Sectional wrestling: Cardinal sophomore blazes own trail to districts

Feb. 8—SIGOURNEY — Isaiah Cox certainly left his mark on the Ottumwa High School wrestling program.

Now, his younger brother is trying to leave his own mark at the only other high school in Wapello County.

Isaac Cox is officially two wins away from following in his brother's footsteps as Cardinal's only wrestler to advance to the Class 1A, District 7 tournament in Wapello. The sophomore heavyweight had to settle for a runner-up finish at Saturday's Sectional 14 tournament after North Mahaska junior Trace Goemaat (36-6) was given credit for securing a fall on a quick whistle with just seconds remaining in what had been a competitive opening period of the championship match.

Cox, now 27-14 on the season, ultimately booked his trip to districts by pinning Sigourney-Keota senior Zachary Smithart (24-12) just 51 seconds into their semifinal match earlier in the day. Cox will be looking to potentially avenge Saturday's sudden loss to Goemaat this weekend potentially with his first state wrestling tournament berth on the line.

"I feel good. I want that one again," Cox said. "I feel like I can get there. I can't get under the other guy. That's kind of my motto. If I'm under them, I'm done."

The state wrestling venue is nothing new for Cox and his family, having watched Isaiah compete for the Bulldogs in the 2015 and 2016 tournaments. Isaiah Cox placed seventh at 195 pounds as a junior in his first trip to state before finishing his career with a fifth-place finish as a senior at 182 pounds, winning a program-best 49 matches that season while finishing with the all-time most career wins for any Ottumwa wrestler with 149 victories.

Isaac Cox earned his 49th career win on Saturday with his sectional semifinal pin against Smithart and would love to join his brother as in securing 100 career wins, as well as multiple trips to state. Isaiah Cox, now the head wrestling coach for the Ottumwa girls, would love to see his brother continue chasing down those dreams like he did as member of the Bulldogs.

The younger Cox, however, is looking to carve his own path in a different shade of red.

"He's always on me to come over to Ottumwa, but I want to prove to him that I can do it myself," Isaac Cox said. "He left his mark at Ottumwa. I want to do the same at Cardinal."

The Comets ultimately finished seventh at Saturday's 1A sectional meet with 57 points. Like Cardinal, Pekin had just one wrestler advance to districts as Blake Juhl, the younger brother of former state place winner Mason Juhl, advanced with a runner-up finish at 170 pounds earning his 31st win in the semifinals with a first-period fall scored against Mediapolis junior Levi Arnold as the Panthers scored 61 points to edge Cardinal by four for sixth place in the team standings.

"We only brought five wrestlers into the tournament. That's how many you'd like to send on to districts, but we'll take what we got with Blake and run with it," Pekin head wrestling coach Al Chapman said. "He's got more workout partners now."

Van Buren County finished fifth at the 1A, Sectional 14 tournament with 99 points, sending a pair of wrestlers to next week's district tournament. Brant Tedrow (25-7) finished second at 195 pounds for the Warriors while freshman teammate Dirk Boyles won the 145-pound sectional title, improving to 23-5 win a semifinal round pin against Cardinal senior Tristin Cloke and a 6-0 sectional championship win over North Mahaska senior Michael DeJong.

"It's been a goal of mine all year to advance. I've been working for this all year. It means a lot to win this, especially as a freshman," Boyles said. "I really need to get my head better in the game going into next week. I wasn't as focused as I should have been. I need to be more aggressive. I can't stay back. I need to get to my shots."

Up in Grinnell, Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont finished fourth in the Class 2A, Sectional 6 tournament with 164 points. Five Rocket wrestlers advanced with 182-pound sophomore sectional champion Blake Jager (27-8) and junior sectional heavyweight champion Skyler Young (30-6) joining 126-pound runner-up Tyler Schutt (13-7), 160-pound runner-up Hunter McFadden (28-2) and 171-pound runner-up Kyler Ricard (7-3) in moving on to cinoete at next week's District 3 tournament in Knoxville.

"We are very happy with the performance of all wrestlers on Saturday," EBF head wrestling coach Scott Williamson said. "Blake and Skyler Young sectional championships. Kyler returned from an injury in mid-December to qualify in a very tough bracket. Kyler, Tyler, and Hunter each won tough wrestlebacks to qualify for districts."

Joining EBF in Knoxville will be five Centerville wrestlers. The Big Reds finished fourth in Albia at the 2A, Sectional 5 tournament with 133 points with five juniors advancing to districts including heavyweight champion Cruize Flanders (17-14), 182-pound champion Ryan Messamaker (24-16), 145-pound runner-up Jax Mosley (20-20), 152-pound runner-up Leland Henderson (18-14) and 170-pound runner-up Sam Hash (19-11).

Fairfield finished sixth at the 2A, Sectional 15 tournament with 102 points on Saturday. Cason Miller, competing in his first sectional tournament for the Trojans, joined junior teammate Zach Westercamp (16-10) in moving on to next week's 2A, District 8 tournament in Williamsburg as the 132-pound sectional champion improving to 22-2 with a 9-5 win in the finals over Mount Vernon junior Croix Shebetka.

— Scott Jackson can be reached at sjackson@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter@CourierScott.