April 25, 2024

Cardinals beat Oskaloosa in LHC dual

By Jocelyn Sheets

Newton’s Jordan Henning works to turn an opponent in a home match earlier this season. Henning and the Cardinals won a Little Hawkeye Conference dual at Oskaloosa Thursday and lost a non-conference dual against Sigourney. (Jocelyn Sheets)

OSKALOOSA — Newton High’s wrestlers won the first two matches and the final two matches with four victories in between to wrap up a 39-30 Little Hawkeye Conference dual win at Oskaloosa Thursday.

Against an Oskaloosa Indians’ team featuring four ranked wrestlers in Class 3A, the Cardinals captured a win to go 2-1 in conference dual action. Sigourney edged out Newton, 42-40, in a non-conference dual. Newton is 7-3 overall in duals.

“I am proud of our guys for the way they battled tonight. It is always good to get a conference win,” said Andy Swedenhjelm, Newton head coach. “We have had a great attitude, and our kids are young and hungry to get better. With that said, though we are young, and are experiencing a few growing pains like young teams will.”

Junior Duncan Lee moved up to the 220-pound spot for Newton against Oskaloosa, taking on seventh ranked Callan Tomlin. The Cardinals trailed the Indians 12-9.

Lee trailed 4-3 after one period, but tied it up, 4-4, with an escape in the second period. Tomlin went up 5-4 then Lee scored two points on a takedown. Tomlin came up with an escape to forge a 6-6 tie. In overtime, Lee scored two points for the sudden victory, 8-6.

Lee’s win set off a four-match surge for the Cardinals. Jordan Henning, who moved up to 285, pinned Zane McKay in 1 minute, 13 seconds. Ross Hull at 106 and Hunter Versteegh each won by major decisions — 14-0 and 13-4, respectively — for Newton.

Tenth-ranked Drew Sams pinned Newton’s Jonathon Lawton at 120 and Tristan Marks won by forfeit at 126 for Oskaloosa. Oskaloosa’s Skylar DeJong, ranked third at 126, moved up to 132 and pinned Newton’s Reece Thurmond in the second period. That put the Indians up 30-26 with two matches to remaining.

Logan Zibert came back from a 4-0 deficit with a reversal to pin Oskaloosa’s Zac Randau in 1:34 in their 138-pound match, giving Newton a 32-30 lead. Bryce Tish sealed the team victory by pinning Skyler Allison at 145 pounds in one minute.

Brady Smith had opened the dual with Oskaloosa with a pin of the Indians’ Brady Beerbower in the 152-pound match. Tristin Langmaid put the Cardinals up 9-0 with a 6-2 decision over Andy Bonilla at 160.

Cody Jones, ranked seventh at 170 for Oskaloosa, pinned Newton’s Harley Walker. Kyler Salazar pinned Jacob Smith of Newton in 1:36 at 182.

“I cannot be prouder though of the way that they go out and represent our community with a great effort when they step out on the mat. Duncan Lee and Bryce Tish have been great leaders, doing everything you can ask on and off the mat. They are providing a great example for our younger kids,” Swedenhjelm said.

Newton rallied from an early 18-0 deficit against Sigourney to lead 40-30. Sigourney’s eighth-ranked Nathan Fritz pinned Tish in 3:41 at 145 pounds, then Lane Boender pinned Newton’s Brady Smith in 1:19 at 152 to claim a 42-40 win. Sigourney has two wrestlers ranked in Class 1A — Fritz and Bryce Brown at 220, who pinned Newton’s Henning in 2:22.

Lee notched a 16-3 major decision over Sigourney’s Zebb Webb to get Newton on the scoreboard. Caden Manning earned a forfeit win at 285 then Hull, Lawton and Versteegh won by pins at 106, 113 and 120, respectively. Thurmond’s win by forfeit at 132 and Zibert’s pin of Sigourney’s Bryce Goldman in the 138-pound match had the Cardinals in front, 40-30.

There were four junior varsity matches contested between Newton and Sigourney. Aren Sorensen pinned Gidien Goff in 27 seconds in a 106 match. Newton’s Reed Shepard was pinned by Adam DeRegnier and Blayden Rhone was pinned by Sigourney’s Alex Schuster in 160-pound matches. Noah Hammer of Newton lost 19-2 in a technical fall to Noah Reeves at 145.

Senior J.T. Thongvanh is still sidelined with an injury for Newton. Thongvanh was the starting 170-pound wrestler for the Cardinals. Dakota Dawson, a senior who wrestled at 138 pounds, is no longer on the Newton team.

Newton competes in the Ottumwa Invitational Saturday. Newton goes to Ames Tuesday in the reschedule double dual with Urbandale and Ames from Monday.

Newton (N) 39, Oskaloosa (O) 30

152: Brady Smith (N) over Brady Beerbower (O) (Fall 1:17) 160: Tristin Langmaid (N) over Andy Bonilla (O) (Dec 6-2) 170: Cody Jones (O) over Harley Walker (N) (Fall 1:42) 182: Kyler Salazar (O) over Jacob Smith (N) (Fall 1:36) 220: Duncan Lee (N) over Callan Tomlin (O) (SV-1 8-6) 285: Jordan Henning (N) over Zane McKay (O) (Fall 1:13) 106: Ross Hull (N) over Talon Munger (O) (MD 14-0) 113: Hunter Versteegh (N) over Josh Diehl (O) (MD 13-4) 120: Drew Sams (O) over Jonathon Lawton (N) (Fall 1:48) 126: Tricstan Marks (O) (For.) 132: Skylar DeJong (O) over Reece Thurmond (N) (Fall 3:35) 138: Logan Zibert (N) over Zac Randau (O) (Fall 1:34) 145: Bryce Tish (N) over Skyler Allison (O) (Fall 1:00) (N miscalculation 1.00)

Sigourney (S) 42, Newton (N) 40

160: Gage Greiner (S) over Tristin Langmaid (N) (Fall 1:02) 170: Noah Boender (S) over Harley Walker (N) (Fall 1:02) 182: Kaleb Reeves (S) over Jacob Smith (N) (Fall 0:57) 195: Duncan Lee (N) over Zeb Webb (S) (MD 16-3) 220: Bryce Brown (S) over Jordan Henning (N) (Fall 2:22) 285: Caden Manning (N) over (S) (For.) 106: Ross Hull (N) over Thomas Stout (S) (Fall 1:12) 113: Jonathon Lawton (N) over Luke House (S) (Fall 1:33) 120: Hunter Versteegh (N) over Nick Ives (S) (Fall 1:43) 126: Gavin Jones (S) (For.) 132: Reece Thurmond (N) (For.) 138: Logan Zibert (N) over Bryce Goldman (S) (Fall 1:56) 145: Nathan Fritz (S) over Bryce Tish (N) (Fall 3:41) 152: Lane Boender (S) over Brady Smith (N) (Fall 1:19)

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com