Christensen set for final postseason run
By Matt Pfiffner
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mpfiffner@osceolaiowa.com
A lot of high school wrestlers reach 100 career wins, but not many of them get the chance to do it against a bitter rival who beat them earlier that same season.
That was the scenario for Central Decatur senior 145-pounder Connor Christensen, who scored a dominating 10-3 victory Jan. 11 over then Class 1A sixth-ranked Carl Davis of Southeast Warren. The Cardinal was ranked 10th at the time, based on an earlier 5-3 loss to Davis.
The win not only gave Christensen a measure of revenge and a victory over a rival he could meet again in the postseason, it also gave him 100 career wins.
“It was pretty good, especially against the sixth-ranked kid at the time. It was nice to get a little revenge, because that’s the kid who beat me earlier,” Christensen said of win No. 100. “I’m just trying to catch up to my brothers now, we’ve always had a little challenge. It was good timing. Helps my seed at Sectionals and everything.”
Connor will not catch brother Cole, who finished his outstanding career with 143 victories, but each win does pull him further away from another brother, Garrett, who he has already passed on the CD career wins list.
“He could make top five in school history the way he’s going right now,” Connor’s coach and father, Dan said.
Coach Christensen also said Connor has one less thing to worry about this season and that has played a big role in his outstanding senior campaign.
“He’s not cutting any weight and without having to worry about that like he did last year, he just comes out and wrestles well,” Dan said.
The youngest Christensen recently added a prestigious John Harris Invitational title to his collection and now has his sights set on Sectionals, which will be held Saturday in Mount Ayr. That is the first step in Christensen attempting to reach the State Tournament in his fourth and final attempt. He has been a three-time District qualifier, but has yet to reach Des Moines.
“I worked my butt off for this year. My brothers want to see me go to State, so I’ve been trying to get there,” Connor said. “Coach has always told us there are only five matches that matter and those are the matches at Sectionals and Districts. I’m just working for those matches right now and then when we get there I’ll take care of business, hopefully.”
Christensen wrestled tough against the top wrestlers he faced last season, but was unable to get the wins. That has not been the case this year.
“I’m a lot more confident this year. I don’t have that bad streak where I lose those close matches. Last year I had a lot of close matches and this year I haven’t had many of those,” he said. “Right now, it’s just mental. I’ll have my conditioning and my body strength and my technique all down, so it’s all mental right now.”
Coach Christensen said confidence and execution have led to the turnaround.
“Last year it seemed like he would make mistakes and fall behind and lose close matches. This year there have just been a couple close ones, but he’s got his confidence back and wins the close matches,” Dan said. “I don’t think there’s a time in the match where he thinks he will lose.”
The Cardinal senior said making it to State won’t be enough.
“Getting to State is a big goal. But my goal is to at least place fifth. I’d like to be State Champion, but to be happy, I want to get at least fifth and bring home some hardware to Central Decatur. I’d like to get to State and get on the stand,” he said.
Why fifth? Older brother Cole and his father both placed sixth and he wants to have bragging rights over the two of them.
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