Cowboys finish third as a team last Saturday at Jack Mendenhall Invitational

Wrestling against strong competition can only make you better, and the Cowboys did well in finishing third as a team last Saturday at the Jack Mendenhall Invitational hosted by Ames High School.

Competing against several 4A schools, the red and black matmen took third place with 163.5 points. Cedar Rapids Prairie won the tournament with 206, followed by Valley of West Des Moines with 199.5. Fourth went to Waverly-Shell Rock with 150.5 and fifth to Ballard with 136.5 in the huge 17-team field.

Justin (106) and Josh (120) Portillo continued their steady march to hopeful state berths by taking their respective weight brackets. Justin took a 5-0 decision over Hutchinson of Valley in his final, while Josh used a 2-1 overtime victory over Curry of Sergeant Bluff-Luton to gain gold.

Both Brady Brott (145) and Brandon Flurer (285) had great days in finishing second. Brott used three falls to propel him into the finals where he lost a major decision to Rodriguez of CR Kennedy. Flurer started with a bye, then had two fairly quick pins before going down himself to Silberstein of Ballard.

Results-Mendenhall Tournament

106-Ju. Portillo: bye; W by fall 2:26 over Wyatt (W-SR); W by fall 1:31 over Thompson (Perry); W 5-0 over Hutchinson (Valley) – 1st

113-Open weight for Cowboys

120-Jo. Portillo: bye; W by tech. fall 18-2 over Kleinschmidt (CRP); W 10-5 over Hromidko (CRK); W 2-1 over Curry (SB-L) – 1st

126-Lienemann: L by fall to Niyibizi (Perry); W by fall 5:04 over Davis (Boone); L by fall to Wright (Ballard) –DNP

132-Abbas: W by fall 5:19 over Garcia (Perry); W by fall 1:42 over Caudill (Ames); L by fall to Sands (W-SR); L 9-5 to Wennermark (CRP); W 17-11 over Hulse (Boone) – 5th

138-Haberman: W by tech. fall 23-5 over Janke (Perry); L 10-6 to Sarasin (CRK); W 5-4 over Carr (Valley); L 6-4 to Purcell (Dowling); W 9-3 over Howlett (Ballard) – 5th

145-Brott: W by fall 5:04 over Elbert (Indianola); W by fall 3:13 over Putnam (SB-L); W by fall 2:59 over Wagenhoffer (W-SR); L by maj. dec. 15-2 to Rodriguez (CRK) – 2nd

152-Carpenter: L by fall to Kolarik (Indianola); L by fall to Anderson (OABCIG) – DNP

160-Nelson: W by fall in 1:42 over Gebel (OABCIG); W by fall 1:01 over Bender (Carroll); L 6-0 to Stotts (Valley); W 4-3 over Clutter (Indianola) – 5th

170-Powers: L by maj. dec. 11-1 to Weber (Ames); W by fall :28 over Endrulat (OABCIG); L by fall to Byram (W-SR) – DNP

182-Anderson: bye; W by maj. dec. 12-3 over Endrizal (Indianola); L by fall to Lombardi (Valley); L 6-4 to Calkins (Boone); W by fall 1:25 over Endrizal – 5th

195-Pogge: W 8-7 over Jata (Perry); L by fall to Wilcke (OABCIG); L by fall to Campos (Valley); W by tech. fall 22-7 over Anders (Boone); L 5-1 to Hayes (Ames) – 8th

220-Ahrens: bye; W 7-2 over Melton (Boone); L by fall to Townsend (Ames); L 4-3 to Manson (CRP); W 8-2 over Denny (Carroll) – 5th

285-Flurer: bye; W by fall :55 over VanLoon (Indianola); W by fall 1:14 over Alger (Dowling); L by fall to Silberstein (Ballard) – 2nd