Pekin wrestlers compete in Iowa City

IOWA CITY ? Pekin?s Aaron King and Austyn Vogel finished atop their weight classes to lead the Panthers to fifth place out of 12 teams at the Iowa City Regina Invitational Saturday.

With only seven Panthers in attendance, the squad scored 86.5 points, eight behind Fairfield and one ahead of sixth-place Columbus.

King (120) breezed to the championship match, winning by fall in 1:29 in the quarterfinal round and by technical fall in the semifinal, before topping Maquoketa Valley?s Jared Coyle 9-5 to claim first. Vogel (132) pinned his first two opponents in the first period prior to beating Mount Vernon?s Noah Dahlstrom 6-3 in the finals match.

Two Panthers, Trenton Conger and Derek Morales, also finished third. Conger (170) lost to eventual champion Tyler Rawson of Mount Vernon before going out a winner in his two consolation matches, and Morales (285) won his third-place consolation match by fall in 3:18.

Also for Pekin, junior Thomas Slaney opened the night with a 5-2 decision to finish sixth at 182.

The Pekin wrestling team will return to the mat Jan. 5 at a Cardinal triangular.

Pekin Individual Results

120 ? King (1st), 132 ? Vogel (1st), 138 ? J. Dailey (8th), 145 ? T. Dailey (8th), 170 ? Conger (3rd), 182 ? Slaney (6th), 285 ? Morales (3rd)