Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

TIFFIN – It took a few seconds for Jackson Litterer to find the words to describe the last two seasons for senior Tanner Cochran.

The Clear Creek Amana interim head coach finally settled on the phrase ‘not super great’.

Cochran didn’t need nearly as much time to assess his performance the past two years.  

“My record the last two years was bad,” Cochran said. “It was really bad.”

Cochrane hasn’t been bad as a senior, in fact the Clipper 220-pounder has been pretty dang good

On Monday, Cochran put the finishes touches on a bounce back regular season with a pair of wins at a senior night quadrangular in Tiffin.

“It’s pretty emotional,” Cochran said. “I got to end on a win here and that’s nice.”
Senior night is always a little emotional for coaches and senior athletes.

Considering where Cochran was as a wrestler just a year ago added some extra emotion for Cochran and the Clippers coaching staff on Monday.

His two wins on Monday pushed Cochran’s season record to 31-9.

The 31 victories are more than he had in his previous two varsity seasons combined and double his season total from a year ago.

“If you look at his record as a sophomore and a junior it’s probably not super great but he’s turned it around his senior year,” Litterer said. “I couldn’t be prouder of him.”

Cochran won 10 matches as a sophomore and went 15-27 last season, losing his final five matches.

Entering his senior season Cochran admits he was prepared for more of the same.

“Honestly, I’ve surprised myself,” Cochran said. “I actually thought it was going to be like last year so I’ve kind of surprised myself.”

Cochran went 4-2 and finished seventh at the rugged Cliff Keen/Independence Invitational to open the season.

A week later he was third at the North Cedar Invitational and won the Austin Roberts Memorial Invitational the following weekend.

Suddenly, Cochran was winning.

What seemed like a surprising senior season for Cochran was actually anything but a surprise to Litterer.

“He’s just been committed to the process,” Litterer said. “He plays football, he’s in the weight room all year round, he’s been coming do extra wrestling stuff, he’s put in a ton of time and it just thrills me to death to see the success he has had this season.”

After two seasons of losing Cochran saw what it would take to put up a winning season.

It all started in the offseason and the practice room.

“Being a little older I realized what it is going to take in the room to win,” Cochran said. “I realized that you have to work hard for what you want.”

Cochran was impressive in his final home match.

He record four takedowns in the opening minute on his way to a first-period pin of Central DeWitt’s Austin Meyer.

“It’s nice that I could do that in my last match here,” Cochran said. “To kind of go out on top here was nice.”

Fellow senior Jake Neuzil went 1-1 on Monday as Clear Creek Amana dropped a pair of duals 46-24 to Solon and 45-30 to Central DeWitt.

Despite the losses on Monday the Clippers showed signs of progress during the regular season, finishing 9-11 in duals to match its win total from the previous two seasons combined.

“We knew we weren’t going to be the top team in the state this season but we are working to get better every day and our two seniors, you can’t commend them enough on what they’ve done to help us do that,” Litterer said. “Those two have come in and led every day.”

Solon added a 54-21 win over Center Point-Urbana to finish 2-0 on the day and move to 17-5 in dual meets.

Monday capped a busy stretch for Solon which started with a WAMAC double dual last Thursday and included a two-day tournament in Ida Grove over the weekend.

The Spartans bumped up every wrestler from 113 to 160 one weight for Monday’s two duals and still won 19 matches.

“We decided early to bump everybody up a weight,” Williams said. “I think spirit-wise that helped them a little bit that they didn’t have to worry about it yesterday and now we get back to our normal preparation.”

The Spartans close the regular season on Thursday hosting Benton Community and Liberty High and both teams take part in the WAMAC Tournament on Saturday in Maquoketa.

Solon 46, Clear Creek Amana 24

106 – Mike Morrow (CCA) pinned Gabe Yetley 2:00

113 – Noah Banwart (CCA) dec. Lane Goodwin 12-10

120 – Sam Stevens (CCA) pinned Lucas TePoel :52

126 – Zeb Gnida (SOL) major dec. Jake Neuzil 13-2

132 – Aidan Dall (SOL) major dec. Hunter Schmelzer 13-3

138 – Christian Haight (SOL) pinned Nate Beckman :54

145 – Andrew Rohret (CCA) dec. Andy Brokaw 4-3

152 – Caleb Ebert (SOL) tech. fall Harrison Cory 19-3

160 – Zack Bevans (SOL) won by forfeit

170 – Seamus Poynton (SOL) won by forfeit

182 – Mike Hoyle (SOL) pinned Nick Collins 1:21

195 – Adam Bock (SOL) dec. Spencer Beltz 5-1

220 – Tanner Cochran (CCA) won by forfeit

285 – Tyler Linderbaum (SOL) pinned Jonah Upah 1:28

Solon 54, Center Point-Urbana 21

106 – Cole Whitehead (CPU) pinned Gabe Yetley :41

113 – Matt Hearn (CPU) dec. Lane Goodwin 9-4

120 – Caleb Fuessley (CPU) pinned Lucas TePoel 3:57

126 – Zeb Gnida (SOL) won by forfeit

132 – Aidan Dall (SOL) dec. C.J. Garnett 16-9

138 – Christian Haight (SOL) pinned Dylan Clark 1:43

145 – Andy Brokaw (SOL) won by forfeit

152 – Caleb Ebert (SOL) won by forfeit

160 – Zack Bevans (SOL) won by forfeit

170 – Seamus Poynton (SOL) major dec. Avery Clark 12-1

182 – Mike Hoyle (SOL) tech fall Collin Bantz 21-4

195 – Adam Bock (SOL) won by forfeit

220 – Isaac Kono (CPU) won by forfeit

285 – Tyler Linderbaum (SOL) pinned Derek Besick 1:01 

Central DeWitt 45, Clear Creek Amana 30

106 – Keaton Zeimet (CD)  pinned Mike Marrow 1:00

113 – Robert Howard (CD) dec. Sam Stevens 8-4

120 – Cody Penniston (CD) pinned Noah Banwart :43

126 – Randal Moiser (CCA) won by forfeit

132 – Jake Neuzil (CCA) won by forfeit

138 – Hunter Schmelzer (CCA) dec. Collin Courtney 4-2

145 – Sawyer Mercado (CD) pinned Nate Beckman 5:50

152 – Andrew Rohret (CCA) dec. Max Cousins 10-5

160 – Theodore Fox (CD) pinned Harrison Cory 1:36

170 – Logan Pitts (CD) won by forfeit

182 – Cole Cahill (CD) won by forfeit

195 – Nick Smith (CD) pinned Spencer Beltz 1:09

220 – Tanner Cochran (CCA) pinned Austin Meyer 1:27

285 – Jonah Upah (CCA) won by forfeit