Fairfield finds success in first home matches, tournaments

FAIRFIELD - The Fairfield boys and girls wrestling teams hit the mats for their first home matches of the season Thursday night. The Trojans took on Davis County and Centerville in dual matches at Fairfield High School.

The boys team picked up two wins on the night in its first two matches of the season. Fairfield defeated Davis County 54-24 and picked up a narrow win over Centerville 42-36.

Noah Patel (106 pounds) secured the Trojans’ win over the Indians by pinning Kaleb Loman in 1:27 in the final varsity match. It was one of two pins for Patel, who also pinned Davis County’s Kamden Heemsbergen.

“For him to come out and wrestle the way he did with that kind of attitude and effort was amazing.” Fairfield coach Steve Miller said. “It’s more special to him, I think, because Noah’s been on the other end of those matches a lot. So for him to come out on top and to help his team win. That’s a great win for him.”

In total, five Fairfield boys wrestlers picked up two wins, including Patel, Jasper Carpenter (132), Aiden Holthus (157) and Dain Burkhart (175) and Sebastian Ftwi (285).

Burkhart’s two victories brought his career win total to 98. He reached 100 wins in the Bob Murphy Varsity Tournament on Saturday, defeating Indianola’s Corwin Cambron and West Delaware’s Blake Mather. Burkhart would fall 13-0 in the first place match to Jaxon Busse from Iowa-Grant/Highland (WI).

“It’s an incredible milestone for a wrestler,” Miller said. “We’ve been very fortunate in this program. We had three guys achieve it last year, get over 100 wins. We’re going to have another two or three guys get it again this year. It just talks about the success that these guys have developed with this program, and working hard gets results.”

Patel finished third place and Carpenter took fourth in their respective weight classes at the Bob Murphy Tournament. Ftwi recorded a sixth place finish in the heavyweight bracket. Kohda Higdon (126), Calvin McClain (190) and Alex Hudson (215) each placed eighth.

On the girls side, the Trojans went 1-1 in their dual matches. Fairfield bounced back from a 42-30 loss to Davis County with a 30-23 win over Centerville.

Aislinn Wise, Samantha Lyons and Kendra Allison (235) each went 2-0 on the night. Wise pinned Davis County’s Ashlyn Olinger in 3:27 and Centerville’s Isla Avery in 4:57.

Lyons pinned Davis County’s Myah VanLaningham in 50 seconds at 190 and recorded a forfeit win at 170 against Centerville. Allison also had a forfeit win against the Indians and pinned Alexandria Morrow of Davis County in 0:56.

“To be good at this sport, you have to have that aggressiveness,” Miller said. “If you look at all three of them, they have developed that aggressive attitude where they’re not scared to hit moves and to go after stuff, and they just wrestle hard.”

Bailey Belzer (155) also went 2-0 Thursday with a pair of forfeit wins.

Lyons built off a strong performance at home by winning the 170-pound bracket at the Bill Rex Invitational. She breezed through the first two rounds with wins over Burlington’s Jax Collett and Moravia’s Bristal Dowdy, and pinned another member of Burlington’s squad, Macy Peterson, in 4:56 to win the championship match.

Fairfield’s best returning girls wrestler, Lyons has picked up right where she left off after becoming the first state placewinner in program history, taking fourth in the Class 1A, 170-pound bracket last season. Miller praised her for the feat, and has continued to push Lyons to soar to even greater heights in her junior campaign.

“We want to be higher on the podium than we were last year and that takes more work than we put in last year,” Miller said. “So, I don’t ever let them get to high and don’t let them get too low, but just keeping that focus and grinding.”

Kendra Allison was also a champion at Bill Rex, winning the 235-pound bracket. She received a bye straight to the semifinals where she took down Burlington’s Adrian Thorton. She pinned MaKenna Darland of North Mahaska in 3:07 in the championship match.

Wise finished fourth in the 145-pound bracket. Kensley Fligg (115) also took fourth place for the Trojans.

The Fairfield boys and girls wrestling teams will next participate in a meet at Washington on Thursday. The Trojans will be joined by the Demons and Iowa Valley at 6 p.m. inside the Washington High School gym.