Cardinal grapplers finish fifth at LHC tournament

NORWALK — Kaiden Rogers was a runner-up, Lucas Cockerton and Wyatt Weter both finished third in their weight classes and Newton’s boys wrestling team ended up fifth in the Little Hawkeye Conference tournament on Saturday.

The Cardinals entered 13 wrestlers into the tournament and six placed in the top five.

Indianola won four individual titles and placed 12 of its 14 wrestlers in the top three and the Indians edged Dallas Center-Grimes for the team title.

Indianola scored 234 points at the top and DCG had 223 in second. The Mustangs won five individual championships and nine placed in the top three, while Norwalk (198.5) was third with a tournament-best six individual champions.

The rest of the field included Pella (165), Newton (114), Grinnell (110) and Oskaloosa (45). Only Indianola and DCG had a full lineup, while Norwalk, Pella and Newton all had 13 wrestlers.

Newton was open at 160 pounds. Grinnell had 11 wrestlers and Oskaloosa was short-handed with only five.

Rogers (14-7) placed second at 113. He was 1-1 for the day with a 48-second pin. His lone loss was by fall to Class 3A No. 11 Ayden Beck of DCG.

Cockerton (9-6) and Weter (16-12) placed third at 106 and 182, respectively. Cockerton was 3-1 for the day with three pins and Weter finished 2-1.

Cockerton’s final two pins came in the first period and Weter’s victories were 8-3 and 14-4. One of Weter’s losses was an 8-4 win by decision from 3A No. 11 Isaiah Kellow of Indianola.

The team’s next best finisher was Avery White. He was fourth at 145 after going 1-2 with a win by pin in his first match. One of his losses came against 3A No. 12 Jake Pontier of Indianola. Pontier defeated White 11-2.

Sebastian Sorenson (120), Lane Rozendaal (152), Nathan Milburn (170) and Thomas Stadelmann (285) all were fifth. Sorenson won twice by fall, while Rozendaal, Milburn and Stadelmann all earned one win by pin.

Seth Adams (126), Aiden Robson (132), Jesus Murillo (138), Arion Seiser (195) and Coleby Revell (220) all finished 0-3 but scored sixth-place points for the Cardinals.

Dallas Center-Grimes 67, Newton 6

GRIMES — Cockerton opened the night with a win, but Newton struggled against one of the best teams in the LHC on Thursday night.

The Cardinals were 1-13 in contested matches and Dallas Center-Grimes registered eight pins during a 67-6 home win.

The Mustangs (10-4 overall, 5-1 in the LHC) also finished with two technical falls and three wins by decision.

Cockerton’s win at 106 came by fall in 13 seconds. White lost 8-3 at 145, Revell dropped a 6-3 decision at 220 and Stadelmann was defeated 6-5 at 285.

James Murphy got a 9-0 win in junior varsity action.

Newton’s varsity fell to 2-6 in duals and 1-5 in conference action.