Mid-Prairie edges Alburnett for tournament title

For the second straight year, Mid-Prairie honored the memory of a former Golden Hawk wrestler at the Colton Allen Memorial tournament.

And for the first time, they did it with a championship.

“It felt amazing, I think everyone was screaming,” said Cael Garvey, who earlier stood on top of the podium after a first-place finish at 195 pounds.

“It means everything. It’s an amazing feeling to be up there for my friend and for my school.”

Josh Wallington also finished first at 220 pounds as Mid-Prairie edged Alburnett for the title with 104 points to 103.5.

“Last year we got second place in this tournament and this year to win it – It’s pretty exciting,” Mid-Prairie coach Justin Garvey said.

“Colton was a big part of our program and he was a big friend to a lot of these guys. The upperclassmen, they remember him well and this is a big thing for them.”

Wallington, who won both of his matches by pin in the first minute, said that his finish meant a lot because of his relationship with Allen, who died in a tragic drowning accident in 2019.

“It felt really good, it just made me feel that much closer to him,” Wallington said. “Even though he’s not here, he still is.

“It just kind of made me want to win it that much more.”

The presence of Colton’s brother Cory Allen on Saturday was meaningful for Justin Garvey.

“For Cory to be here today and be able to hand out the awards, it was a pretty touching moment for me,” he said. “We miss Colton a lot, it was a big day for us.”

Mose Yoder, Kaden Meader, Ben Meader and Gannon Callahan each finished second for Mid-Prairie.

The tournament had a round-robin format, which happened to pair Yoder with CCA’s Jack Stevens for a first-place battle in the fifth and final round.

Stevens won an 11-4 decision, but Garvey was happy with the way Yoder to take four out of five.

“It was a good match, he wrestled really well,” Garvey said about the final round.

“I got on him last week at the beginning of the week, ‘you’ve got to open up, you’ve got to get to your offense,’ and he’s done that the last couple times out.”

Kaden Meader took two out of three matches with a pair of pins. Ben Meader picked up two pins and won a major decision over Iowa Valley’s Ronan Peach, but dropped a 10-5 decision to Benton’s state-qualifier Austin Roos.

Gannon Callahan won four matches with first-period pins, but fell to Alburnett’s Kolby Morris in the second period of round two.

“Gannon made one mistake on the day, he was in control of that match,” Garvey said.

“He kind of got in a position and just bull-rushed through it and got put to his back.

“You’ve got to learn those lessons, and sometimes it costs you a tournament win, but you learn those lessons now in December and hopefully by the time you get to February, you’ve learned from them.”

After a disappointing effort against Regina Thursday, Garvey was pleased with the preparation, focus, and energy that led his team to a championship on Saturday.

“Hopefully they see the results of the hard work,” he said, “and the battling and fighting and we just build from today.”