Tigerhawk wrestling takes fifth at SICL tournament

BELLE PLAINE — Colfax-Mingo dealt with illness last week and it affected numbers at the South Iowa Cedar League Invitational on Feb. 1.

The Tigerhawks brought 10 and L-S only six to Belle Plaine High School as Colfax-Mingo finished fifth and the Hawks took ninth at the annual tournament.

Cyden Fitch and Hunter Green both won their first SICL titles, five Tigerhawks claimed top-three finishes and Colfax-Mingo scored 141.5 points in the final team standings.

“I think we finished a little lower than I had hoped,” Colfax-Mingo coach Erin Hume said. “I thought we could compete for top three, but we wrestled well. We were short-handed and it got away from us a bit.”

Host Belle Plaine won the team championship with 175.5 points, while Iowa Valley (163), BGM (149) and Sigourney-Keota (146) rounded out the top five. North Mahaska was sixth with 133.5 points, HLV (99) took seventh despite having only five wrestlers, English Valleys (67) placed eighth, Lynnville-Sully (44) was ninth and Montezuma (15) was 10th.

Colfax-Mingo was missing Shane Aikin (182) and Tevin Wamsher (145) because of illness.

Fitch (36-4) was dominant in his three matches at 138 pounds. He won twice by fall and once by technical fall.

“It feels good. I tried as hard as I could,” said Fitch, who was the No. 1 seed. “This is my last year so I wanted to go out with a win. I haven’t hit my stride yet. I think I can get into better shape. I have been tired after some matches. I need some more conditioning, but I feel good right now.”

Fitch finished second in each of his first three seasons but climbed all the way up the podium in his final SICL tournament.

“Cyden did what he was supposed to do,” He’s been second three years in a row and always had that really good kid ahead of him. This year, he’s the really good kid.”

Green (27-8) had an up-and-down day but was good enough to win all three of his matches at 132. He won his first two bouts by fall and then rallied from an early hole to win the championship match 16-10. He also was put on his back in the first-round but recovered to score a pin in the first period. His other pin came in 51 seconds against Lynnville-Sully’s Isaac Johnson.

Green, who was the No. 1 seed this season, finished fourth at 126 last season.

“It feels pretty good. For a second year of wrestling, it’s not too bad,” Green said. “I was confident coming into the day. The last guy I faced is good so I couldn’t go in cocky. I got a boost confidence wise because I beat them before. But there’s always a chance they could get me this time. I just tried to stay confident and do my stuff.”

Green is only in his second year of wrestling. Hume was proud of how his 132-pounder fought through adversity all day.

“He did a great job. He kept himself in good position and kept himself in every match,” Hume said. “He had to fight off his back in his first match and then got behind in the last one. He did a great job of keeping himself in the match. For a guy who has only wrestled two years, this should help his confidence level for next week.”

Trystin Ross (170) and Noah Strohmeyer (106) both placed second in their respective weights.

Ross (32-8) started his day with a 33-second pin over Montezuma’s Brian Diaz then avenged a loss to Belle Plaine’s Connor Timm, who he pinned in the second period.

In the finals, Ross lost to Class 1A No. 3 (160) Ben Smith of Iowa Valley, 12-1. Ross was third at 160 last year, third at 152 in 2018 and fourth at 145 in 2017.

“Trystin is always at his best at the end of the year,” Hume said. “I can always count on him being ready to go, and I am just proud of him. He wrestled a really tough kid and getting that match is good for him.”

Strohmeyer (25-8) was 1-1 on the day. He won once by fall and lost in the finals 19-11 to North Mahaska’s Paul DeJong. Strohmeyer won the title at 106 last year and finished third in 2018.

The next best finish for the Tigerhawks came from Jakob Chapman, who was third at 285. Chapman (28-14) was 3-1 for the day with two pins.

Will Thornton was 1-2 at 195 for C-M but placed fourth for the second straight season. His only win came by pin. Hunter Stevens (25-16) also placed fourth at 152. He was 2-2 on the day with two pins.

Kenneth Craig finished 1-3 at 220. He placed sixth. Mariah Webster (120) and Danica Linn (113) were both 0-2.

The Tigerhawks compete at a 1A sectional at noon on Saturday in Ogden.

C-M wrestling loses twice at Greene County

JEFFERSON — Fitch and Ross both went 2-0 but Colfax-Mingo struggled in a road triangular on Jan. 28.

The Tigerhawks lost 54-27 to host Greene County and also lost 66-18 to ADM of Adel.

Fitch won both of his matches by fall, while Ross won once by fall and once by an 8-7 decision.

Colfax-Mingo (22-9) fell behind 30-0 against Greene County. Fitch got the Tigerhawks on the board with a third-period pin over Brady Stauffer at 138.

Ross’ 8-7 win came at 160 against Will Hansen and then Shane Aikin (23-13) and Katie Schlosser each took forfeits at 170 and 182, respectively. Will Thornton got a pin at 195 to conclude the scoring for Colfax-Mingo.

The Tigerhawks got behind 24-0 against ADM. Fitch again put his team on the board with a pin over Chris Simmons at 138. Ross scored a pin over Nathan Tapken at 160 and the only other win for C-M came at 106 where Judith Goetz took a forfeit.

Strohmeyer did not wrestle for the Tigerhawks. Fitch has won 17 straight matches. Ross is on an eight-match win streak.