By Savannah Sorensen and Laeni Pelzer
A gym packed with 11 teams, four mats, anxious wrestlers and three open weight classes, Trojans wrestlers finished in fifth place in the Hawkeye Ten Conference tournament. The tournament was held in Denison with a 10:30 a.m. start, a little later than regular season tournament starting time. Creston/O-M won the title with 258.5 points, Clarinda in second with 195 points, Glenwood finished third with 178 points, Lewis Central in fourth with 160.5 points, and the Trojans finishing fifth with 142 points.
Only two champions were brought home by the team, seniors Darrian Schwenke and Dillion Cox. Schwenke and Cox are both three time conference champions. Third place finishers included seniors Tyler Christensen and Jez Phippen. Junior Reid Nichols and sophomore Keagan Hosfelt placed fourth.
Phippen said, “Knowing I’m closer to beating the kid I’ve wanted to beat all year, (Dakota Calfee of Clarinda). It was the same as any other meet, didn’t think of it any differently.”
Looking into sectionals this Saturday, senior Jacob Johnson said, “Beating (Tayler) Petttit of Creston (is my main goal). That will be the match to go to districts.”
All the talk about Cox wrestling Clarinda’s number one seeded senior Blake Luna all came out to be false. Luna didn’t make the two pound weight allowance given to the wrestlers, therefore went head-to-head with Schwenke, for the second time this season. The first meeting between the two ended with Schwenke winning by decision (6-3). At one point almost pinning Luna, Schwenke still won by decision (11-2) and didn’t give up any takedowns.
Senior Dillion Cox said, “I was looking forward to wrestling Blake after meeting him at John J. Harris but it didn’t happen. I can’t wait to wrestle him next week [at sectionals].”
Two JV wrestlers got another opportunity to wrestle varsity, including sophomore Tanner Mauk and freshman Colby Sorensen. Mauk was only temporary, however, Sorensen will be wrestling varsity at the 113-pound weight class for the Trojans for the remainder of the season.
Sorensen said, “I felt it was tougher because I don’t have as advanced skills as most of them. Coach told me I need to continue improving in practice.” Looking into sectionals, Sorensen also said, “I have to wrestle my best to stay with my opponents and try to get on the podium.”
Head coach Tim Duff said, “We were short-handed and knew it was going to be tough. Our goal was to finish in the top three and finished fifth, so we were a little disappointed that we couldn’t stay with Lewis Central and Glenwood. We knew Creston and Clarinda were going to be tough, we’ve seen them throughout the season. They’ve really established themselves. Positives were obviously Darrian and Dillion getting conference titles, a great accomplishment for them.” Duff also said, “When you look at our history as a school, it’s tougher to win a Hawkeye Ten Conference title than it is to place at the state tournament. Really says a lot for those two and how well they’ve wrestled.”
Atlantic-CAM wrestlers travel to Shenandoah for sectionals on Saturday. The top two teams from the tournament will advance to the regional duals on Tuesday Feb. 11, while the top two wrestlers from each weight bracket will advance to the district meet (state qualifying meet) which is to be held here at AHS.
