Warrior wrestling team hit hard by sickness, injuries
By Willis Patenaude, Times-Register
The Central wrestling team had a tough Upper Iowa Conference quad at South Winneshiek last week. Missing multiple wrestlers due to sickness and injury, the Warriors took a total of five wrestlers—two boys and three girls—into the duals, but in reality, the team only had two athletes total for all three duals, in Nick Deitchler (132 pounds) and Sean Wilwert (170 pounds).
The lack of wrestlers meant the forfeits piled up, and that was never more evident than in the dual against South Winneshiek, which the Warriors lost 72-4—a score that included 11 Central forfeits. The four points were earned by Deitchler, who won a 12-1 majority decision, while Wilwert was defeated in 39 seconds via fall.
The Central girls also lost all three extra matches, as Brandy Beatty (138), Kimberly Suhr (126) and Tori Sylvester (126) were all pinned.
The second dual against Clayton Ridge ended in a 30-30 tie and didn’t include a single wrestling match, as both teams earned all their points via forfeits.
“We just didn’t have any weights that could’ve matched up. It was a tough dual to watch unfold, but when we’re missing five wrestlers, that hurts us a lot,” said coach Joe Koehn.
In the final dual of the meet, the Warriors won both wrestling matches, but lost the forfeit battle 6-2, dropping the overall dual by the score of 36-24. As for the matches, Deitchler (138) secured a pin in a grueling fight that lasted over five minutes, and Wilwert (182) earned a fall in under two minutes.
“Nick has been wrestling pretty well for this season. He is still not capitalizing on some available opportunities, but he is wrestling smart,” Koehn said. “Sean is wrestling pretty good right now too. Biggest thing is just taking advantage of the opportunities when they present themselves.”
Koehn believes the missing wrestlers will back by the next meet.
“I’d rather them get sick now, though, than in a couple weeks,” he added.
The Warriors’ home meet scheduled for Jan. 14 was cancelled due to weather, but Koehn said the team looks to reschedule it. Now, the Warriors currently have two meets on the docket. The first will be Jan. 18, at Bellevue, followed by the John Byers Invitational at Midland on Jan. 22.
