Three Comet wrestlers advance to state championships

Charles City 152-pounder Dylan Koresh earns second district title

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

PARKERSBURG — After the holidays is when we are usually setting into the winter of our discontent.

The colorful decorations are down, the goodwill cheer has been glazed over, and all we have to look forward to for the next two or three or four months is more snow, more ice and more wind chill.

But during this post-holiday winter, the Charles City wrestling team didn’t get blue … it got busy.

“There were two parts of the season,” Comet co-head coach Robert Pittman said. “It was before Christmas and after Christmas.

“After Christmas, our guys just came out more focused, and it showed with the wins. Guys who were below .500 before the break were wrestling above .500 after.”

Among those who have been turning it up a notch is 170-pound sophomore Jack Sindlinger. As a good-sized freshman last season, Sindlinger took some lumps while battling against more experienced upperclassmen.

Sindlinger started out slowly this season, but now finds himself among a trio of Comets who have advanced to the 2018 State Wrestling Traditional Championship taking place Feb. 15-17 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

The others include senior 220-pounder Josh Halligan, and junior 152-pounder and two-time district champion Dylan Koresh.

At the Class 2A District 1 Wrestling Meet Saturday at Aplington-Parkersburg, Koresh reached 30 wins for the season after pinning Rhys Glidden with 8 seconds left in the second period of their semifinal before recording a 9-1 major decision over Garner-Hayfield-Ventura’s Jared Shaw in the championship.

Sindlinger’s road to state was blazed when he pinned Osage’s Colin Muller midway through the third period of a semifinal that was tied at 3 before Sindlinger got the slap.

Sindlinger would go on to lose to New Hampton-Turkey Valley senior Noah Glaser in the final — 1:35 fall — but was spared having to battle for a wrestleback berth when Muller recorded a reversal in the final seconds of regulation to win his third-place match against Alberto Salmeron of Iowa Falls-Alden.

The four-wrestler bracket wrestleback rule prevents rematches in determining who gets the second-place berth.

Halligan also was spared of a wrestleback for his state berth. After pinning Victor Sanchez 1:40 into their semifinal, Halligan faced nemesis Areon Day of New Hampton-Turkey Valley in the championship match.

The Chickasaw senior has a penchant for performing hard-slamming belly-to-belly takedowns that tend to knock the wind out of his opponents. Day managed to take Halligan down and pin him 1:38 into their match — Day also stopped Halligan short in a sectional championship match the week before.

With Sanchez winning the third-place match against Michael Schiermeister of Roland-Story, Halligan got his ticket punched.

Going into Saturday, Charles City had seven wrestlers still alive — Bronson Forsyth (113), Alec Staudt (120), Elliott Sinnwell (160) and Tylor Zuspan (285).

Staudt and Zuspan both won their third-place matches, but the wrestleback rule prevented them from wrestling for second place.

“I’m happy for our three guys … they’ve definitely earned it,” said Ryan Fank, Charles City’s other co-head coach, “but I’m a little salty about some of the matches that didn’t go our way. Naturally, I wanted all seven of our guys to get down.”

Like Pittman, Fank acknowledged improvement as the season progressed.

“They really started buying into the program,” Fank said. “You saw it in the way they worked on the little things like properly moving their hands and feet.”

Though the season is technically over for all but three Comet wrestlers, Fank expects a full house in the wrestling room for the practices leading up to state.

“Even though you’re no longer wrestling, there’s always a chance to learn and get better,” he said.

With six district champions — Glaser, Day, Carson Babcock (120), Max Babcock (132), Michael Blockhus (138) and Noah Fye (145) — No. 1-ranked New Hampton-Turkey Valley placed first in team standings with 186 points.

Charles City was fourth (65) among the 10 schools represented.

First-round matches for Class 2A at the state tournament start at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Class 2A DIstrict 1 Meet

AT APLINGTON-PARKERSBURG

TEAM RESULTS

1. New Hampton-Turkey Valley 186, 2. Osage 97, 3. Clear Lake 94, 4. Charles City 65, 5. Iowa Falls-Alden 40, 5. SH-BCLUW 40, 7. Aplington-Parkersburg 18, 8. Hampton-Dumont 14, 8. Roland-Story 14, 10. Garner-Hayfield Ventura 12

CHARLES CITY RESULTS

113: Bronson Forsyth (Charles City) – 4th

Semifinals – Joe Sullivan (Osage) over Bronson Forsyth (Charles City) (Fall 3:14)

3rd Place Match – Conner Morey (Clear Lake) over Bronson Forsyth (Charles City) (Fall 1:00)

120: Alec Staudt (Charles City) – 3rd

Semifinals – Joe Jacobs (Osage) over Alec Staudt (Charles City) (Dec 4-2)

2nd Place Match – Joe Jacobs (Osage) over Alec Staudt (Charles City) (RULE)

3rd Place Match – Alec Staudt (Charles City) over Mason Kent (Iowa Falls-Alden) (Fall 2:43)

152: Dylan Koresh (Charles City) – 1st

Semifinals – Dylan Koresh (Charles City) over Rhys Glidden (Clear Lake) (Fall 3:51)

1st Place Match – Dylan Koresh (Charles City) over Jared Shaw (Garner-Hayfield/Ventura) (MD 9-1)

160: Elliott Sinnwell (Charles City) – 4th

Semifinals – Zach Williams (Osage) over Elliott Sinnwell (Charles City) (Fall 4:36)

3rd Place Match – Ben Finn (Clear Lake) over Elliott Sinnwell (Charles City) (Fall 0:50)

170: Jack Sindlinger (Charles City) – 2nd

Semifinals – Jack Sindlinger (Charles City) over Colin Muller (Osage) (Fall 5:00)

1st Place Match – Noah Glaser (NHTV) over Jack Sindlinger (Charles City) (Fall 1:33)

2nd Place Match – Jack Sindlinger (Charles City) over Colin Muller (Osage) (RULE)

220: Josh Halligan (Charles City) – 2nd

Semifinals – Josh Halligan (Charles City) over Victor Sanchez (Iowa Falls-Alden) (Fall 2:42)

1st Place Match – Areon Day (NHTV) over Josh Halligan (Charles City) (Fall 1:40)

2nd Place Match – Josh Halligan (Charles City) over Victor Sanchez (Iowa Falls-Alden) (RULE)

285: Tylor Zuspan (Charles City) – 3rd

Semifinals – McKade Eisentrager (Iowa Falls-Alden) over Tylor Zuspan (Charles City) (Dec 7-2)

2nd Place Match – McKade Eisentrager (Iowa Falls-Alden) over Tylor Zuspan (Charles City) (RULE)

3rd Place Match – Tylor Zuspan (Charles City) over Jake Keith (Clear Lake) (Dec 7-0)