Clarke struggles at Southern Iowa Classic

FAIRFIELD – Clarke wrestled in the Southern Iowa Classic Saturday, scoring 39.5 points for 13th in the field on a day where the Indians wrestled five weights.

Fort Madison was the team winner, scoring 204.5 points.

Shorthanded, Clarke wrestled at 106, 113, 145, 195 and 285 with its best finish coming from Tyler Binning at 195.

Binning placed second, receiving a top seed and taking the benefit of a bye, Binning faced PCM’s Cooper Sloan in the semifinal. Binning made quick work of Sloan, taking him down in 44 seconds to advance to the final.

Facing Burlington’s Tyler Hartman, Binning fell at 1:35 for the second place finish. Hartman closed out the tournament with his third consecutive pin of the day.

On the back end of the bracket, Kayden Ludington (106) lost to eventual third-place finisher Kade Martin of Davis County to start the day and fell again to Octavio Garcia of Chariton to put Ludington in the seventh-place match.

Ludington was successful in his third match of the day, taking down Abby Blint by technical fall (16-1) in 4:20.

Ethan Domina (113) also fell into the consolation early, losing his first match before winning over Centerville’s Chris Bowen on an 8-6 decision. Knoxville’s Marco Alejo bounced Domina to the fifth place match, which Domina won off of injury time.

KJ Fry’s (145) day saw him pick up only one match win, the seventh-place matchup over Nick Wegmann of Burlington by fall. Gage Moorman of Centerville and Quinton Ross of Fort Madison took down Fry to drop him to the seventh-place match.

At 285, Will Smith fell against eventual third-place finisher Nicholas Wood of Chariton, dropping him to consolation. Smith then won in consolation over Skyler Young (EBF) with a pin at 2:33, but fell in back-to-back matches to close out his day with a sixth-place finish.

Home meet

In a home meet Tuesday (Jan. 28) night, Clarke hosted Clarinda Academy, Interstate-35 and West Central Valley.

Clarke rolled over Clarinda Academy, winning 61-6 off the benefit of nine forfeit wins.

The only matches where both teams filled a spot were at 126, 132 and 138. Kacey Boyer (132) beat Xavier Suarez in a 5-1 decision and Zethann May (138) beat Levi Doolin in a 13-4 major decision. Jessica Guerrero (126) fell by pin for Clarke’s only loss.

Against Interstate-35, Clarke lost 53-30.

I-35 had match pins from Ryan Steinlage (113) over Domina, Tyston Palmer (126) over Guerrero, Nick Steinlage (138) over Boyer, Brock Thompson (195) over Tyler Binning and Ryley Snell (285) over Will Smith.

Clarke’s Jake Smith (220) pinned Nick Hauge at 0:46 as the only non-forfeit victory for the Indians against the Roadrunners.

Clarke again struggled Tuesday night, falling to West Central Valley 41-36.

Weights 152-220 were open, resulting in forfeits for both sides. Clarke’s match wins came from Calhoun Lundquist (106), Domina, and Will Smith, all by pin. Domina’s pin was the latest, coming at 3:59 while Will Smith’s was the fastest at 0:55.