NM Fifth at Pella

PELLA – North Mahaska used four runnerup finishes at the annual Bill Van Horn wrestling tournament in Pella to earn fifth place. The meet saw wrestlers from Class 3A and Class 2A in competition against North Mahaska in Class 1A. The meet traditionally is one of the most competitive the Warhawks go to and prepares them for the tourney trail, which begins in just over a month.

Norwalk won the meet with 219.5 points and Benton Community was second with 187. North Mahaska was fifth with 105 points.

Joel DeJong t 106, Matt German at 113, Michael DeJong at 138 and Wyatt VanWeelden at 152 all took home silver at the meet. Five other wrestlers earned a spot on the podium in their respective weight classes.

Joel DeJong pinned his way to the finals with wins over Benton wrestler Caden Wallace in 1 minute 35 seconds and South Tama’s Cale Graff in 1:00. In the finals DeJong fell to Norwalk’s Tyler Harper in 1:01.

German pinned his first two opponents over Norwalk’s Toby Bright (1:21) and South Tama’s Clayton Babinat (:43). German decisioned Ty Lorentzen of Oskaloosa 2-0 then was pinned by Benton’s Elijah Kupka in 3:07.

Michael DeJong received a bye in the first round and decisioned Oskaloosa’s Phillip Abrhamson 7-1 in the semifinals. Logan Arp of South Tama won by technical fall 17-2 in the finals.

VanWeelden won a major decision 12-1 over South Tama wrestler Cyrus Mathes and scored an, 11-4 decision over JT Baker of Oskaloosa. In the title match, Clayton Sebetka won by pin in 2:56.

Paul DeJong secured the Warhawks’ lone third place finish at 126 pounds. He opened the day with a bye then lost by tech fall in the semifinals against Trenton Harper of Norwalk. DeJong scored a 7-5 decision in the consolation semifinals over Pella’s Logan Schroeder. In the third place match he pinned South Tama’s MaCael Bear in 3:29.

Ashton Meland at 220 and Trace Goemaat at 285 added fourth place finishes to the Warhawk resume. Meland decisioned Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont’s Stryker Lettington 5-2 in the opener then fell to Norwalk’s Hunter Blomgren in the semifinals I 1:08. Meland decisioned South Tama’s Aiden Pacheco 11-5 in the wrestleback then fell in 55 seconds to Oskaloosa’s Warren Feudner.

Goemaat fell in his opener to Kolten Borcherding-Johnson pf Norwalk on a 5-2 decision. In the consolation round Goemaat came back to pin Dayton Filloon of South Tama in 27 seconds. He then pinned Pella’s Daniel Loftis in 3:41 to advance to the third place match. Brennn Blegen of Benton pinned Goemaat in 3:35.

North Mahaska’s other place winners were Jalayna Shipley at 120 and Peter J. Stout at 132. Shipley was pinned in her first match by South Tama’s Amare Chavez in 43 seconds. She received a consolation bye then lost to Norwalk’s Jacob McKenzie (:24), and was pinned by Elliot Adam of Oskaloosa in 1:50.

Stout pinned Maeley Elsbury of South Tama to open the day in 49 seconds. Blake Heying pinned Stout in 2:30 in the semifinals. Jacob Youngbear won the consolation semifinal with a pin in 1:07. Wiatt McGatchey of EBF took fifth with a pin in 1 minute.

Team Scores
1 Norwalk 219.5
2 Benton Community 187.0
3 South Tama County 176.5
4 Pella 150.0
5 Oskaloosa 128.0
6 North Mahaska 105.0
7 Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont 87.5