Roller Advances to State Due to Critical Injury

The+picture+on+the+left+was+provided+by+the+Des+Moines+Register+article+on+senior+Tayler+Pettit.++Sophomore+Drake+Roller+is+pictured+on+the+right.

The picture on the left was provided by the Des Moines Register article on senior Tayler Pettit. Sophomore Drake Roller is pictured on the right.

by Zac Stork

Sophomore Drake Roller will be wrestling at the IHSAA State Individual wrestling tournament after a Creston wrestler collapsed on the mat at State Duals on Wednesday.

In the semifinal round of the IHSAA State Dual tournament, Creston O-M senior Tayler Pettit was pinned in three minutes and sixteen seconds by his Union La-Porte City opponent. According to an article in the Des Moines Register, after the match Creston head wrestling coach Darrel Frain said Pettit didn’t look like his normal self. About thirty seconds later Pettit collapsed, unconscious. Officials say that Pettit fell into a seizure, and that CPR and defibrillation were used as he exited the building on a stretcher. Officials also say that if the defibrillators would not have been present, Pettit would have lost his life. Pettit’s “critical” condition at Mercy Medical Center was improved to “serious” condition this morning, according to KCCI.

Pettit’s injury opens a spot in the 2A 170 bracket, which is to be filled by the wrestler who placed third at Pettit’s district tournament.  That spot will be filled by Atlantic sophomore Drake Roller.

“I am excited to compete in the biggest wrestling tournament in the state of Iowa,” said Roller.  “This isn’t the way I wanted to enter the tournament, but I will do my best for my team, my community, and also for Tayler and his family.”

Roller’s path to the tournament was significantly different than the other qualifiers from Atlantic, but all five will represent AHS today at 1:30 pm.