Young Central wrestlers take on Matman Invitational
Central College
MOUNT VERNON — By giving its starters a rest, the Central College wrestling team gave some underclassmen a chance to shine Saturday at the Cornell Matman Invitational where the Dutch finished 14th out of 16 teams.
Coming off a 31-8 dual victory over Iowa Conference rival Loras, Coach Eric Van Kley gave his 10 starters the weekend off and instead turned some underclassmen loose.
“It was some good experience,” he said. “We used this tournament as an opportunity to give our younger guys some extra matches. I thought they battled hard.”
At 133 pounds, freshman Chase Petty (Pella) was the only place-winner for the Dutch, finishing in sixth place. A first round victory over Carson Rhoads of Buena Vista was followed by a first-period fall over Matthew Lee of the Iowa State Wrestling Club.
“Chase really battled,” Van Kley said. “He won some tough matches early and made the semifinals. It was great to see him place at a tournament like that. It’s going to springboard him into the rest of the year.”
Central also cited the efforts of freshmen Tristan Clark (Monroe, Prairie City-Monroe HS) and Austin Laabs (Guthrie Center) at 141 pounds and 184 pounds, respectively. Clark and Laabs both picked up a couple of wins but came up shy of placing.
“They each had a few nice wins,” Van Kley said. “Both of them really got their offense going from all three positions.”
In the team standings, Wartburg was victorious with 173.5 points and Stevens Institute of Technology (N.J.) was second at 152.5 points. Central was 14th with 23.5 points.
Next Saturday, the Dutch will host one of two locations for the Iowa Conference Duals. The action begins at 10 a.m. in H.S. Kuyper Fieldhouse when the Dutch battle Dubuque. Duals with Buena Vista and Wartburg will follow at noon and 2 p.m.
“It’s going to be as big as any competition we’ve had this year,” Van Kley said. “Our guys are really excited about it, they know what’s on the line. We need to have a great week of practice and be ready to go.”
