Esaias, Sellers shine at Decatur tourney

LEON—The Red Oak Tigers wrestling team had two top-two finishers on their way to a ninth place finish at the Central Decatur Wrestling Tournament in Leon Friday.
Red Oak’s final score for the tournament was 70 points, 14 behind host school Central Decatur for eighth.
Seth Esaias took home first place in the 171-pound bracket. He defeated Davis County’s Dylan Nelson by a 12-2 major decision.
Geoff Sellers took home second place in the 119-pound bracket. Sellers lost via second period pinfall against PCM’s Dalton Kingery.
Austin Hale (103-pounds) and Dakota Petty (112-pounds), took home fifth place finishes in their respective brackets. Hale defeated Patrick Sheehey of Pleasantville via pinfall in 47 seconds. Petty defeated Mount Ayr’s Jacob Beamgard via a 17 second pinfall.
Nick Leinen finished sixth in the 189-pound bracket after losing to Josh Walker in a 6-5 decision.
The Tigers lost both of their duals Thursday at Kuemper Catholic in Carroll. Red Oak lost to Harlan, 51-25.
Esaias and Petty had the only pinfalls of the match for the Tigers. After securing a reversal, Esaias pinned Josh Martin 21 seconds into the second round. Petty scored a takedown and two near falls, before pinning Tyler Hubert 1:23 into the first period.
Meek won his match against Brock Travis, via 10-5 decision. Sellers defeated James Schwarte by an 8-0 decision.
Both teams picked up wins via forfeits, but Harlan had three of them to Red Oak’s one.
Red Oak then lost to Kuemper Catholic, 44-33. Four wrestlers, including Esaias, Petty, Meek and Leinen, secured pinfall victories.
Esaias took Max Glass down seven times before pinning him with eight seconds left in the first period.
Petty however needed only 24 seconds to pin his opponent, Jon Fangman. Meek’s pinfall came against Justin Heiman with 1:14 left in the first period.  
Leinen’s pinfall against Trevin Jorgensen came in the third period.
The Tigers did pick up a forfeit victory, but Tanner Allensworth was the only other wrestler to win for Red Oak. Allensworth won an 8-2 decision over Adam Schartenkamp.
Red Oak heads to Riverside Tuesday night for a double dual against Riverside and Clarinda Academy. Saturday morning, Red Oak’s varsity team travels to Shenandoah for their last meet or tournament before the winter break, to take part in the Shenandoah duals.