Blayden Rhone is LHC 182 champion

PELLA — A year ago, Blayden Rhone was coming back from a knee injury and wrestled in junior varsity matches to get back in shape. He missed his junior season Little Hawkeye Conference wrestling tournament.

Rhone made up for it on Saturday at Pella Community High School. The Newton High senior avenged an NHS Senior Night loss and captured the 2018 Little Hawkeye Conference 182-pound championship in one match.

Rhone won his quarterfinal and semifinal matches to reach the title match to face Dallas Center-Grimes sophomore Zach Needham. The two met in a dual on Thursday at Newton and went through the first period scoreless, and then Needham was able to turn Rhone for a pin in the second period.

“I wasn’t going to lose to him again. I came out very aggressive and he got a stalling call early in the match,” Rhone said. “I got in a couple of shots and pushed him around the mat a lot.”

Rhone and Needham went scoreless in the first period again. Rhone was up 2-1 after the second period but Needham tied it up at 2-all.

“I got a couple of takedowns against him in the third period and it was over,” Rhone said. “It felt good to get the conference championship, especially since I hurt my knee last year and missed the conference meet.”

It was Rhone’s first and last LHC tournament title since he hadn’t competed at the conference meet before this season. Rhone (26-12) was one of three Newton Cardinals to reach championship matches on Saturday.

Junior Jaise Gulling advanced to the 195-pound title match facing Class 3A seventh-ranked Reece Bowlin of Indianola. It was the third time the two have met this season. The first two meetings were close but went to Bowlin.

Gulling and Bowlin were tied 4-4 in the second period in Saturday’s championship match.

“I got caught in a weird move,” Gulling said after being pinned at the 2:33 mark by Bowlin. Gulling (26-9) had posted a 3-2 semifinal win over Norwalk’s Nate Heckart after a first-round bye. Gulling finished third at 195 in 2017.

Sophomore Gage Linahon pulled off a 3-2 win over Class 3A No. 10 Sam Wolff of Indianola with an escape point in the third period of their 220-pound semifinal. In the quarterfinals, Linahon pinned Pella’s Braydon Peterson in 1:20.

In the 220 title match, Linahon (30-8) battled 3A fifth-ranked Drake Leek of Norwalk. He took Leek the full six minutes, but lost 7-3.

Newton had six wrestlers earn LHC medals and all-conference honors. Joining Rhone, Gulling and Linahon were sophomores Destin Schroder at 170 and Blake Iske at 138 and freshman Anthony Bestell at 106 as each finished third at their respective weights.

Two other Cardinals finished fourth — sophomore Canaan Terpstra at 132 and junior Ike Bebout at 285. Sophomore Zane Kohlmeyer finished sixth at 145 pounds.

Class 3A 13th-ranked Norwalk was the 2018 LHC team champion with 228 points. Dallas Center-Grimes, ranked 24th, took second with 199 points and 23rd-ranked Indianola — the 2017 LHC champion — was third with 173.5 points. Grinnell was fourth with 141.5 points.

Newton placed fifth as a team with 129 points. Pella was sixth with 94 points and Oskaloosa was seventh with 83 points.

Rhone’s day began with a quarterfinal win, He pinned Pella’s Scott Chaffin in 5:05. Rhone said Newton head coach Andy Swedenhjelm had told him to get a few shots for takedowns on Chaffin as he worked for the win. He said he had beaten Chaffin, who is a decent wrestler, earlier in the season.

Next up in the semifinal was Indianola’s Colt Carpenter.

“He (Carpenter) had beaten me in our dual and I’d been looking forward to this match for awhile,” Rhone said. “We were tied 1-1 in the third period. With two seconds left in the match, I got a takedown to win 3-2.”

Bestell only had two matches on the day as there were four wrestlers in the LHC 106-pound division. He was pinned by Grinnell’s Dalton Gosselink in 1:05 in a semifinal match. In the third-place match, Bestell (15-18) racked up an 18-6 major decision over DCG’s Dakota Arends.

Iske had a first-round bye at 138 the lost a 2-0 decision to Grinnell’s Eli Rose in the semifinals. Iske beat DCG’s Trevon Wells, 7-1, in the consolation semifinal. Iske (19-24) pulled out an 11-5 win over Indianola’s Kaleb Kloberdanz for third place.

Schroder pinned Wyatt Hunter of Grinnell in 3:36 in the quarterfinals then lost 17-7 to Norwalk’s Jack Livingston in the semifinals. He won by a fall in the second period against Pella’s Ben Nelson in a consolation semifinal. Schroder (17-14) captured third with a 13-6 win over DCG’s Ty Chambers.

At 132, Terpstra and Pella’s Matthew Widmar met twice in the tournament. Terpstra pinned Widmar in the quarterfinals, was pinned by DCG’s Max Tracy in the semifinals and pinned Indianola’s Brock Elbert in the consolation semifinal. It brought Terpstra (21-19) full circle meeting Widmar in the third-place match, but Widmar pinned him in 1:29.

Bebout opened his run in the 285 division with a first-period pin of Pella’s Tyler VanderMolen. Indianola’s Logan Edwards defeated Bebout 5-3 in a semifinal match. In the consolation semifinals, Bebout pinned Norwalk’s Bryce Kohls in 49 seconds. Bebout (15-14) lost by a fall to Oskaloosa’s Keegan Mitts-Butler in the third-place match.

Kohlmeyer was pinned by Grinnell’s Wyatt Dillion in 25 seconds in his 145-pound quarterfinal. He bounced back to pin Pella’s Ben Hones in the first round of consolation action. DCG’s Bain Broderick pinned Kohlmeyer in 3:42 in the consolation semifinal. Kohlmeyer (15-25) forfeited the fifth-place match to Oskaloosa’s Leland Evans.

There’s potential LHC rematches for Newton wrestlers in the Class 3A District 7 meet on Feb. 10 at West Des Moines Valley. Indianola is in the district with Newton and Valley along with Ames, Boone, Carlisle, Des Moines North-Hoover and Johnston.

Newton concludes its regular season at a non-conference double dual at 5:30 p.m. Thursday with Ames and host Des Moines Lincoln.

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