March 28, 2024

Cardinals notch double dual split

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INDIANOLA — On the night the new individual rankings came out, Newton High senior Hunter Versteegh made a statement on the wrestling mat in front of his opponent’s home crowd.

Versteegh had been ranked 10th in Class 3A’s 113-pound division, but fell out of the top 10 rankings this week. He faced Indianola’s Lance Runyon, who is ranked No. 8 in 3A, with Newton trailing its host 30-3 in Thursday’s dual.

Versteegh used a first-period takedown and a reversal for two points in the second period to notch a 4-0 victory. It was one of three wins the Cardinals had against the Indians, who are ranked No. 10 in Class 3A in dual action by the Iowa Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association.

Senior Duncan Lee moved down a weight class recently. Lee had been ranked all season in the 3A 195-pound class. In the new rankings, Lee is sitting at No. 8 in the 182-pound class as the only Newton wrestler ranked.

Lee captured a 5-2 win over Indianola’s Dom Endrizal at 182. Despite being down 57-6, the Cardinals ended the dual with the Indians with style. Senior Bryce Tish pinned Indianola’s Brayden Elbert at the 2 minute, 44-second mark of their 152-pound match.

“It was an up and down night for us,” Newton head coach Andy Swedenhjelm said of Newton’s split of a double dual. The Cardinals lost 57-12 to Indianola and defeated Des Moines Roosevelt, 41-33.

“Some people wrestled really well, and some people not so much,” he said. “Hunter did a great job controlling a ranked opponent for the entirety of the match. Duncan kept doing great things on the mat.”

Indianola had four wrestlers ranked in Class 3A at 113, 106, 132 and 285.

The closest match of the dual with the Indians came at 120 pounds. Newton sophomore Ross Hull and Indianola’s Connor Sexton went into overtime tied 2-2. Hull had a takedown in the first period and Sexton tied the match with a reversal in the third period. Sexton won 4-1 with a takedown in overtime.

Newton trailed Des Moines Roosevelt, 18-12, after five matches. The Cardinals took the lead with four straight forfeit wins at 106, 113, 120 and 126 to lead 35-18. The Roughriders won the next match to close the gap to 35-24.

Cardinal senior Parker Schuster found himself behind 5-2 after one period of his 138-pound match with Roosevelt’s Quan Huynh. Schuster came back from a near-fall in the first period and won 10-8.

Tish recorded a 12-5 win over Sam Grinstead at 152. Junior Tanner Petro put the finishing touch on the dual victory for Newton with an 8-1 victory over Matthew Jones at 160 pounds. Lee had a 15-0 technical fall over Roosevelt’s Evan Knorad in the 182-pound match for the other win on the mat for the Cardinals.

There were 12 junior varsity matches contested between Newton and Indianola. Newton junior varsity wrestlers will compete in Saturday’s Colfax-Mingo duals in Colfax.

Newton is 9-8 in dual action. Next season Indianola will be a member of the Little Hawkeye Conference.

Newton wraps up varsity dual action Thursday in a double dual with Dallas Center-Grimes and host Knoxville. The Little Hawkeye Conference tournament is Jan. 30 at Oskaloosa.

Newton 41 Des Moines Roosevelt 33

170: josh Hawkins (DMR) over Harley Walker (N) (Fall 3:31) 182: Duncan Lee (N) over Evan Konrad (DMR) (TF 15-0 2:26) 195: Andrew Woock (DMR) over Blayden Rhone (N) (Fall 2:42) 220: Caleb Kite (N) (For.) 285: Sunday Deng (DMR) over Alex Miller (N) (Fall 1:44) 106: Blake Cockerton (N) (For.) 113: Hunter Versteegh (N) (For.) 120: Ross Hull (N) (For.) 126: Aren Sorensen (N) (For.) 132: Ashton Davis (DMR) over Jon Lawton (N) (Fall 0:57) 138: Parker Schuster (N) over Quan Huynh (DMR) (Dec 10-8) 145: Korbin Blankenship (DMR) (For.) 152: Sam Grinstead (DMR) over Bryce Tish (N) (Dec 12-5) 160: Tanner Petro (N) over Matthew Jones (DMR) (Dec 8-1)

Indianola 57 Newton 12

160: Kade Kolarik (I) over Tanner Petro (N) (MD 12-2) 170: Tanner Zimmerman (I) over Harley Walker (N) (Fall 1:33) 182: Duncan Lee (N) over Dom Endrizal (I) (Dec 5-2) 195: Wyatt Carpenter (I) over Blayden Rhone (N) (Fall 0:49) 220: Brock VanLoon (I) over Caleb Kite (N) (Dec 4-0) 285: Eagan Lickiss (I) over Alex Miller (N) (Fall 1:31) 106: Kobey Pritchard (I) over Blake Cockerton (N) (TF 20-3 2:43) 113: Hunter Versteegh (N) over Lance Runyon (I) (Dec 4-0) 120: Connor Sexton (I) over Ross Hull (N) (SV-1 4-2) 126: Josh Barretta (I) over Aren Sorensen (N) (Fall 0:45) 132: Joe Howard (I) over Jon Lawton (N) (Fall 3:37) 138: Zach Fisher (I) over Parker Schuster (N) (Fall 2:31) 145: Joe Sams (I) (For.) 152: Bryce Tish (N) over Brayden Elbert (I) (Fall 2:44)

Junior Varsity matches

Reece Caves (N) over Jake Glowgowski (I) (Fall 0:53); Reece Caves (N) over Jacob McGinnis (I) (Fall 1:11); Damir Gumera (N) over Ben Teasdale (I) (Dec 5-1); Logan Edwards (I) over Landon Hansen (N) (Fall 1:32); Ben Krapfl (I) over Landon Hansen (N) (Fall 5:26); Josh Miller (N) over Shane Crawford (I) (Fall 1:49); Chayton Reif (I) over Josh Miller (N) (Dec 8-3); Colt Carpenter (I) over Reed Shepard (N) (Fall 1:07); Wes Hogard (I) over Reed Shepard (N) (Fall 0:54); Sam Wolff (I) over Jacob Smith (N) (Dec 4-3); Reece Bowlin (I) over Jacob Smith (N) (Fall 5:57); Coltin Whitten (N) over Blake Schumacher (I) (Fall 3:39)

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
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or jsheets@newtondailynews.com