Two Trojans advance to finals at West Delaware

MANCHESTER ? To get the Saturday tournament season started this past weekend, the Fairfield wrestling team ended up in eighth-place out of eight varsity teams in a stacked field at the West Delaware Invite.

However, Michael Smtihburg and Tanner Metcalf came up as two bright spots for the Trojans each making their way through the bracket and into the finals. Smithburg pinned his semifinal opponent in 1:02 and kept an undefeated record for the season by winning his 285-pound final vs. Linn-Mar?s Michael Green to claim an individual title in a tough 5-4 decision.

?Michael scored with some beautiful head snaps and go-behinds to earn the hard-fought championship,? said head coach Jeff Courtright.

After taking a 10-2 major decision in the semifinals, Metcalf fell to top-seeded Alec Lang of New Hampton. Lang was one of four individual champs from a tough New Hampton squad the claimed the team title.

Other place-winners for Fairfield included Jordan Bradfield (145) and Ryan Brewington (135) both taking fourth-place with 2-2 overall records, Kyle Nelson (1-2, 119), Aaron Gevock (130) and Mike Hammes (152) both finished fifth with 2-2 overall records and Seth Davisson (171) tallied a sixth-place finish for the Trojans.

?We?ll use this experience to continue to improve in all aspects of wrestling,? Courtright said about his young team. ?Our focus now turns to our conference opener Thursday night against Washington.?

Washington upset the Trojans in the only dual between the two teams a season ago. Thursday?s match is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Washington.

West Delaware Invite

Final Team Standings

1. New Hampton (162.5), 2. Marion (159), 3. West Delaware (153.5), 4. Linn-Mar (139), Decorah (131), 6. Waterloo East (116), 7. Cedar Rapids Washington (98), 8. Fairfield (87), 9. West Delaware JV (47)

Fairfield Individual Results

103 ? Open; 112 ? Chookolingo (0-2, DNP); 119 ? Nelson (1-2, 5th); 125 ? Open; 130 ? Gevock (2-2, 5th); 135 ? Brewington (2-2, 4th); 140 ? Carlson (0-2, DNP); 145 ? Bradfield (2-2, 4th); 152 ? Hammes (2-2, 5th); 160 ? Eversage (0-3, DNP); 171 ? Davisson (0-3, 6th), 189 ? Metcalf (2-1, 2nd); 215 ? Stoner (0-2, DNP); 285 ? Smithburg (2-0 1st)

Six JV wrestlers take first at Wapello

In JV action Friday night at Wapello, Matt Burnstedt, Ammon Shaner, Justin Godwin, Dylan McClure, Jacob Mineart and Ethan Cox all posted undefeated 3-0 record en route to taking first-place in their bracket. Ricardo Cornado, Roan Bachar, Josh Dimmitt and Tyler Cooksey all claimed second-place.