July 04, 2025

Cardinals wrestle tough for second at Ottumwa Invitational

By Jocelyn Sheets

Hunter Versteegh, Newton’s 113-pound wrestler, has an opponent almost pinned in a home meet last week. On Saturday, Versteegh claimed first place in the 113-pound division at the Ottumwa Invitational. (Jocelyn Sheets)

OTTUMWA — Koby Hull shook off the remains of a tough home loss Thursday night to help lead Newton’s Cardinal wrestling team to a second-place finish at Saturday’s Ottumwa Invitational.

Hull captured the gold medal in the 106-pound division with a 6-4 decision over Tyler Powell of Des Moinies Lincoln. Hull, a senior, improved to 27-4 on the season.

Sophomore Hunter Versteegh rolled through the 113-pound class to claim first place. Versteegh used a 17-2 technical fall to beat Burlington’s Logan White in the championship match.

The Cardinals had 10 of their 14 wrestlers coming out the front side of their respective brackets in the tournament. Along with the two champions, Newton had three wrestlers finish second, four picked up third-place medals and one in fourth. Three Cardinals finished in fifth place and one in sixth.

As a team, Newton scored 208 points for the runner-up spot to tournament champion Burlington with 215 points. Des Moines East finished third with 189 points followed by Ottumwa with 187.5, Des Moines Lincoln with 146.5, Davenport North with 140.5, Fairfield with 87 points and Ottumwa JV with 62 points.

“The wrestlers had a great effort up and down the lineup.  Being able to place nine of 14 wrestlers in the top three shows that the team as a whole had a good day,” Newton head coach Andy Swedenhjelm said. “We were also able to get bonus points in many of our matches, which I love because it shows that our athletes were working hard throughout the match from start to finish.”

Hull pinned two opponents in his five matches, had a bye and beat Ottumwa’s Alec Clark by a 12-4 major decision in the 106-pound semifinal. Versteegh recorded two technical falls, pinned two wrestlers and had a bye.

Senior Ray Schroder pinned four straight opponents, starting with Des Moinies Lincoln’s Chris Harban then Randall Pugh of Fairfield, Broilhson Turner of Burlington and Austin Robbins of Des Moines East in the 195-pound semifinal. In the championship match, Schroder, who is now 25-3, faced Jordan Trowers (24-3) of Davenport North. Trowers defeated Schroder 5-2.

Junior Dakota Dawson improved to 9-2 on the season, finishing second in the 138-pound division. He pinned Mathew Wilson of Des Moines Lincoln and Devonte Whitfield of Davenport North and had a bye to reach the semifinal. Dawson beat Ottumwa’s Wyatt Schlotter, 8-4, to move into the title bout, which he lost 9-2 to Dallas Terry of Burlington.

J.T. Thongvanh, another junior, posted a 7-2 decison over Markram Ibraheem of Des Moines East in the 170-pound semifinal. Thongvanh was pinned by Dalton Witte of Burlington in the championship match. Thongvanh had lost to Witte by a fall in the second round of action.

Cole Peters, Alex Bentley, Bryce Tish and Brett Wolf placed third at 120, 126, 132 and 145, respectively. Jacob Williams took fourth because of an injury default at 220.

Placing fifth for the Cardinals were Peyton Patterson at 152, Mac Icenbice at 182 and Lucas Montgomery at 285. Duncan Lee finished sixth in the 160-pound division.

“We had comments from fans and referees regarding how hard our athletes battled throughout the day, and that reflects on the character and work ethic of our wrestlers,” Swedenhjelm said. “Overall on the day, our kids wrestled well.”

The Cardinals are idle until Saturday, when they compete in a tournament hosted by Adel-DeSoto-Minburn.

Ottumwa Invitational

106 - Koby Hull (27-4) 1st

Round 1 - Hull pinned Armando Delarosa (Des Moines East), 0:49

Round 2 - Hull, bye

Round 3 - Hull pinned Dalton Kelley (Davenport North), 1:14

Championship Bracket - Hull won by maj. dec. over Alec Clark (Ottumwa), 12-4

1st Place Match - Hull won by dec. over Tyler Powell (Des Moines Lincoln), 6-4

113 - Hunter Versteegh (13-8) 1st

Round 1 - Versteegh won by tech fall over Chris Workman (Fairfield),1:19 (15-0)

Round 2 - Versteegh, bye

Round 3 - Versteegh pinned Jack Stabile (Ottumwa), 5:08

Championship Bracket - Versteegh pinned Alec Somsavath (Des Moines East), 4:48

1st Place Match - Versteegh won by tech fall over Logan White (Burlington), 3:51 (17-2)

120 - Cole Peters (15-14) 3rd

Round 1 - Peters pinned Dylan Swinney (Davenport North), 3:55

Round 2 - Peters, bye

Round 3 - Ty McGhee (Des Moines Lincoln) pinned Peters, 4:23

Championship Bracket - Alfred Buford (Burlington) won by dec. over Peters, 8-2

3rd Place Match - Peters  won by dec. over Collin McConnell (Ottumwa), 13-9

126 - Alex Bentley (6-5) 3rd

Round 1 - Bentley won by dec. over Vacengleng Vang (Des Moines East), 8-6

Round 2 - Bentley pinned Trevor Medina (Ottumwa JV ), 0:50

Round 3 - Austin Claussen (Davenport North) pinned Bentley, 1:12

Championship Bracket - Nathan Cary (Ottumwa) pinned Bentley, 1:35

3rd Place Match - Bentley won by dec. over Lucas Holliday (Des Moines Lincoln), 9-4

132 - Bryce Tish (7-10) 3rd

Round 1 - Tish pinned Nathan Armstrong (Davenport North), 1:13

Round 2 - Tish pinned Jesse Hannam (Ottumwa JV ), 1:14

Round 3 - Cole Baber (Des Moines Lincoln) won by maj. dec. over Tish, 13-2

Championship Bracket - Chance Raleigh (Des Moines East) pinned Tish, 5:43

3rd Place Match - Tish won in overtime Cole Baber (Des Moines Lincoln), 7-5

138 - Dakota Dawson (9-2) 2nd

Round 1 - Dawson pinned Mathew Wilson (Des Moines Lincoln), 0:46

Round 2 - Dawson, bye

Round 3 - Dawson pinned Devonte Whitfield (Davenport North), 1:29

Championship Bracket - Dawson won by dec. over Wyatt Schlotter (Ottumwa), 8-4

1st Place Match - Dallas Terry (Burlington) won by dec. over Dawson, 3-1

145 - Brett Wolf (17-12) 3rd

Round 1 - Wolf, bye

Round 2 - Wolf pinned Adolphe Nimenya (Des Moines Lincoln), 3:22

Round 3 - Wolf pinned Ismar Argueta (Ottumwa JV ), 0:30

Championship Bracket - Spencer Sherwood won by dec. over Wolf, 12-8

3rd Place Match - Wolf pinned Nimenya (Des Moines Lincoln), 0:52

152 - Peyton Patterson (9-15) 5th

Round 1 - Nate Luna (Des Moines Lincoln) 20-4 pinned Patterson, 0:53

Round 2 - Cody Miexner (Ottumwa) 5-12 pinned Patterson, 2:49

Round 3 - Patterson, bye

Consolation Bracket - Patterson won by dec. over Charles Cook (Davenport North), 6-4

5th Place Match - Patterson pinned Trevor Anfinson (Ottumwa JV), 3:39

160 - Duncan Lee (2-3) 6th

Round 1 - Bryce Lunsford (Fairfield) pinned Lee, 1:02

Round 2 - Kellen Kemp (Burlington) pinned Lee, 3:39

Round 3 - Lee, bye

Consolation Bracket - Lee, bye

5th Place Match - Ben Berber (Des Moines Lincoln) pinned Lee, 1:45

170 - Jeffery Thongvanh (8-3) 2nd

Round 1 - Thongvanh won by dec. over Isaiah Cox (Ottumwa), 6-3

Round 2 - Dalton Witte (Burlington) 15-2 pinned Thongvanh, 1:06

Round 3 - Thongvanh, bye

Championship Bracket - Thongvanh won by dec. over Markram Ibraheem (Des Moines East), 7-2

1st Place Match - Dalton Witte (Burlington) pinned Thongvanh, 1:58

182 - Mac Icenbice (3-7) 5th

Round 1 - Icenbice pinned Justin Worthington (Des Moines Lincoln, 2:39

Round 2 - Antone Swayzer (Burlington) pinned Icenbice, 2:52

Round 3 - Levi Cobler (Ottumwa) pinned Icenbice, 4:47

Consolation Bracket - Icenbice, bye

5th Place Match - Icenbice won by maj. dec. over Drew Jones (Ottumwa JV ), 10-2

195 - Ray Schroder (25-3) 2nd

Round 1 - Schroder pinned Chris Harban (Des Moines Lincoln), 1:17

Round 2 - Schroder pinned Randall Pugh (Fairfield) 4-3 (Fall 3:48)

Round 3 - Schroder pinned Broihson Turner (Burlington), 2:33

Championship Bracket - Schroder pinned Austin Robbins (Des Moines East), 1:14

1st Place Match - Jordan Trowers (Davenport North) won by dec. over Schroder, 5-2

220 - Jacob Williams (13-9) 4th

Round 1 - Williams pinned Trenton Sheets (Ottumwa JV ), 0:19

Round 2 - Williams, bye

Round 3 - Brett Scott (Fairfield) won by dec. over Williams, 3-2

Championship Bracket - Alex Contreras (Des Moines East) pinned Williams, 1:59

3rd Place Match - Briles Christenson (Des Moines Lincoln) won by injury default over Williams

285 - Lucas Montgomery (1-4) 5th

Round 1 - Vincent Clark (Burlington) pinned Montgomery, 1:22

Round 2 - Devon Ramirez (Davenport North) pinned Montgomery, 1:54

Round 3 - Montgomery, bye

Round 4 - Conner Mier (Ottumwa) pinned Montgomery, 0:38

Round 5 - Gary Padavich (Ottumwa JV ) pinned Montgomery,1:02