Tigerhawks, Hawks each bring a pair to state
Comments (...)The road to success is not always a smooth one, especially in the sport of wrestling. It oftentimes requires its competitors to overcome adversity along the way to reach their goals, and two individuals that have exemplified that are Colfax-Mingo’s Jimmy Abell and Dylan Albright.
Tonight, the two will represent the Tigerhawks at the Iowa Class 1A Individual State Wrestling Tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, and both had to overcome some obstacles to get there.
Abell, Colfax-Mingo’s freshman 106-pounder, had his season derailed for a month with a back injury. Albright, the team’s junior 170-pounder, missed his entire freshman season with a broken leg suffered right as it got started.
Nevertheless, both athletes have come back even stronger and are only a few wins away from ending their seasons on the medal stand on Saturday.
Abell wrestled in the team’s first two dual tournaments of the season and got out to a 4-0 start, but then injured his lower back before Colfax-Mingo’s Dec. 3 invitational at Montezuma. He missed that meet, and the next six as he missed three weeks of practice. In his first match back on Jan. 5, he suffered his first high school loss, getting pinned by Jefferson-Scranton’s Jacob Challen.
He wouldn’t lose again until Feb. 11. Abell picked up 15 straight wins and two tournament titles, and got revenge on Challen with an 8-2 decision on Jan. 21 in the process. His only other loss this season came this past Saturday in the district championship against Eddyville-Blakesburg junior Megan Black — a returning state qualifier. He became the first freshman to advance to state in the 27-year history of the Colfax-Mingo co-op.
“It says a lot about his mental approach,” Tigerhawks coach Bryan Poulter said of Abell. “He couldn’t have been in his top physical shape when he came back, but he didn’t get beat by anyone in the third period. He won a lot of matches in the third period, and that says a lot about his mental attitude.”
Abell enters tonight’s championship first round match with a record of 23-2 and ranked 10th in Class 1A at 106, but will have his work cut out for him against Nahsua-Plainview’s Blake Dietz, a senior ranked No. 2 at 41-2.
“I think I’m in a tough situation facing the No. 2-ranked kid, but rankings aren’t everything,” Abell said on Wednesday after a pep rally for him and Albright at the high school.
Abell and Albright have practiced with several different wrestling teams these past two weeks, including with Newton on Feb. 8. Abell wrestled with Cardinals’ sophomore 106-pounder Koby Hull on that day. On Tuesday, he wrestled with Bondurant-Farrar freshman Caleb Coleman, a state qualifier in 2A.
While Abell’s half of his 16-man bracket also contains the third and fifth-ranked wrestlers, Poulter has a wealth of confidence in his freshman.
“I can’t say I’m surprised that he’s there (at state) at all,” he said. “I haven’t seen him go against anyone he can’t beat, and I think it’s going to be the same at state. He’s in a very tough weight class, but he’s going to give his first round opponent a good match and I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up on the medal stand.”
At 170, Albright successfully made the drop down from wrestling at 182 for the first two weeks of the season and has made leaps and bounds from last year in which he went 22-14. He’s 36-7 this season and just a couple wins away from the school record for wins as a junior.
“The growth he’s had this year is exponential,” Poulter said. “He has continued to impress us with his mat-sense and new technique that we hadn’t seen before.”
Albright had a stretch this season where he won 15-of-16 matches, including eight via pin. He has 16 pins this year.
Like Abell, Albright has a tough first-round matchup tonight in Corning senior Kory Schmelzer (38-2), who is ranked fifth. Albright’s half of the bracket also includes the No. 1, 3 and 4 wrestlers at 170.
“It’s state and they all deserve to be there,” Albright said. “It’s going to be a tough road, but hopefully it plays out in the end.”
“It’s going to be a great experience for him to get this mat time at state,” Poulter added. “But I still think that he’s a very dangerous wrestler and no one should look past him. He can beat anyone that’s on the mat with him.”
Doll, Terlouw to represent Hawks
Of course, Abell and Albright aren’t the only Jasper County wrestlers competing in 1A. Complimenting them are the Lynnville-Sully duo of sophomore Caden Doll and senior Kyle Terlouw.
Doll was a district runner-up at 152 pounds and carries a record of 26-7 into state. He took second at five tournaments this season, including sectionals and districts. He won the South Iowa Cedar League Conference Tournament and had a 10-match winning streak this season that included seven pins. He’s won 16 of his matches this season via pin.
In tonight’s championship first round, 10th-ranked Doll is up against Nashua Plainview senior Christian Miller (34-7), who is ranked third. Doll’s half of his bracket includes the second, fourth and ninth-ranked wrestlers.
Terlouw enters tonight as a sectional and district champion and with a record of 36-5. He also took first at the team’s tournaments at Tri-County and North Polk, was runner up in another and third in two others. He’s recorded 21 pins this season and led Lynnville-Sully in total team points. His five losses this season have come by a combined 18 points.
In the first round, Terlouw will face East Mills sophomore David Howell (45-5). His half of the bracket contains the fifth, sixth and eighth-ranked wrestlers.
Both Doll and Terlouw look to follow in the footsteps of 2011 Hawks’ graduate Kyle Soderblom, who took fifth place in 2010 and seventh last year at 189.
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