The granddaddy of them all in Southwest Iowa wrestling is almost
here. The John J. Harris Invitational in Corning is one of my favorite sporting
events in all of high school sports. Being a graduate of Southwest Valley, the
2014 edition of John J was the first wrestling tournament I ever covered. I
will try not to bore you with a ton of details, but let's just say I did play
by play of the entire tournament despite knowing just about nothing about
wrestling. I've learned a lot about wrestling since then and have covered many
different meets, including three state wrestling tournaments, but John J. has
always maintained a special place in my heart.
There were originally 23 teams
slated to attend tomorrow but stupid Mother Nature has forced six teams to
pull the plug on travelling to Corning Saturday. No worries though, there are
17 teams planning on attending what should be an awesome day of wrestling.
Those teams are; Adair Casey/Guthrie Center, Atlantic/CAM, Bedford/Lenox,
Clarinda, Clarinda Academy, Creston/OM, East Mills, Griswold, Missouri
Valley, Mount Ayr, Nodaway Valley Red Oak, Riverside, Shenandoah, Southwest
Valley, Tri-Center and Winterset.
All rankings come from The
Predicament
106 Pounds
Ranked Wrestlers (1): 1A No. 10 Jace Rose (Riverside)
Rose's, high school career is off to an impressive 21-0
start. I saw him in person at Riverside's home tournament and I was thoroughly
impressed He might be the only ranked wrestler in this class but he's not the
only undefeated freshman in this weight class. Nodaway Valley has been a
pleasant surprise (at least, to me) and a lot of that has been due to the
emergence of freshman Elliot Cooney. Cooney---is 27-0 on the season and has won
every contested match by either fall or tech-fall. I'm honestly surprised he
has not reached the rankings yet. It looks like there's a really good chance
that we get a battle of undefeated freshman in the finals and I'm all for it.
However, I think it would be silly to count out Atlantic's Garrett McLaren--who
has lost just two contested matches since Christmas.
113 Pounds
Ranked Wrestlers (1): 1A No. 8 Bryce Shaha (Mount Ayr)
Another weight class with just one ranked wrestler, but don't
let the rankings make you think this class might not be deep because it is.
Shaha, the lone ranked wrestler is also the defending tournament champion at
106 pounds. The sophomore bounced around between 113, 120 and 126, but has won
at every weight class and has just two losses. Shaha will most likely be the
one seed and the favorite to win it, but after that is where it gets
interesting. Sam Kyle (Missouri Valley) has been wrestling really well and was
ranked earlier in the season. John Schroder (Riverside) was also ranked at the
beginning of the season while Aybren Moore (Atlantic/CAM) and Jonathan Erp (Red
Oak) could make a run at the finals as well.
120 Pounds
Ranked Wrestlers (2): 1A No. 9 Blaine Beeler (ACGC), 1A No. 10
Connor Atkisson (Tri-Center)
A weight class with two ranked wrestlers! Atkisson has lost to the
eventual tournament champion in the two previous John J's and would love to
capture a title in his junior campaign, he will have a little extra motivation
this week as he looks to avenge a pinfall loss to Beeler on January
10th.
Aside from Beeler and Atkisson, I expect Joe Weaver (Atlantic/CAM)
and Kaden Bolton (Creston/OM) to also make a run at the finals. Neither one of
them have wrestled Beeler or Atkisson but they did wrestle each other earlier
this season with Weaver picking up the win.
126 Pounds
Ranked Wrestlers (2): 2A No. 8 Bryce Hatten (Winterset), 1A No. 9
Trae Ehlen (Mount Ayr)
Here's a fun fact: only two underclassmen won championships at
last years' tournament. We've already mentioned Shaha and the other one is
Hatten who picked up the crown at 120 pounds last season. Ehlen has had a very
impressive sophomore campaign with just four losses, all to ranked wrestlers
while Hatten has just two losses, both of which came at the hands of ranked
grapplers.
Ehlen and Hatten have not met this year, but they do share a
common loss in Martensdale-St. Mary's Cole Cassady. Ehlen lost to Cassady
twice, once in sudden-victory and once by two points while Hatten lost to
Cassady 6-0. If you believe in transitive property, then you pry believe Ehlen
is the favorite, but either way, this should be fun.
132 Pounds
Ranked Wrestlers (1): 2A No. 3 Kruise Kiburz (Winterset)
Last year Kruise Kiburz had perhaps the most impressive tournament
performance from a non-champion. Kiburz lost his first round match to Connor
Lange (Missouri Valley) but did not lose again over the two-day stretch in a
pretty stout 138 pound class. Kiburz is down to 132 pounds this weekend and
will be the odds-on favorite to finish the day undefeated.
Guessing who is most likely to join Kiburz in the finals is a
crapshoot as there is multiple candidates such as Cale Rowley (ACGC), Garon
Wurster (Creston/OM), Talon Reidel (Bedford/Lenox), John Seylor (Griswold) and
Nolan Moore (Riverside) just to name a few.
138 Pounds
Ranked Wrestlers (2): 1A No. 4 Teagan Lundquist (Southwest
Valley), 2A No. 6 Chase McLaren (Atlantic/CAM)
I've been wanting to see Lundquist vs. McLaren all year. I thought
it might happen at the Rollin Dyer Tournament two weeks ago in Atlantic, but
Lundquist was ill while McLaren cruised to a title. McLaren has just three
losses on the year and they are to a nationally ranked grappler from Nebraska
and two of the top 138-pounders in Class 3A.
Lundquist has just two non-medical forfeit losses this
season including a loss to 1A No. 3 Josh Tibbits (Martensdale-St. Mary's) at
the Pride of Iowa Tournament. The most intriguing part about these two
wrestlers is they have similar styles. Both wrestlers’ waste no time taking
dudes down and they wrestle with a mean streak. Both wrestlers have to get to
the finals first, but if they do, it could be the match of the night.
145 Pounds
Ranked Wrestlers (2): 2A No. 5 Jack West (Winterset), 1A No. 6
Duke Kyle (Missouri Valley)
This class has been dominated by Mitchel Swank the past few years
but he's graduated and it's up for grabs. West and Kyle will certainly be the
favorites and they are practically foreign to one another because they've never
faced each other. There's a very good chance that they meet in the championship
bout, but there's also a good chance that someone like Easton Benson (ACGC),
Trevor Nelson (Tri-Center) or Kadin Stutzman (Atlantic/CAM) plays spoiler.
There's almost always at least one upset at John J.
152 Pounds
Ranked Wrestlers (1): 1A No. 6 Connor Lange (Missouri Valley)
Lange finished second at 138 pounds last year, dropping a thriller
to Austin Gutknecht (Clarinda) in the finals. There's no Gutknecht is in his
way this year and Lange has his sights on finally winning that John J. title.
Lange has just five losses and none of them have come in Class 1A.
Winterset's Tyler Brown has shown signs of promise this year,
dropping just four contested matches. Austin Wilson (Nodaway Valley) has had a
solid season, posting a 15-7 record thus far, he could perhaps put his name on
the map with a solid showing at John J as could Tri-Center's Trevor Nelson.
160 Pounds
Ranked Wrestlers (3): 1A No. 3 Drew Venteicher (Bedford/Lenox), 2A
No. 6 Justin McCunn (Red Oak), 1A No. 7 Bryson Freeberg (Tri-Center).
This is one of only two weight classes with three ranked wrestlers
and those three wrestlers have a combined two losses. In my opinion, McCunn has
been of the most impressive wrestlers in all Southwest Iowa this season. McCunn
has yet to lose this season and has won 16 of his 25 contested matches by
either pinfall or tech-fall. Venteicher has been ultra-impressive as well,
losing just one match so far this season. That one loss? A 14-4 major decision
to McCunn last weekend. Freeberg has been impressive well with the only blemish
on his record being a one-point loss to Audubon's Trace McCuen.
170 Pounds
Ranked Wrestlers: 1A No. 3 Nick Haynes (Missouri Valley), 2A No. 6
Carter Maynes (Red Oak), 2A No. 7 Jakson Kinsella (Creston/OM).
I
mentioned earlier this year that I thought Haynes would wrestle with a chip on
his shoulder after missing the state tournament last year, and oh boy has
he. Haynes has just four losses this year, all of which came at the
talent-packed Council Bluffs Classic on December 7th-8th. He's won 16
consecutive contested matches since then. Maynes had an impressive sophomore
season that ended in a trip to the state tournament, but he's been banged up
for the majority of the year, but it sounds like he'll be ready to go. He and
Haynes have not faced each other this season. Kinsella is a new face in the
rankings and deservedly so after posting just two losses all season, he appears
to be Creston's breakthrough wrestler that we figured would happen.
I cannot end this section without mentioning the
basketball/wrestling-wizard that is Chase Mullenix (Atlantic/CAM), Mullenix
plays basketball and wrestles while doing both at a high level. He was pretty
darn dominant at the Rollin Dyer a few weeks ago. Can he pick up where he left
off?
182 Pounds
The only class with no ranked wrestlers is the toughest class to
gauge. Haynes, Maynes and Mullenix are all listed as eligible at 182 on Track
Wrestling even though they've wrestled the majority of the season at 170. So
maybe at least one of them bumps? I just don't know.
Assuming none of them do, I think one of the favorites could be
Jakob Childs (Clarinda) who has posted a solid 22-11 record and will most
likely be the top seed if Haynes, Maynes and Mullenix stay at 170.
195 Pounds
Ranked Wrestlers: 2A No. 8 Sam Chapman (Creston/OM)
195 is not much easier to gauge than 182, but there is at least a
ranked wrestler. Outside of that, it's much like 182.
Clarinda's Crew Howard is 25-3 on the season but he dropped a 9-3
decision to Chapman earlier this year. Other candidates to get to the finals
might include Hunter McMann (Red Oak), Bryson Rhamy (Southwest Valley) and
Aaron Anderson (East Mills).
220 Pounds
Ranked Wrestlers: 1A No. 10 Chance Strough (Bedford/Lenox), 2A No.
10 Cale Roller (Atlantic/CAM)
Strough and Roller both jumped into the rankings this week and bot
will get a chance tomorrow to make a case that putting that No. 10 was too low.
Strough has just one loss this season and that was to 1A No. 9 Alex Hommer
(Southeast Warren) in the finals of the Pride of Iowa Tournament. Roller has
had a breakthrough season and although he has eight losses, every one of them
is a high-quality loss.
Tyler Courtier (Shenandoah) was ranked earlier in the season but
he has been nagged by injuries lately and his status for this weekend is
uncertain. Colton Kinnison (Red Oak) was also ranked earlier in the season and
Red Oak always seems to have a guy step up at John J and Kinnison might be that
guy.
285 Pounds
Ranked Wrestlers: 1A No. 3 Arron Olson (Missouri Valley), 1A No. 5
Josh Cox (Mount Ayr).
A battle of top-five heavyweights? Yes, please. Olson will likely
be the top seed and he's built a good resume paced by a third-place finish at
the Council Bluffs Classic. Cox, meanwhile missed the majority of the first
half of the season with a knee injury, but I understand that he's good to
go.
The wrestler in this class that I will be paying the closest
attention to this weekend is Devin Whipple (Bedford/Lenox). Whipple has just
four losses this season and won the Pride of Iowa Tournament. Also keep an eye
on Storm Howard (Clarinda), who is responsible for one of Whipple's four
losses.
THE TEAM RACE
Team points are something I pay way too much attention during
tournaments, but I find it a ton of fun. Especially during this tournament.
Creston/OM dominated John J from 2012-2016 with five consecutive team titles,
that streak was broken in 2017 when New Hampton showed up with a loaded roster.
New Hampton no-showed last year and that allowed Missouri Valley's balanced
lineup to lead them to a team title behind three individual
championships.
I think the Big Reds are probably going to be the favorite to repeat,
but Atlantic/CAM is going to give them a big run for their money much like they
did with Sergeant Bluff-Luton at the Rollin Dyer Invitational. The difference
maker could be at 285 where Olson will be expected to get to the finals and
Atlantic/CAM does not have a 285-pounder. If I was a betting man I would say it
comes down to those two squads followed by Creston/OM, Red Oak, Winterset and
Nodaway Valley in some manner.
It's going to be an exhausting day, but it's going to be a fun
one. I only wish that stupid Mother Nature would not have forced this to be a
one-day show.
No comments:
Post a Comment