Panthers complete four-peat at John J Harris

Jan. 22—CORNING — With 27 teams competing in the 69th annual John J. Harris wrestling tournament in Corning, the competition was fierce. But the Panthers pulled off their fourth consecutive tournament win, securing 16 total tournament titles, more than any other school in John J. Harris history.

The Panthers took the lead early and no one could keep up. With a final score of 205, the nearest team was more than 60 points behind.

The real battle was for second place, Atlantic taking it narrowly with 141.5 compared to Earlham's 139 and Shenandoah's 137.

Ten Panthers earned podium spots at the tournament including three title-winners: seniors Austin Evans (144), Will Bolinger (165) and Max Chapman (285).

Two wrestlers were unable to finish the tournament, senior Quinten Fuller after taking a bad fall against Cole Binning of Clarke in a late round and senior Christian Ahrens after aggravating a previous elbow injury in a late round. The wrestlers finished sixth and fourth, respectively after forfeiting their final bouts.

Area teams also saw success — Mount Ayr, Lenox, Nodaway Valley, Clarke and Southwest Valley all landing wrestlers on the podium. The Wolverines and Tigers each had an individual champion.

First Place

Evans (29-4) saw success at the tournament after cutting to the 144 weight class from the 150 he had been wrestling prior. At 150, Evans is ranked eighth in Class 2A. In his first bout Friday, Evans pinned Cole Eitel of Earlham in 3:20. Against Lukus Major of Shenandoah, he had a 16-1 technical fall.

Austin Evans gets control of Uriah Fry of Clarke in the 144 lbs finals Saturday in Corning at the 69th annual John J. Harris tournament. Evans pinned Fry with only five seconds remaining in the first period to win the title.

He faced Gavin Day of Winterset in the semifinals where he had another technical fall, this one 19-3. In the finals, he made quick work of Uriah Fry of Clarke, pinning him with five seconds left in the first period.

This weekend, Evans will look to remain a Hawkeye 10 champion at the conference meet in Creston.

Bolinger (30-2) continued his fantastic senior season, topping a 1A ranked wrestler in the finals to take the 165 lbs title. In the quarterfinals and semifinals, he pinned his opponents in the first period.

The finals saw him pitted against Ryan Stiles (26-5) of Earlham, a wrestler ranked 3rd in Class 1A. The bout went the full six minutes, but Bolinger came away with an 11-2 major decision to earn the title and his 100th career victory.

Last season, Dawson Bond of Red Oak took the 160 lbs conference title. With him graduated, Bolinger should be the favorite at 165 this weekend.

Chapman (21-6) faced a heavyweight bracket riddled with state-ranked wrestlers, but managed to come out on top, pulling off a finals upset in a 2023 conference title rematch. The top four John J. Harris finishers in his bracket were all state ranked.

Max Chapman is awarded two points for the takedown of Evan Sorenson of Atlantic in the heavyweight title match. After three periods, Chapman was named the victor in a 9-7 decision. The Panthers won the tournament with 205 points.

In his first two matches, Chapman pinned his opponents in less than 30 seconds each. In the semifinals, he faced Trenton Warner (33-2) of Nodaway Valley. Warner is ranked 9th in Class 1A. The bout went the full three periods, Chapman coming out victorious in a narrow 4-2 decision.

In the finals, Chapman, ranked 9th in 2A, faced Evan Sorenson of Atlantic, ranked 5th in 2A and 2023 Hawkeye 10 heavyweight champion. Sorenson found the first points of the bout with a takedown, but Chapman escaped to earn one point. in the second period, Chapman started down and was able to earn both a reversal and a two-point nearfall to take a 5-2 lead going into the final period. Sorenson outscored Chapman 5-4 in the final period, but it wasn't enough to overcome the three-point deficit.

The two wrestlers will face again this weekend in the conference tournament.

Evans, Bolinger and Chapman combined to score 82 of the team's 205 points.

Second place

Senior Lincoln Keeler (17-9) had a good showing at the tournament, making it to the 132 lbs finals before falling to a ranked 1A wrestler.

Keeler pinned his first opponent and then had an overtime win in the quarterfinals over Tully Wood of Wayne, Corydon. In the semifinals, Keeler had an 8-5 decision win against Josh Winey of Earlham to advance to the finals.

In the championship match, Keeler wrestled Aaron Boone (31-1) of Washington. Boone is ranked 5th in Class 2A. In the second period, Boone got the pin and the win. Keeler scored 20 points for the team.

Keeler will look to earn another Hawkeye 10 title this weekend.

Third Place

Sophomore Kylen Parsons (20-13) had tournament pins as he climbed his way through the bracket. His only lost came via tournament winner and 8th-ranked Taye Jordan (31-6) of Atlantic.

After falling to Jordan in the semifinals, Parsons pinned Hayden Hash of Clarinda in less than a minute to qualify for the third-place bout.

In the battle for bronze, Parsons wrestled Kingston Carrigan of Riverside, Oakland. Parsons was narrowly leading the bout in the first and second periods, but when Carrigan had a reversal in the third period, Parsons was suddenly down by one. Parsons fought to get out from under Carrigan as time ticked down in the match. As the clock struck zero, Parsons was awarded two points for a reversal and the match win.

Parsons scored 20 team points.

Senior Milo Staver (28-7) won his first two bouts of the day before being pinned in the final period of the 157 semifinals by Owen Laughlin (31-1) of Shenandoah. Laughlin is ranked 4th in Class 1A.

In the consolation round to follow, Staver faced Chase Greiner (27-6) from Washington. Greiner is ranked 7th in Class 2A. Staver won the bout in a 9-6 decision to earn a spot in the third-place match.

Against Kahne Kibruz of Winterset, Staver won in a 5-2 decision to place third in his bracket. Staver scored 15.5 team points.

Medalists

Also medaling for the Panthers were:

Christian Ahrens (120) 4th place

Brandon Briley (138) 4th place

Jagger Luther (190) 5th place

Quinten Fuller (215) 6th place

Area Medalists

Dylan Stein of Lenox holds Brant Freeberg of Tri-Center Neola to the mat in the 138 lbs championship match. Stein won the bout in a 13-1 major decision to continue his undefeated season.

Dylan Stein of Lenox (138) 1st place

Ashton Honnold of Nodaway Valley (215) 1st place

Uriah Fry of Clarke (144) 2nd place

Tate Haffner of Southwest Valley (190) 2nd place

Brock Shaha of Mount Ayr (113) 3rd place

Brock Shaha of Mount Ayr took third place at 113 lbs.

Trenton Warner of Nodaway Valley (285) 3rd place

Ely Rodriguez of Southwest Valley (150) 4th place

Jordan Martin-England of Lenox (175) 4th place

Cole Binning of Clarke (215) 4th place

Brayden Maeder of Southwest Valley (113) 5th place

Conlee Stark of Mount Ayr (150) 5th place

Bradley Gebbe of Nodaway Valley (132) 5th place

Carmine Shaw of Nodaway Valley (144) 5th place

Ian Forsythe of Southwest Valley (165) 6th place