Central wrestlers prepare for league tourney
Central College
INDIANOLA—After wrapping up its second straight season of 10 dual wins, the Central College wrestling squad still has one goal to achieve.
Back in November the Dutch set expectations to be wrestling in March, sending at least one national qualifier to the NCAA Division III national tournament. Central tackles this challenge Friday at the Iowa Conference wrestling championships.
Simpson College hosts the tournament in Indianola and varsity matches are slated to begin at 10:30 a.m. The championship finals will begin at 7 p.m.
Regarded as Division III’s toughest league tournament, Central finished seventh last year, snapping a string of five consecutive last-place finishes. It was Central’s highest finish since 2004.
Out of Central’s eight placewinners last season, two return to the meet Friday. Joe Atwell (sophomore, Jamaica, Panorama HS) will compete at 149 pounds after placing sixth in the same class last season, and brother Josh Atwell (junior, Jamaica, Perry HS) is set at 157 pounds after a seventh-place finish at 141 pounds in 2010.
The rest of Central’s probable lineup includes Kalen Greiner (freshman, Keota) at 125 pounds, Bryan Connolly (freshman, Naples, Fla., Gulf Coast HS) at 133 pounds, Reid Imerman (junior, Guthrie Center) at 165 pounds, Tommy Van Renterghem (junior, Oskaloosa) at 174 pounds, Greg Barner (sophomore, Audubon) at 184 pounds, Theron Stewart (sophomore, Marshalltown) at 197 pounds and Ted Dirkx (senior, Alleman, North Polk HS) at 285 pounds.
Coach Eric Van Kley aims for the Dutch to perform at their top level.
“We want to wrestle the way we’re capable of wrestling for seven hard minutes regardless of who we go against or what point we are at in the tournament,” Van Kley said.
The Iowa Conference qualifies 35 wrestlers for the national tournament field of 170. The top three finishers in each weight class advance along with three wild cards selected in a league’s coaches meeting following the meet Friday and two additional wild cards chosen by the national wrestling committee next week after all qualifying tournaments are completed.
Van Kley highlighted Greiner, Joe Atwell, Van Renterghem, Stewart and Dirkx as top candidates to qualify for the national tournament March 11-12 hosted by the Univ. of Wis.-La Crosse.
“Those wrestlers are capable of winning the close matches,” Van Kley said. “They’ve shown that throughout the year and there will be lots of close matches at the tournament Friday. They just need to find a way to win.”
The championship finals will be televised live on Iowa Public Television’s statewide network at 7 p.m. Tim Johnson will provide play-by-play while Dan Gable provides analysis.
