Rams send five to state

The Glenwood wrestling team earned four individual championships and qualified five wrestlers for this week’s state wrestling meet.

Council Bluffs Lewis Central, who along with Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson qualified eight wrestlers each for state, won the Class 3A District title at Sioux City North Saturday.

The Rams, who finished with 188 points, third to T.J., had the most individual champions at districts. The Rams’ Trevor Anderson (113 pounds), Anthony Sherry (160), Caleb Sanders (285) and Matt Malcom (152) all won their weight classes.  Anderson, Sherry and Sanders are all freshman while Malcom, a junior, is already a three-time state qualifier. Sophomore Zach Haggstrom was second at 195 pounds and will make his state debut in Thursday’s opening round at state.

“I’m happy for these kids getting through but I thought we had a shot at seven getting in,” Asche said. “But it was a good day for us and these kids are going down as four champs and one runner up and we should do alright.”

Malcom, who entered ranked No. 4 at 152, came back in his finals match from being down 6-2 to beat Sioux City North’s Connor Coyle 9-7.

“He did a great job. He had to come back in that final but he’s consistent and he did what he had to do,” Asche said.

Sherry, Class 3A’s No. 4 rated 160 pounder, cruised to his first district title with three pins.

“He beat a ranked kid in the finals pretty easily,” Asche said of Sherry. “He’s looking forward to state. He’s been a wrestler all his whole life and he finally has his shot at state. He’s been dreaming about this since he was a little kid.”

Sanders (23-23) was the surprise of the district but not to his coach. The freshman stormed through the heavyweight division after just joining the varsity weight class three weeks ago and entering districts as the sixth seed. Sanders shocked No. 1 seed Jesus Diaz of Le Mars 3-1 in the opening round, then pinned his semifinal opponent before scoring a narrow 4-3 win over T.J.’s Nick Mitchell 4-3 in the title match.

Asche said Sanders, who routinely gives up 50-60 pounds to his opponents in most matches, is a great athlete who is coming into his own after just two years wrestling.

“I really wasn’t surprised,” Asche said of Sanders’ run through the bracket. “It’s why we made the change. We thought he had a good shot. It didn’t strike much that he did it. It’s what we’ve been preaching all week about working what you need to work on and going out there and doing it. Once he got past that top seeded kid the rest was history. He’s finally got to the point where we scream something out in the corner and he does it. He gets the big picture now.”

The Rams nearly had a sixth state qualifier but T.J.’s  Jason Wallace pinned Andrew Tilley in a wrestleback at 145 pounds.

“I feel like we competed all the way up to the end even when we lost that heartbreaker there at 145. It made the day a little sour but other than that, we competed and we have a lot of kids coming back who can take something from this going forward.”

Team Scoring
1. Council Bluffs Lewis Central, 222.5. 2. Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson, 204.5. 3. Glenwood, 188. 4. Sioux City North, 166.5. 5, Sioux City East, 147.5. 6. Le Mars, 97.5. 7. Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln, 53. 8. Sioux City West, 6.

Glenwood Place Winners (top two advance to state)
106: Tanner Maxwell, third place. 113: Trevor Anderson, first place. 126: Gavin Gray, sixth place. 132: AJ Slaughter, fifth place. 138: Nate Nebel, fifth place. 145: Andrew Tilley, third place. 152: Matt Malcom, first place. 160: Anthony Sherry, first place. 170: Isaac Bales, fifth place. 182: Isaiah Carter, fifth place. 195: Zach Haggstrom, second place. 220: Jon Stavas, third place. 285: Caleb Sanders, first place.

Rams fall in
regional dual finals
The Glenwood wrestling team’s bid for a trip to the State Dual Wrestling Tournament came up short last Wednesday in the Class 3A, Regional finals at West Des Moines Valley.
Class 3A, No. 4 ranked West Des Moines Valley downed Glenwood 46-24 in the finals. The Tigers will go on to next week’s state dual tournament
The No. 20 seeded Rams reached the finals after upsetting No. 11 ranked Fort Dodge 70-12 in the semifinal round. Glenwood won 12 of 14 matches and overwhelmed the Dodgers with bonus points after racking up eight falls and a major decision.
“We started off really well and battled with a very young team,” said Glenwood coach Brad Asche. “It was a good experience for the kids. We can now make it an expectation to be in regional duals every year with the experience that these kids got. We wrestled well. The team thing is over but it should carry over into Saturday where it is every man for themselves.”
Against West Des Moines Valley, the Rams faced a tall task against one of the top teams in the state. The Rams opened strong in the finals, with Matt Malcom (152 pounds), Anthony Sherry (160) and Isaac Bales (170) all recording wins in the first three matches of the duals. But the Tigers would respond to win nine of the next eleven matches to pull away.
Trevor Anderson (113 pounds), Matt Malcom (152), Anthony Sherry (160), Isaac Bales (170) and Zach Haggstrom (195) all were unbeaten on the day.
The Rams finished their dual season with a record of 17-5.

Glenwood 70,
Fort Dodge 12
145: Andrew Tilley, G, won by fall over Bryce Huebsch, F, 1:30. 152: Matt Malcom, G, won by fall over Thomas Anderson, F, 3:00. 160: Anthony Sherry, G, won by fall over Collin Leonard, F, :30. 170: Isaac Bales, G, won by fall over Reid Steinberg, F, 2:16. 182: Isaiah Carter, G, won by major decision over Kenny Kelly, F, 11-0. 195: Zach Haggstrom, G, won by fall over Caleb Vance, F, 1:08. 220: Jon Stavas, G, won by forfeit. 285: Caleb Sanders, G, won by fall over Diamonte Mosley, F, 4:38. 106: Drew Bennett, F, won by fall over Tanner Maxwell, G, 1:37. 113: Trevor Anderson, G, won by fall over Aliyu Abdussanad, F, 3:53. 120: Damond Lockner, F, won by fall over Slade Roenfeld, G, 2:50. 126: Gavin Gray, G, won by fall over Tim Gailey, F, 1:55. 132: AJ Slaughter, G, won by fall over Levi Trenary, F, 1:19. 138: Nate Nebel, G, won by fall over Colton Hogan, F, 5:37.

West Des Moines Valley 46,
Glenwood 24
152: Matt Malcom, G, won by fall over Hunter Feldman, V, 2:57. 160: Anthony Sherry, G, won by decision over Auston Stotts, V, 12-6. 170: Isaac Bales, G, won by fall over Tanner Smith, V, 3:17. 182: Rocky Lombardi, V, won by fall over Isaiah Carter, V, 1:44. 195: Zach Haggstrom, G, won by fall over Ben Campos, V, 3:13. 220: Brady Smith, V, won by decision over Jon Stavas, G, 3-0. 285: Zachary Matt, V, won by fall over Caleb Sanders, G, 1:42. 106: Spencer Hutchinson, V, won by technical fall over Tanner Maxwell, G, 17-2. 113: Trevor Anderson, G, won by decision over Noah Hughes-Reilly, V, 4-2 (OT). 120: Grant Stotts, V, won by fall over Slade Roenfeld, G, :40. 126: Joel Shapiro, V, won by technical fall over Gavin Gray, G, 2:04. 132: Tristan Cobb, V, won by fall over AJ Slaughter, G, 3:27. 138: Noah Carr, V, won by fall over Nate Nebel, G, 1:56. 145: Jack Koethe, V, won by decision over Andrew Tilley, G, 4-1.