Waukon wrestling team finishes sixth at NEIC Tournament; Berns, Welsh claim runner-up honors

The Waukon Indian wrestling team competed in the Northeast Iowa Conference Tournament at Oelwein Saturday, January 31, finishing sixth in the seven-team field. The Indians recorded a pair of runner-up finishes at their middle weights, with sophomore Mitch Berns, at 145 pounds, and junior Mark Welsh, at 152, each finishing second in their respective brackets.

Waverly-Shell Rock crowned eight individual champions to cruise to the team points title.

TEAM SCORES

Waverly-Shell Rock (WSR) 258; New Hampton (NH) 185; Charles City (CC) 152.5; Crestwood (Cr) 146.5; Decorah (D) 136; WAUKON (W) 115; Oelwein (O) 70

"We had some individuals that competed well, but overall as a team we didn't wrestle to our ability, which was disappointing," commented Waukon varsity wrestling coach Gavin Hjerleid. "We have one full week to correct our mistakes and get ready for the sectional tournament. I believe we will perform much better next week."

The Indians also got third-place finishes from 103-pound freshman Colin Ness and 130-pound senior Brandon Johnson.

Individual Indian results follow:

103 - Freshman Colin Ness won by fall over freshman Elijah Poolman (CC) in 3:24; lost by 16-0 technical fall in 4:28 to sophomore and eventual champion Tanner Werner (WSR); pinned freshman Cody Gillmeister (D) in 3:00; and won by fall over freshman Bryan Byerly (O) in 5:53 to finish third.

112 - Freshman Paul Smed lost by 19-2 technical fall in 4:21 to freshman Jordan Roths (NH); lost by fall to freshman Caleb Lienhard (Cr) in 1:26; and lost by fall in 4:31 to freshman Thomas Rigdon (O) in 4:31 to finish sixth.

119 - Freshman Dalton Skillings pinned sophomore Wade Cosselman (O) in 3:07; lost by fall to senior Chris Paulus (NH) in 1:42; and lost a 12-0 major decision to senior Nick Hagen (Cr) to finish fourth.

125 - Senior Tyler Peckenpaugh lost by fall to sophomore Tyler Mitchell (CC) in 1:35; lost by fall to sophomore Lee Schuchhardt (NH) in 2:17; and pinned freshman Dylan Schnur (Cr) in 1:36 to finish fifth.

130 - Senior Brandon Johnson won a 10-1 major decision over freshman Gayge Samuelson (D); lost by fall to sophomore Tom Mahoney (NH) in 4:42; pinned sophomore BJ Henderson (O) in just 50 seconds; and won a 5-2 decision over junior Travis Weinacht (Cr) to finish third.

135 - Senior Mitch Lyons received a first-round bye; lost by fall in 46 seconds to junior and eventual champion Jake Ballweg (WSR); and lost a 10-8 decision to sophomore Devin Bruening (D) to finish third.

140 - Sophomore Andy Federspiel lost by fall to freshman Colten Ledbeter (Cr) in 1:54; and lost by fall to senior Eddie Rausch (NH) in 2:17 to finish fifth.

145 - Sophomore Mitch Berns received a first-round bye; won a 9-0 major decision over senior Dan Henderson (O); and lost by fall in the championship match to senior Craig Mai (NH) in 1:52 to finish runner-up.

152 - Junior Mark Welsh received a first-round bye; pinned junior Anthony Walther (WSR) in 3:13; and lost by 6-4 decision to senior Andrew Casper (D) in the championship match to finish runner-up.

160 - The Indians had no entry at 160 pounds.

171 - Sophomore Colin Ferring lost by fall in 1:30 to junior Alec Lang (NH); and lost by fall to senior Jordan Jorgenson (O) in 3:00 to finish out of the placewinnings.

189 - Junior Caleb Ferring pinned senior Zach Dawley (D) in 5:48; lost a 7-4 decision to senior Izak Hillman (O); pinned junior Ethan Jones (Cr) in 3:40; and lost by 9-5 decision to Dawley (D) to finish fourth.

215 - The Indians had no entry at 215 pounds.

285 - Junior Matt Snitker lost a 3-1 decision in overtime to freshman Logan Hopp (NH); and lost a 5-3 overtime decision to junior Brad Byerly (O) to finish out of the placewinnings.

Junior varsity ...

The junior varsity Indians competed in their own Northeast Iowa Conference tournament Friday, January 20 at Decorah. The Indians placed seventh as a team and claimed one individual champion and one runner-up out of the six wrestlers who competed.

TEAM SCORES

Waverly-Shell Rock (WSR) 187; New Hampton (NH) 166.5; Decorah (D) 147; Oelwein (O) 101; Crestwood (Cr) 82; Charles City (CC) 77; WAUKON (W) 71

Freshman Nathan Klocke was the Tribe's title winner, working his way through the 189-pound bracket. Sophomore Michael Roth finished second at 135 pounds.

Individual Indian results follow:

125 - Freshman Jared Melcher lost by fall to freshman and eventual champion Ricky Hansen (D) in 53 seconds; and lost a 7-5 decision to freshman Devin Derflinger (O) to finish fifth.

135 - Sophomore Michael Roth received a first-round bye; won a 5-1 decision over freshman Kyle Hove (D); and lost by fall to senior Patrick Huff (WSR) in the championship match to finish second.

140 - Sophomore Nick Dougherty won a 10-6 decision over sophomore Abe Van Vliet (D); lost by fall in 1:23 to junior and eventual champion Blaine Hageman (NH); and lost by fall to Van Vliet (D) in 1:31 to finish third.

171 - Junior Tanner Johnson pinned freshman Brian Halligan (CC) in 1:55; lost by fall in 3:37 to sophomore and eventual champion Nick Bouska (O); won a 9-2 decision over senior Lucas Trewin (NH); and lost by fall in 5:02 to Halligan (CC) to finish fourth.

189 - Freshman Nathan Klocke received a first-round bye; won a 3-1 decision over sophomore CJ Winters (O); and won a 2-1 decision over junior Jesus Cepeda (D) to win the 189-pound title.

285 - Junior Troy Oder pinned freshman Blake Kohlmeyer (D) in 3:26; lost by fall to sophomore Levi Epley (WSR) in 5:26; lost by fall to sophomore Danny Leach (NH) in 2:22; and pinned Kohlmeyer (D) again in 2:51 to finish fifth.