Leasure wins second title; Clear Lake & GHV wrestlers all place at State Tournament

(Above) Clear Lake’s Ryan Leasure wrestles Wyatt Thompson, of Creston-Orient/Macksburg in the Championship match. 

Clear Lake’s Ryan Leisure earned his second State wrestling title in dramatic fashion Saturday.  The Lion junior used a spladle off of a re-start in the second overtime period to pin Creston/Orient-Macksburg’s Wyatt Thompson and win the Class 2A 138-pound title.

Leisure, along with freshman Ryan Faught who finished as runner-up at 106-pounds, provided retiring Coach Gary Weber with a happy ending to a very successful coaching career.

Leisure (43-1) joins Joe Colon as the only two-time state champion in school history.

Leisure said the championship match was like nothing he has experienced in high school wrestling.  It was the first time he has won a match without a takedown.

After opening competition with a fall in 1:26 over Austin Hazelett, of Washington, Leisure went on to post a second round fall in just :29 seconds over Connor Ascher, of MOC-Floyd Valley. He topped Tanner Abbas, from Clarion-Goldfield-Dows, 7-0, to reach the finals.

The championship match with Wyatt Thompson, of Creston-Orient/Macksburg, was much more contested.

A one-minute sudden victory overtime was needed when regulation ended in a tie.  The first wrestler to score would win the title.  With :40 seconds to go the two wrestlers tied up and went out of bounds.  On the re-start Thompson’s shot was blocked by Leisure and the two hit the edge of the mat.  Thompson’s move was nearly declared a takedown, but the officials did not award the points and after two more tie-ups time ran out in sudden victory overtime.

Thompson chose the down position in the 30-second overtime which followed.  Leisure stopped Thompson’s attempt to tripod his way to his feet.  Then, with :08 seconds left, the grapplers had a re-start after Leisure had a potentially dangerous hold on his opponent.

“All of a sudden it was just one of those things. I had my right leg in on his left side and I realized I could use the spladle,” said Leisure.  The little-known move allowed Leisure to roll Thompson back and get the fall.

“I’ve known how to do a spladle since the second grade, but I can’t believe I did that in the finals.”

Leisure said his achievement has begun to sink in and he is already looking to next year.

“I didn’t take a day off,” he said.  “I’ll probably go up one or two weight classes, but I’ll be ready to get back there.”

“It was a blast watching Ryan hit the move, ‘the spladle.’  It is a very technical move that not many kids can execute as well as Ryan does,” said Coach Weber.  “He probably had the most exciting finish of the entire state tournament!  It was in overtime and 15,000 people were focused on only that match.  I will never forget the roar of the crowd as he hit the spladle.  Ryan deserves all of his success. He has worked extremely hard the last 16 years.  He has put in a ton of time.  It was a great way to coach my last match.”

In addition to cheers, Leisure also drew laughs from the crowd at Wells Fargo when he flashed a smile, minus one of this front teeth, atop the winners podium.  The tooth was shattered earlier in the season at the Battle of Waterloo when Leisure took an elbow to the face.  “I have a fake tooth, but I took it out for the podium picture for laughs,” he said.

Ryan Faught also had an exciting championship match, but fell in the 106-pound match to Matthew Randone, of Assumption of Davenport, 5-4.

Faught entered the State tournament with an undefeated record and rolled through his early matches.  He topped Dylan Robinson, of New Hampton, by major decision, 9-0.  In the second round he had a commanding lead over Kaleb Olejinczak, of Perry, before he pinned him in 3:47.  He reached the championship with a 9-7 decision  over previously undefeated Shea Ruffridge, of Pocahontas Area/Laurens Marathon.

Points were hard to come by in the championship for Faught and his opponent, Matthew Randone, a senior from Davenport Assumption.  The two had met at the Battle of Waterloo earlier in the season and Faught posted a victory, but this time escapes provided the only scoring for the majority of the match.  Faught led 2-0 after an escape and a stalling call, but Randone used an escape and two takedowns for a 5-4 win.

“Ryan Faught had a great year,” said Weber.  “He ended up with just one loss in his freshman year. He’ll be back.  He’s got three more years.”

GHV Wrestling

Garner-Hayfield-Ventura was well represented at the State Wrestling Tournament held last weekend.  For the first time in school history, the Cardinals sent two wrestlers into the semi-finals.

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Conner Shaw and Cade Baker both placed, with Shaw taking fifth, and Baker ending with a sixth place finish.

“Both boys made one heck of a run, with Conner only being :10 away from being in the finals and Cade was only :20 from the finals,” said Coach Cory Jenniges.

Shaw, a junior, had a night he won’t soon forget when he topped the number two ranked wrestler in the State, Anthony Sherry, of Glenwood, during the opening round of the State tournament.  The coaches, the crowd and Shaw himself knew it was a premier first-round bout with a lot resting on the outcome.  Shaw didn’t disappoint.

Shaw, who is ranked number five at 170-pounds in Class 2A, trailed 4-3. With just :04 remaining, the pair headed to the center of the mat for a restart.  When the whistle blew, Shaw got busy and went for Sherry’s legs for a two-point takedown and the victory.

“We had a good game plan going into the match.  We knew Sherry was a good freestyle and Greco wrestler, so we did not tie up with him in the neutral position,” said Jenniges.  “Conner took a shot and got to his legs with :03 left.  I didn’t know if he had enough time to finish the shot, but he never quit driving and took him down with :00 left on the clock.  It sounded like the whole place was watching that match, it was crazy.”

Cade Baker also had a good opening round at 182-pounds.  Baker, a senior, pinned Kyle Benson, of Sergeant Bluff-Luton in 5:59 to reach the quarterfinals.  Baker faced Zac Stork, a junior from Atlantic in the quarterfinals.  Baker won by decision, 8-6.

Shaw beat Will Reiter, from Union, in the quarterfinals, 11-7.

Friday night didn’t go as well as the previous night for the Cardinals.  Both Baker and Shaw lost in the Class 2A semifinals.

Shaw was close to heading to the finals, leading 1-0 with under :20 on the clock, but Nick Holt, of Independence, scored on a reversal sending Shaw to the consolation bracket.

In the 182-pound match, Baker ended up getting pinned just before the buzzer in 5:56.

“Cade felt good about getting a medal his senior year,” said Jenniges.  “These two young men have given our program a great boost and we are proud of them.”

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