Red Oak wrestlers fall short at districts
ATLANTIC — The Red Oak wrestling season ended at the district tournament for the second straight season as the team didn’t have any qualifiers for the state tournament.
Dakota Petty came the closest for Red Oak as he finished third in the 113 lbs. bracket. The senior secured a first period pinfall against Brando Trevino of Harlan in the third place match.
Petty ended up in the third place match after his semifinal loss, 13-4, to Kade VanKirk of Perry. VanKirk finished second after he lost to Kruz Adamson of Creston, which meant Petty wouldn’t get a wrestleback for second place.
“That’s a good career. He deserves it,” Red Oak wrestling coach Tiegan Podliska said. “He’s a heck of a wrestler.”
It was the first district tournament appearance forPetty, who recently reached 100 career wins for Red Oak. Petty said recently he started wrestling in seventh grade.
“He’s not here because he’s gifted, he’s here because he worked hard,” Podliska said.
Petty was the lone senior qualifier for Red Oak wrestling.
Tanner Mertz meanwhile finished fourth in the 132 lbs. bracket. He lost the third place match to Spencer Wray of Creston, a foe as of late for the junior. Mertz lost via a pinfall late in the third period.
In the semifinals, he lost an 11-6 decision to Jordan Challen of Greene County. Mertz finishes his season with 35 wins. The junior also reached 100 wins this season.
“If you look at Tanner Mertz, he’s more complete, he’s going to continue to be more complete and next year, we’ll have one of those medals hanging around our neck,” Podliska said. “This offseason is going to dictate which one that is.”
Red Oak had an additional qualifier, which was announced late in the week. Christian Terry, who finished third at 195 lbs. at the sectional tournament Feb. 8, stepped in when Clarinda’s Christian Lauritsen wasn’t able to compete.
Terry faced tough competition in the semifinals when he took on Cale Stork of Harlan. Stork pinned Terry in the first period.
In the third place match, Terry fell short against Mitch Rohe of Kuemper Catholic, losing via pinfall in the first period.
The district tournament appearance for Terry was a first for the freshman.
“He’s going to come out there and he’s going to slug with you,” Podliska said about Terry. “He doesn’t care who you are, he’s going out there to compete.”
It’s the second straight season for Red Oak that they haven’t had a state qualifier. Seth Esaias was the last state qualifier for the Tigers in 2012. Esaias won the state title that season.
State qualfiiers
Southwest Valley went 2-for-2 in district qualifiers as both Kallan Schmelzer and Zach Barton both qualified for state Saturday in Greenfield.
Schmelzer qualified for the Timberwolves by finishing first in the 160 lbs. bracket. He defeated Henry Haglund of Ogden in the first place match via 6-0 decision.
In the semifinals, Schmelzer defeated Tom Brooks of Guthrie Center via first period pinfall.
Barton, meanwhile, finished second at 182 lbs. Barton lost the first place match to Austin Laabs of Guthrie Center via pinfall. However, thanks to his semifinal win against Nick Ross of Ogden, a wrestleback for second place wasn’t needed.
In Underwood, East Mills had two wrestlers qualify for the state tournament.
David Howell took home first place when he defeated Joe Graf of Logan-Magnolia via 7-3 decision. Howell (285 lbs.) reached the championship match when he defeated Cole Jensen of MVAO.
Josh Hopkins (152 lbs.) was the other state qualifier for East Mills.
Hopkins finished second as his win against Avery Nelson of West Monona in the semifinals insured there would be no wrestleback. Hopkins lost the first place match to Cody Kingery of Underwood.
The state tournament starts Thursday and continues until Saturday at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.