OTTUMWA — The Ottumwa Bulldogs fell to Waukee 42-33 at Evans Middle School Thursday night in CIML wrestling action.
Waukee went 10-10 last year but was wrestling its opening meet of the season.
The Bulldogs used a mixed bag of wrestlers to give Waukee all they could handle. Two freshmen, a couple of guys who have only wrestled a couple of years, and an old veteran picked up wins for the Bulldogs.
“In a short week you really don’t expect to make much improvement but we saw some tonight,” said Bulldog head coach Kevin Cochran.
The match started at 119 with a third-period pin for the Bulldogs. Freshman Karsten Van Velsor got the Bulldogs on the board with a pin at the :27 mark of period two. Van Velsor had dominated Evan Griffiths before the pin.
Angelo Kelly, who Cochran calls “one of the hardest working guys in the room,” put the Bulldogs up 12-6 with a pin. Kelly was the aggressor in the match and his only trouble came when he went for shoot takedowns.
Josh Greiner, ranked fourth, won a major decision at 135 with a 20-8 win. The only real offense for the Warrior wrestler was the escape points he got when Greiner let him up to go for another takedown. Greiner used eight takedowns, a reversal and back points to get the win.
“Josh is such a technically sound wrestler. He wrestled well,” said Cochran.
“I think I wrestled okay. I’m just trying to use my skills to make everybody better,” Greiner added.
The Bulldogs led 16-6 at that point.
Waukee would register pins at the next three weights to go up 24-16 heading into the match at 171.
Ottumwa’s Shane Brownlee dominated Carter Watson and won a technical fall, 15-0. He fought off a tough shot and got the opening takedown and would never be challenged.
Tanner Pilkington turned a take down near the edge of the circle into a pin — just over a minute into the match at 189.
Pilkington, who hopes to go down in weight later, has only wrestled two years.
“I guess I’d have to say that I’m wrestling better than I ever had,” added Pilkington.
The Bulldogs led 27-24 but two quick pins by Waukee at 215 and 285 gave the lead back to the visitors.
Freshman Marcus Luthi, wrestling his first high school match at the varsity level, pinned his opponent late in the first period. His pin allowed the Bulldogs to be within three with one weight class remaining. The Bulldogs were open at 112 and that made the final score 42-33.
Cochran talked about what the match and what the Bulldogs can build on.
“Small basics are getting better but that is still what we need to get better at. These things make a big difference in a match.”
The Bulldogs wrestle next at the Burlington Invite on Saturday.
Waukee 42, Ottumwa 33
103 — Marcus Luthi (O) won by fall over Ryan Sullivan 1:39. 112 — Chris Grow (W) forfeit. 119 — Chris Wedemeyer (W) won by fall over Richi Sosa 4:41. 125 — Karsten Van Velsor (O) won by fall over Evan Griffiths 3:33. 130 — Angelo Kelly (O) won by fall over Jason Clark 4:47. 135 — Josh Greiner (O) major decision 20-8 over Collin Mundus. 140 — Open. 145 — Chris Hallinan (W) won by fall over Alex Stephens :41. 152 — Brenton Marcum (W) won by fall over Kyle Himes 1:06. 160 — Danny Housholder (W) won by fall over Kyle Harr :34. 171 — Shane Brownlee (O) technical fall 15-0 over Carter Watson. 189 — Tanner Pilkington (O) won by fall over Cody Davis :58. 215 — Ty Hodges (W) won by fall over Ronald Forney :51. HWT — David Browns (W) won by fall over Andy Orona :11.
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