Schroder, Linahon are LHC champions

INDIANOLA — Newton High’s one-two punch on the wrestling mat this season — seniors Destin Schroder and Gage Linahon — came through again in Saturday’s 2020 Little Hawkeye Conference wrestling tournament.

Schroder defended his LHC 182-pound championship with an 8-0 major decision over Norwalk’s Tristen Duncan in the title bout at Indianola High School. Schroder, who is ranked No. 5 in Class 3A, pinned Will Campbell of Oskaloosa in 3:16 to begin the day and got past Indianola’s Caleb Watson 5-3 in the semifinals.

Linahon has been “just going out being aggressive and having fun” in his final high school season. He was the conference runner-up at 220 a year ago but not this year.

Linahon spent a combined 1:25 on the mat in his first two matches of the conference meet. He pinned Colin Kakacek of Dallas Center-Grimes in 29 seconds and Norwalk’s Hunter Blomgren in 56 seconds in the semifinals.

Linahon, who is ranked No. 4 in 3A at 220, was on the mat with 2A’s sixth-ranked Kamrin Steveson of Grinnell. The two had faced each other just a week ago.

In their dual match on Jan. 23, Linahon won 9-2 but on Saturday, Steveson made it closer. Linahon came out on top with a 5-2 decision and the LHC title.

Newton had two other wrestlers reach championship matches in their respective weights — sophomore Brennan Amos at 132 and junior Owen Sanger at 195. Both were runner-ups.

Amos was pinned in the first period of the championship match by 3A No. 7 Keaton Moret of Norwalk. He had beaten DCG’s Ben Brushaber 13-0 in the quarterfinals and came up with a 10-8 overtime decision against Grinnell’s Garrett Heater.

Sanger recorded back-to-back wins by falls over Norwalk’s Jason Kritzier and Grinnell’s Wyatt Hunter to go for the 195-pound championship. He was pinned by 3A third-ranked Miles Berg of Indianola at the 4:57 mark to finish second.

The Cardinals had eight wrestlers in the tournament and all made the LHC podium. Newton finished fifth in the team race with 128 points. Norwalk won the LHC team title with 247.5 points and Indianola was second at 212.5.

DCG was third with 173 points and Grinnell was fourth at 146. Pella took sixth with 110 points and Oskaloosa was seventh with 98 points.

Junior William Muckler took third at 285 by avenging a quarterfinal loss. He had been pinned by Pella’s Braydon Peterson then won a consolation semifinal with a first-period pin of Indianola’s Cael Crawford. Muckler won the third-place match with a 9-3 decision over Peterson.

Seniors Zane Kohlmeyer and Canaan Terpstra finished fourth at 160 and 170, respectively. Senior Dakota Borger was sixth at 145 pounds.

Kohlmeyer beat Grinnell’s Max Loveall 10-0 then was pinned by DCG’s Luke Fistler, who is ranked No. 5 in 3A, in the 160-pound semifinals. He lost 12-4 to Norwalk’s Cade Schmidt in the third-place match.

Terpstra opened with a first-period pin of Oskaloosa’s Blake Westercamp but lost 18-6 in the semifinals to 3A sixth-ranked Zach Needham of DCG. In the consolation semifinal, Terpstra pinned Grinnell’s Gavin Gilman in 19 seconds then lost by a fall in the third-place match to Norwalk’s Nick Marker.

Borger was pinned by Oskaloosa’s Wyatt Krier in the quarterfinals and was pinned by Norwalk’s Caden Nunez in the consolation semifinals. DCG’s Caden Fenn defeated Borger 9-3 in the fifth-place match.

Newton prepares for the 3A District 8 tournament on Feb. 15 at Marshalltown. The Cardinals will be joined by top-ranked Waverly-Shell Rock, No. 6 Waukee, Cedar Falls, Marshalltown, Waterloo East, Waterloo West and Cedar Rapids Xavier.

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