Newton girls fall to Indianola, places fifth at home tournament

Ashlyn Van Manen figured she’d be in her for her toughest test of the season so far when the Newton girls wrestling team went up against Indianola on Thursday.

And it took only a few seconds to realize she might have to go the full three periods to stay unbeaten.

“I don’t like single legs because I can’t sprawl out of them,” Van Manen said. “Once she got me in the single leg, I had to figure out how to get out of it quickly.”

Van Manen, who is currently ranked 10th in Class 2A at 235 pounds, was able to fight off the best shot of the match from Indianola’s Alyvia Drish and then countered with points of her own.

That gave the Cardinal heavyweight some early momentum and she eventually stayed undefeated with a third-period pin.

It was one of only three contested wins for the Cardinals though as Indianola downed its hosts 41-33 in front of a large and loud crowd. The Indians are ranked No. 8 in the 2A tournament rankings.

“We have a lot of new girls so there’s a ton of growth to be had,” Newton head girls coach Chad Garvis said.

The Newton girls wrestling team has its largest roster since the program was formed several seasons ago. But most of the girls are new to the sport.

Van Manen is one of the veterans, and she’s now 5-0 after registering her fourth pin of the season.

“I had some easy matches in that first tournament. Those girls just tried to throw headlocks and those are easy to counter,” Van Manen said. “This was my toughest match so far. Even though I won, there’s a bunch of things I have to work on.

“Once she tied up with me, I knew it would be a points match that goes into the third period. I knew I couldn’t give up any free points. I just kept moving and was able to counter it and score off it eventually.”

Garvis gave credit to Van Manen for being a smart wrestler who doesn’t make anything easy on her opponent.

“She’s calm and patient and was aggressive like I expected,” Garvis said. “You have to earn a win against her. She fights through everything and doesn’t put herself in bad spots very often.”

The Cardinals, who defeated Indianola 45-36 last season, were 3-7 in contested matches against the Indians.

Two of the team’s most experienced wrestlers — Kylee and Haylee Adams — both took forfeits at 115 and 120 pounds, respectively, and Lilly Fuchs accepted one at 190.

Brailynn Bakalar made her varsity debut at 130 and won 11-6 and Sadie Booth posted the other contested win at 140. She won by fall with 11 seconds to go in the match.

The Cardinals also didn’t duck Indianola’s top three wrestlers. Class 2A No. 1 Nora Ohnemus and Jazelle Smith scored first-period pins over Siearra Woody and Grace Guy at 100 and 170, respectively, and 2A No. 2 Siera Becker posted a technical fall win over Rosa Borja at 100. Smith is ranked fifth at 190.

“We had five girls who wrestled tonight who have never wrestled in a match before,” Garvis said. “But I don’t think you could tell that by watching those matches.”

Cardinals finish fifth in home tournament

Twenty-five Cardinals from the Newton girls wrestling team competed in the Cardinal Classic on Saturday, and more than half of them placed eighth or better in their brackets.

Van Manen led the way with a runner-up finish at 235, Woody took third at 100 and Kylee Adams (115), Fuchs (190) and Isabel Talley (235) also were top five at their weights.

Carlisle won the tournament championship with 236.5 points. That was well in front of Knoxville (175) and Pella (171.5) and 2A No. 8 Indianola (139) and Newton (128) completed the top five in the 12-team field.

No. 10 Van Manen was one of four Cardinals in the 235 bracket. She was second after going 2-1 with two pins. Her lone loss and first loss of the season came by fall against No. 9 Mariah Ripperger of Knoxville.

Talley was fifth in the class, and Bianca Gutierrez and Audrey Kaldenberg placed sixth and seventh, respectively.

Talley was 2-2 with two pins over her teammates Gutierrez and Kaldenberg. Gutierrez was 2-3 with two pins and Kaldenberg finished 3-2 with three pins.

Woody was third in a four-person bracket at 100. She was 1-1 for the day with one pin.

Kylee Adams was fourth at 115. She opened the tournament with 10-1 loss to 2A No. 4 Alyssa Wheeler of Carlisle. She was 1-2 with an 11-0 victory.

Fuchs was fourth at 190 with two wins and one pin, Haylee Adams finished sixth at 120, Booth was sixth at 135 and Guy placed sixth at 170.

Haylee Adams was 2-3 with two wins by pin. One of her losses was a 12-9 defeat in SV-1 and she also lost by fall in a match she was leading 5-4 in.

Booth’s lone win came by pin, Guy was 2-3 with two pins and Bakalar (130), Peyton Hoen (145) and Shawna Foreman (155) all were seventh at their weights.

Hoen lost her first match of the day but bounced back with three straight wins, including two by fall. Foreman was 2-2 with two first-period pins and Bakalar won three times by fall after losing her first match. One of her wins by pin came when the match was tied at 14-all.

Borja (110) and Payton Bradley (170) both were eighth at their weights. Borja’s lone win came by fall and Bradley won twice by fall. Bradley won by pin while trailing 8-5 and lost by fall while winning 7-1.

Alivia Conley (125) won her first match by fall, but every other Cardinal in the field finished either 0-2 or 0-3.