Rams’ Malcom, Sherry earn state medals

DES MOINES - Glenwood’s Matt Malcom and Anthony Sherry placed fifth and fourth respectively at the Iowa State Wrestling Meet this weekend at Wells Fargo Arena.

Both Malcom (152) and Sherry (160) made it all the way to Friday afternoon’s semifinal round before losing there. Both went 1-1 in Saturday’s consolation matches to become the Rams’ first medal winners at state in four years.

Glenwood coach Brad Asche said the mood of his team was disappointed but not discouraged after their performance at state.

“We wrestled well,” Asche said. “But we could have been better. The guys I think were hoping for better. We have a lot we can build on from this weekend.”

Both Malcom and Sherry opened state with a pair of wins  to reach Friday afternoon’s semifinals.
In the semis, Malcom scored an early take down of No. 5 ranked Marcus Coleman of Ames, who Malcom beat earlier this season in the Council Bluffs Classic. But Coleman stormed back, tied the match near the ending of the opening period and took control with a nine point second period. Leading 9-2 late in the third, Coleman wrapped up Malcom and won by pin.

“He was wrestling his match at first and came out with the early lead and then he fell behind and everything went down hill from there,” Asche said of Malcom’s semifinal match.  

To reach the semis, the No. 4 ranked Malcom knocked off  No. 2 Toby Northrup of Marion Linn-Mar 9-5. Malcom trailed most of the match before taking the lead on a nifty reversal with less than 30 seconds to go before closing with three quick points to pull off the win.

“That was a good match for him. He wrestled like that all week. He just came up short in the semis,” Asche said. “He was disappointed. He was hoping for better but he’s got another year of hard work to put in and take his last shot. That’s where his head is at right now.”

Malcom went on to defeat Waverly-Shell Rock’s Seth Walker 9-6 in their fifth place match.
Sherry, after dropping his semifinal to Shea Hartzler of Marion Linn-Mar by an 8-0 decision, won his consolation match Saturday morning where he faced off once again with Hartzler. Hartlzer won the rematch by pin to place third and drop Sherry down to fourth.

“Wrestling the same kid twice is tough but being a freshman at 160 he showed a lot and I think he can build off this,” Asche said. “He’s a little disappointed too. That’s good. They can use that to build for next year.”

Malcom, a junior, finishes his season with a 47-6 record while Sherry closes at 45-6.
Glenwood’s Zach Haggstrom (195) won his opening match, a 7-5 decision over Oskaloosa’s Kyle Salazar but the sophomore dropped his final two in Des Moines to miss out on placing.

“I think state opened his eyes and he made some headway on his wrestling,” Asche said of Haggstrom.

The Rams’ other two freshman state qualifiers, 113-pounder Trevor Anderson and heavyweight Caleb Sanders both saw their season end on Thursday’s opening day.

Anderson dropped his opening round match to Zane Mulder of Dallas Center-Grimes, in a 15-0 technical fall. Trenten Wennermark of Cedar Rapids Prairie downed Anderson 11-5 in the consolation round.

Sanders fell to Wyatt Wriedt of North Scott in his opener before being eliminated in his consolation match by Tyler Parker Cedar Rapids Prairie of in a 3-1 decision.

All five of the Rams state qualifier are underclassmen, including three freshmen in Sherry, Sanders and Anderson.

“I think state is eye opening for the kids. I think they realized its not easy to get there and not easy to win there,” Asche said. “I think it bodes well for out future. We’re looking forward to next year.”