Connor Johnston pins Dustin Henry
of BGM on his way to secnd place
at 189 pounds. (Submitted photo).

Johnston 2nd as Belle Plaine SICL reign ends
Jan. 31, 2010

BELLE PLAINE - Connor Johnston wrestled his way to second place at 189 pounds and four other TC-M grapplers placed third in their weight class at the SICL meet on Saturday, Jan. 30.

Overall, the story of the day was Belle Plaine getting knocked off the top of the SICL mountain for the first time in 18 years. Sigourney-Keota won the meet, with BGM second. Belle Plaine had won 17 straight league championships coming in.

TC-M's third-place wrestlers were Austin Hopwood at 103 pounds, Colton Molyneux at 125, Travis Carruthers at 140 and Joe Kirkpatrick at 215.

Ten TC-M wrestlers competed and all of them placed sixth or higher. It should be noted, though, that the 10 SICL wrestling schools are divided now into seven teams and some of the placing wrestlers did not have to win a match in order to finish in the top six.

TC-M got off to a great start on the day and stood third in the team standings after the first round. TC-M finshed the day in sixth place.

Johnston pinned Dustin Henry of BGM, then outlasted Dan Etter of Sigourney-Keota 6-2 in a tough semifinals match. Johnston then squared off for the sixth time this season against state-ranked Kyle Soderblom of Lynnville-Sully in the title bount. Soderblom had won the previous five and he won this one, 11-2.

Johnston stands at 27-13 heading into post-season action this week at the sectional meet at BGM.

Joe Kirkpatrick had an impressive 3-1 mark on the day in taking third place at 215. Reed Peterson of Belle Plaine pinned Kirkpatrick in the semifinals, but Kirkpatrick rallied later in the meet and took a tough 6-5 win over Kyle Hawkins of BGM in the third-place match.

Kirkpatrick will tote a record of 34-10 into the sectional meet.

At 140, Carruthers lost an overtime thriller, 8-6, to Aaron VanDyke of Lynnville-Sully in his first match. But Carruthers came back to defeat VanDyke 13-6 in the third-place bout.

Carruthers is 16-27.

At 125, Colton Molyneux pinned Cole Clark of BGM twice on his way to the third-place medal. Molyneux is 25-21.

Austin Hopwood had just one bout on his way to third at 103.

TC-M got a fourth place from James McCain at 119. McCain went 2-2 in a difficult weight class and now sports a 15-12 record.

NEXT UP - The TC-M wrestlers compete in the Sectional tournament at BGM starting at 12 noon on Saturday, Feb. 6.

Joe Kirkpatrick went 3-1 on the
day and placed third. 
(Submitted photo). 

SICL Tournament
at Belle Plaine

Team Points - 1) Sigourney-Keota 216.5. BGM 206.5.  Belle Plaine 183.5. Iowa Valley/HLV 179. Lynnville-Sully 92. TC-M 90. English Valleys 49.5.

TC-M Wrestlers
   103 - Austin Hopwood (third place) - Collin Kolars, BGM, pinned Hopwood. 1:15.
   112 - Eli Schmidt (fifth place) - Tanner Showalter, BGM, pinned Schmidt, :26. Kaid Weideman, LS, pinned Schmit, :56.
   119 - James McCain (fourth place) - McCain beat Bill Trettin, L-S, 13-11, OT. Gavin Kolars, BGM, pinned McCain, 1:12. McCain pinned David Randall, IV/HLV, 1:00. Cory Clubb, S-K, beat McCain, 9-4.
   125 - Colton Molyneux (third place) - Molyneux pinned Cole Clark, BGM, 1:44. Derek Hammen, S-K, pinned Molyneux, 3:42. Molyneux pinned Cole Clark, BGM, :22.
   140 - Travis Carruthers (third place) - Aaron VanDyke, L-S, beat Carruthers, 8-6, OT. Jake Steffen, BGM, beat Carruthers, 13-1. Carruthers beat Aaron VanDyke, L-S, 13-6.
   152 - Kadon Foubert (fifth place) - Nick Olson, S-K, pinned Foubert, 2:45. Austin Chekal, BP, pinned Foubert, :44.
   160 - Isaac Shaull (sixth place) - Jesse East, BGM, pinned Shaull, 2:33. Dan Waechter, S-K, pinned Shaull, 2:53.
   171 - Nathan Fisher (sixth place) - Blake Jack, BGM, pinned Fisher, 2:35. Bo Bilan, EV, pinned Fisher, :39. Black Jack, BGM, pinned Fisher 1:13.
   189 - Connor Johnston (second place) - Johnston pinned Dustin Henry, BGM. Johnston beat Dan Etter, S-K, 6-2. Kyle Soderblom, L-S, beat Johnston, 11-2.
   215 - Joe Kirkpatrick (third place) - Kirkpatrick pinned Garrett Hinrichs, IV/HLV, 1:39. Reed Peterson, BP, pinned Kirkpatrick, 2:19. Kirkpatrick beat Tyle Terlouw, L-S, 8-1. Kirkpatrick beat Kyle Hawkins, BGM, 6-5.

Kadon Foubert competes at the
SICL meet. (Submitted photo).

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