The first tournament at Mid-Prairie High School in 11 years saw the Golden Hawks win five weight classes.
In addition to the winning, Mid-Prairie took the opportunity to honor Colton Allen by naming the tournament after him and a presentation of a trophy. The trophy, pictured above, has Colton’s likeness on it and lists the names of last year’s wrestling squad.
The five winners for Mid-Prairie were Vinnie Bowlin (160 pounds), Cael Garvey (170 pounds), Isaac Boucher (195 pounds), Josh Wallington (220 pounds) and Gannon Callahan (285 pounds). It was the first tournament win ever for Wallington, who had to overcome some tough opponents to win the six-man round-robin bracket.
“It feels amazing, especially since it was my first ever win at a tournament and first ranked kid I’ve beat,” Wallington said. “It finally has just clicked and I’m a lot better than last year.”
Josh Wallington wrestled Keegan Akers of Mediapolis for the tournament win. He came into the match 3-0 on the day and had pinned all three of his prior opponents. Akers was ranked No. 7 in Class 1A by IAWrestle.
The match was close the entire way and much of it was spent in the neutral position with their arms tied up. Wallington said Akers had a strength advantage, so he had to wait for the right opportunity to come around.
That didn’t happen in regulation as it was tied 1-1 after six minutes of action. In a one-minute sudden victory period, Wallington took advantage of a miscue from Akers. Akers went in from the shot but Wallington was able to scoot around back of Akers for the takedown and the 3-1 win.
“It was a match we knew coming into the day was going to be a tough one and he was worried about it this morning,” Mid-Prairie coach Justin Garvey said. “Man, he wrestled tough out there.”
Two other Mid-Prairie winners didn’t have to wrestle a complete match during the day, quickly dispatching of their opponents. Vinnie Bowlin started off the day with a 17-2 tech fall that only took him 2:37 of mat time. From there he pinned his other four opponents in the first period to move to 9-2 on the season.
Isaac Boucher pinned all three opponents in a four-man bracket move to 10-2 this season.
Cael Garvey had four pins and one major decision on the day. Garvey has seen his offensive output explode as he had two matches on the day where his point total was more than 10. Garvey is 13-1 this year.
Justin Garvey said that Gannon Callahan has steadily increased his confidence and it was evident on the mat on Saturday as he controlled his opponents from the opening whistle. He fought off Kolby Morris of Alburnett with a 3-2 win in the opening round and then pinned his other four opponents.
Cory Allen finished in second place at 182 pounds, losing a 5-1 decision to Austin Roos of Benton Community, the No. 5 wrestler at 182 pounds in Class 1A. It was 3-1 with the seconds winding down and Allen took a shot, but Roos closed it out with a takedown of his own to seal it at 5-1. Allen is 12-1 this season.
Other Mid-Prairie wrestlers to make the podium at top three were Terry Bordenave, Ben Meader, Beau Stutzman and Spencer Grout.
“It was really fun and a great experience hosting our first tournament in 11 years and I’m really glad that it went smoothly and were able to have fun while coming out with five guys on top of the podium,” Isaac Boucher said.
The Golden Hawks once again showed off their strength at the upper weights on Saturday, and Garvey said that group of wrestlers just battles each other in practice each day to make themselves better.
“They’re very competitive amongst each other and just always want to win. They’re hardworking kids and have a strong bond,” Garvey said.
Garvey wanted to thank everyone that helped make the tournament run smoothly.
“We had a lot of good help and everybody jumped in for the day to help us out,” he said.
Garvey said the plan is for the Colton Allen Memorial Wrestling Tournament to become an annual tradition at Mid-Prairie.