Vogel, So., Oakland Riverside, Class 1A No. 8; Christian Polley, So., Tri-Center, Class 1A No. 9.
120 — Blake Luna, Jr., Clarinda, Class 2A No. 5; Christian Hilgenberg, Jr., Coon Rapids-Bayard, Class 1A No. 8.
138 — Jake Marlin, Creston/O-M, Sr., Class 2A No. 1.
145 — Darrian Irlbeck, Sr., Tri-Center, Class 1A No. 3.
152 — Loren Williams, Sr., Tri-Center, Class 1A No. 1; Kain Queck, Sr., Nodaway Valley, Class 1A No. 8.
160 — Trevor Frain, Jr., Creston/O-M, Class 2A No. 5 (entered at 170).
182 — Ben Wellman, Jr., Tri-Center, Class 1A No. 10.
195 — Keaton Hulett, Sr., Creston/O-M, Class 2A No. 1.
220 — Blake Glenn, Sr., Winterset, Class 2A No. 6; Mark Hall, Sr., Southwest Iowa, Class 1A No. 10.
285 — David Howell, Jr., East Mills, Class 1A No. 6; Joe Ricker, So., Mount Ayr, Class 1A No. 10.
Seedings
106 — 1. Tanner Mertz, Red Oak, 23-2; 2. Logan Wood, Corning, 22-4; 3. Micah Hoffman, Coon Rapids, 29-4; 4. Nick Rounds, Missouri Valley, 25-7; 5. Britton Gibson, Winterset, 22-10; 6. Sawyer Anderson, Bedford/Lenox, 21-11.
113 — 1. Christian Polley, Tri-Center, 30-4; 2. Jacob Vogel, Riverside, 34-6; 3. Dusten Reed, Bedford/Lenox, 27-2; 4. Alec Moorman, East Mills, 21-2; 5. Kruz Adamson, Creston/O-M, 25-11; 6. Zac McCoy, Shenandoah, 19-11.
120 — 1. Blake Luna, Clarinda, 26-1; 2. Christian Hilgenberg, Coon Rapids-Bayard, 29-2; 3. Dillon Cox, Atlantic, 14-5; 4. Sean Skillern, Shenandoah, 28-9; 5. Tucker Bluml, Riverside, 26-15; 6. Nic Ryan, Chariton, 17-9.
126 — 1. Geoff Sellers, Red Oak, 31-2; 2. Cole Race, Clarinda, 19-3; 3. Devin Harberts, Chariton, 22-5; 4. Gage Cheers, Creston/O-M, 18-9; 5. Zach Vance, Griswold, 23-6; 6. Jake Johnson, Shenandoah, 20-14.
132 — 1. Erik Freed, Mount Ayr, 27-3; 2. Clay Harris, Riverside, 36-5; 3. Reid Nichols, Atlantic, 27-5; 4. Tanner Poush, Chariton, 17-7; 5. Zach Evans, Coon Rapids-Bayard, 26-3; 6. Joseph Heithusen, Shenandoah, 26-12.
138 — 1. Jake Marlin, Creston/O-M, 35-1; 2. Tanner Potter, Griswold, 32-2; 3. Brett Marcum, Missouri Valley, 20-4; 4. Tyler Nance, Chariton, 25-5; 5. Lane Stortenbecker, East MIlls, 27-4; 6. Trey Stickler, Clarinda, 20-11.
145 — 1. Luke Strong, Clarinda, 24-7; 2. Darrian Irlback, Tri-Center, 27-2; 3. Jaydn Erlandson, Nodaway Valley, 17-9; 4. Zach Morris, Riverside, 22-20; 5. Logan Namanny, Coon Rapids-Bayard, 22-12; 6. Jacob Johnston, Creston/O-M, 7-6.
152 — 1. Loren Williams, Tri-Center, 31-1; 2. Keenan Bock, Coon Rapids-Bayard, 8-2; 3. Zach Moss, Winterset, 21-4; 4. Kain Queck, Nodaway Valley, 25-2; 5. Blayde Baker, Wayne, 12-8; 6 Justin Marn, Corning, 19-9.
160 — 1. Kallan Schmelzer, Corning, 27-2; 2. Shane Swank, Mount Ayr, 26-4; 3. Adam Baker, Creston/O-M, 26-11; 4. Dylon French, Bedford/Lenox, 25-9; 5. Trenton Carson, Central Decatur, 12-7; 6. Colby Jennings, East Mills, 24-8.
170 — 1. Trevor Frain, Creston/O-M, 34-2; 2. Payton Housman, Riverside, 38-5; 3. Matt Williamson, Atlantic, 26-5; 4. Jacob Bair, Clarke, 26-5; 5. Trevor Lyons, Tri-Center; 21-8.
182 — 1. Ben Wellman, Tri-Center, 31-0; 2. Cole Bonde, Bedford/Lenox, 26-2; 3. Zach Barton, Corning, 24-4; 4. Carter Isley, Chariton, 20-2; 5. Colton Story, East Mills, 22-6; 6. Seth Maitlen, Creston/O-M, 23-11.
195 — 1. Keaton Hulett, Creston/O-M, 31-1; 2. Taylor Hein, Panorama, 24-8; 3. Tyler Stork, Atlantic, 25-7; 4. Austin Lorenz, Griswold, 29-6; 5. Brandon Paulsen, Riverside, 28-11; 6. Taylor Nelson, Tri-Center, 19-7.
220 — 1. Blake Glenn, Winterset, 25-4; 2. Mark Hall, SW Iowa, 28-2; 3. Tyler Christensen, Atlantic, 20-8; 4. Tate Vandyne, Wayne, 15-4; 5. Cole Tanner, Creston/O-M, 23-5; 6. John Wohlers, Missouri Valley, 28-6.
285 — 1. David Howell, East Mills, 28-1; 2. Joe Ricker, Mount Ayr, 24-2; 3. Garrett Johnston, Panorama, 27-6; 4. Nate Robinson, Creston/O-M, 26-12; 5. Dakota Calfee, Clarinda, 19-12; 6. Jacob Wohlers, Tri-Center, 26-9.
