Demons learn from initial appearance

FT. MADISON - Three Union area wrestling teams got some experience at the Fort Madison Invitational on Friday and Saturday at the Hound Dome,

New London was fourth at 381 points and Washington finished 11th with 221 points, while Van Buren County was 17th with 59 points. Cedar Rapids Kennedy was the team champion with 487 points.

There were a combined 18 teams there from Iowa, Illinois and Missouri.

Washington, making its first appearance in the two-day event, had a solid showing.

'This was our first year here, so I wasn't really sure what to expect,” Washington head coach Brent Van Weelden said. 'It's kind of what I was hoping for.”

Ayden Frazier was the Demons' top finisher, taking third at 160, while Justin Simmering was fourth at 138, Brandon Dickel was fifth at 132 and Brayden Hartman was sixth at 285.

'Our good kids got a lot of good matches and our kids that are less experienced got some competitive matches, as well,” Van weeleden said. 'Our highest placer was Ayden Frazier at 160. He was seeded third and got third. That's pretty good. Justin Simmering at 138 placed above his seed, so that's awful nice there. Our heavyweight, Brayden Hartman, was seeded seventh and ended up sixth. So for the most part I was pretty pleased with how we wrestled. Some of our kids are a little bit down on themselves, but this is a tough tournament and there are a lot of good kids here.”

Also for the Demons, Jack Kleese was seventh at 106, Matt Collett was eighth at 126, Logan Frazer was 16th at 152, Jacob Hill was 10th at 170, Mateo Salazar was 12th at 182, Colley Billingsley was 13th at 195 and Curtis Stender was 12th at 195.

'We definitely will take some time off,” Van Weelden said of the holiday break. 'We know what we need to work on after Christmas.”

Van Weelden said he was able to learn a lot about his team over the two-day event.

'We have to get more physical,” he said. 'There are some areas - on our feet - we're not moving our feet enough. We're moving our hands, but we're not moving our feet with our hands, so we're getting taken down more than we should. Then some of our kids aren't countering shots quite right, so we have to emphasize that over the break. We need to work on our conditioning over the break, although I don't think our conditioning was all too bad.”

In fact, conditioning may have made a difference in at least one match for the Demons.

'We won a couple matches there, the last match in overtime at 132 pounds,” Van Weelden said. 'Brandon Dickel beat that Muscatine kid (Jeff Fridley) in overtime, so that was good.”

Van Weelden has an additional goal for the time off over the break.

'Get healthy. We need to get healthy,” he said. 'We got a couple kids banged up who aren't in the lineup right now that we'll be happy to have back after break.”

Bruce Claman was Van Buren County's top finisher, taking sixth at 106. Also for the Warriors, Lucas Granados was 16th at 126, Darrin Coffman was 15th at 145, Theodore Metcalf was 16th at 160, Cayden Summer was 14th at 170, Preston Buss was 11th at 182, Carson Halbrook was 11th at 285 and Josiah Westercamp was 14th at 285.

Team scores

1. Cedar Rapids Kennedy, 487. 2. Dubuque Hempstead, 421 1/2. 3. Fort Madison, 421. 4. New London, 381. 5. Solon, 374. 6. Liberty (Wentzville, Mo.), 358. 7. Muscatine, 284 1/2. 8. Notre Dame-West Burlington/Danville, 284. 9. Burlington, 276. 10. Clear Creek-Amana, 247. 11. Washington, 221. 12. Mediapolis, 215. 13. Louisa-Muscatine, 182 1/2. 14. Keokuk, 155 1/2. 15. Fort Madison JV, 114. 16. Illini West, 78. 17. Van Buren, 59. 18. West Hancock, 15.

Championship matches

106 - Cael Long (CRK) maj. dec. Emmett Kruse (FM), 10-0. 113 - Blaine Frazier (ND-WB/D) pinned Jonah Hallam (CRK), 3:13. 120 - Marcel Lopez (NL) maj. dec. Owen Kruse (FM), 10-0. 126 - Quenten Aney (Mepo) maj. dec. Sam Stevens (CCA), 10-0. 132 - Duncan Delzell (Burl.) dec. Kael Scranton (CCA), 8-2. 138 - Dominic Lopez (NL) dec. Grifen Molle (ND-WB/D), 2-0. 145 - Hayden Taylor (Solon) dec. Ben Faber (DH), 7-3. 152 - Zeb Gnida (Solon) pinned Divion Ocheltree (CRK), 1:58. 160 - Wyatt Haynes (Lib.) pinned Gabe Carter (NL), 1:33. 170 - Jax Flynn (Solon) pinned Tim Nimley (Musc.), 3:03. 182 - Jay Oostendorp (CRK) pinned Dylan Jeffers (Keokuk), 1:18. 195 - Tyler Hartman (Burl.) dec. Cameron Raines (NL), 4-3. 220 - Keegan Akers (Mepo) pinned Jaxon Allen (NL), 2:57. 285 - Josh Vis (CRK) pinned Danen Settles (FM), 1:38.