Clear Creek Amana Crowns Two Freshman Champs at Colton Allen Memorial Tournament
Your Prep Sports
A little more than a week into the season one thing appears obvious about the Clear Creek Amana wrestling team – the more the Clippers compete, the better they seem to get.
Clear Creek Amana had a pair of freshmen win individual titles at their first varsity tournament on Saturday as the Clippers placed third at the Colton Allen Memorial Tournament in Wellman.
Freshman Jack Stevens and Ryker Jones went 5-0 on their way to individual titles as Clear Creek Amana finished with 94 points.
“If you look at it everybody that placed for us is coming back next year so we’ve got a young team, a tough young team that wants to get better,” Clear Creek Amana coach Kyle Forness said. “Good things are coming for Clear Creek, we are just going to continue to get better.”
Host Mid-Prairie edged Alburnett by half a point for the team title with 104 points, 10 more than the third-place Clippers.
Clear Creek Amana six wrestlers finish in the top two at the round robin event as Jayden Massey, Caden Baxter, Kalvin Mendieta and Tyler Steines all earned runner-up finishes.
Leading the way for Clear Creek Amana was the freshmen duo of Stevens and Jones.
Stevens went 5-0 on his way to the 113-pound title securing the championship with an 11-4 decision over Mid-Prairie sophomore Mose Yoder in the final match of the day.
“He stayed in position he didn’t get out of position,” Forness said of Stevens. “He just stayed in good wrestling position and really frustrated the kid and the kid made mistakes and he capitalized on that. (Yoder) is a really tough kid. That’s how you win matches you stay in good wrestling position.”
Jones was impressive on his way to the 132-pound title, collecting four falls and a 5-2 win over Alburnett junior Dylan Barenz who finished runner-up.
Massey went 3-1 on his way to a runner-up finish at 120 pounds, winning his final three matches after opening with a loss to champion Jaiden Moore of Benton Community.
Baxter and Steines each went 1-1 in runner-up finishes at 145 and 220 pounds respectively while Mendieta went 3-1 while finishing second at 195.
“Jayden Massey had a little rough start to the year and today he rattled off three wins in a row and that’s the kind of momentum he needs to keep himself going,” Forness said. “He can get down on himself and he doesn’t need to.
Junior Bela Upchurch was third at 138 and freshman Carson Nash was third at 160.
“We had a lot of good things, Carson Nash got third,” Forness said. “Freshman that have never been to a varsity tournament were placing so I was pretty excited about that.”
Colton Allen Memorial Tournament
At Wellman
Team scores – 1. Mid-Prairie 104; 2. Alburnett 103.5; 3. Clear Creek Amana 94; 4. Benton Community 93.5; 5. Iowa Valley 71.5; 6. Mediapolis 56
Individual champions; area placewinners
106 – 1. Jack Marshall (IV)
113 – 1. Jack Stevens (CCA); 4. Beck Arant (CCA)
120 – 1. Jaiden Moore (BC); 2. Jayden Massey (CCA)
126 – 1. Brody Neighbor (ALB); 3. Max Carlson (CCA)
132 – 1. Ryker Jones (CCA)
138 – 1. Quinten Aney (MED); 3. Bela Upchurch (CCA)
145 – 1. Clayton Sebetka (BC); 2. Caden Baxter (CCA)
152 – 1. Gunnary Keeney (ALB); 5. Nick Johnson (CCA)
160 – 1. Levi Arnold (MED); 3. Carson Nash (CCA)
170 – 1. Brody Hoyt (IV)
182 – 1. Austin Roose (BC)
195 – 1. Cael Garvey (M-P); 2. Kalvin Mendieta (CCA)
220 – 1. Josh Wallington (M-P); 2. Tyler Steines (CCA)
285 – 1. Kolby Morris (ALB); 5. Arron Feinberg (CCA)
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