Central wrestling squad knocks off top-10 opponent
CEDAR RAPIDS — Spoiling the home opener for the No. 8 ranked Coe College Kohawks, the Central College wrestling team left Thursday’s dual with a 24-16 victory.
It’s the first win for Central (1-0, 1-0 ARC) in Cedar Rapids since 1990 and just the second victory over the Kohawks (0-1, 0-1 ARC) in coach Eric Van Kley’s 16-year tenure.
“We’ve got a lot of respect for Coe,” he said. “We’ve always wrestled tough against them and we had a really gutty effort tonight from all 10 of our guys.”
In a match that featured four bouts between ranked wrestlers, it was the other six matches that swung the night in the favor of the Dutch with Central winning four of those six. The biggest of those being Pierre Baldwin (freshman, Carol Stream, Ill., West Chicago HS) at 141 pounds. He was trailing 6-4 in the third period but was able to get in position for a pin in his collegiate dual debut.
“Pierre is a gamer,” Van Kley said. “He loves those big matches and has been a big addition to our program.”
The Dutch had hard-fought matches go their way all night, starting with a 2-1 win from 125-pounder Rheiner Stahlbaum (sophomore, Johnston) in the first bout of the night. Levi Condy (senior, Memphis, Tenn., Christian Brothers) was a 3-1 winner at 157 pounds. Austin Roos (sophomore, Atkins, Benton HS) rallied for 6-4 win in the first sudden victory period at 174 pounds put Central in front 15-10 with three matches to go.
“Rheiner started us off with a gutty effort and got momentum going in our favor,” Van Kley said. “Condy had a takedown with 20 seconds left and had a ride out to win it and Roos did it in overtime. They showed the toughness we talk about all the time and they showed it in spades.”
Central took a 9-6 points advantage in the four bouts between ranked wrestlers, highlighted by a fall from No. 14 Peyton Hammerich (senior, Princeton, Ill.) at 184 pounds at the 4:40 mark over No. 12 Tristin Westphal. It was No. 10 Gage Linahon (junior, Newton) who put the match on ice with a 12-9 decision at 197 pounds over No. 7 Jared Voss.
“That was a huge pin for Peyton,” Van Kley said. “Gage was down 8-1 in the first 45 seconds. It takes a lot of guts to come back and beat a top-10 opponent like that. To have two upper classmen slam the door shut at the end of the dual was big.”
Central travels to Minneapolis for the Augsburg Invitational Saturday. It hosts Augustana College (Ill.) in its home-opening dual on December 1 at 8 p.m.
“Tonight showed what our team is capable of,” Van Kley said. “It’s an awesome night but it’s early in the season and we need to build on it and keep getting better.”
