The Indianola wrestling team sent five athletes to the state meet at Wells Fargo Arena this year, and will look to reload and make another run with three of those wrestlers lost to graduation. The Indians had state qualifiers Sean Cunningham, Jacob Darr, and Jaylin Smith, with Smith finishing in eighth place. The good news for the Indians, is they will return Bowen and Ryder Downey to the squad, who had third and fourth place finishes respectively to give the lower weights a lot of experience. Head coach Clint Manny tells KNIA Sports the returning talent will have opportunities next year.
The Indianola wrestling team blanked Oskaloosa in a Little Hawkeye Conference dual 75-0 Thursday evening, completing their last home dual of the season. The Indians got wins by fall from Cael Meacham at 120lbs, Malachi Thomsen at 126lbs, Clayton Gibson at 152lbs, Trey Kellow at 160lbs, Sean Cunningham at 170lbs, Jacob Darr at 182lbs, Walker Whalen at 195lbs, and Cael Crawford at heavyweight. The Indians also saw wins from Ryder Downey at 132lbs by Technical Fall, Camden Lloyd at 145lbs by Decision, and Cael Meyer at 113lbs in Sudden Victory. Head coach Clint Manny tells KNIA News what you learn against those top-level guys is what may work against some lower competition doesn’t necessarily translate to guys who have a state championship on the brain.
Competing again on their familiar home mats for the third straight competition, the Indianola wrestling team is hosting the Mustangs of Dallas Center-Grimes this evening for a dual match. The Indians have yet to drop a competition this season, taking down Boone in their season opener and winning their home tournament this past weekend, and head coach Clint Manny tells KNIA Sports he feels his team is competitive from top to bottom, and he can rely on his upperclassman senior leaders to help close out competitions.
“We call them bookends. You start off your dual with the lightweight guys doing pretty well then you want to have a closer. From 170, 182, 195, 220, and heavyweight all those weights we feel really good about our guys. Cael Crawford had a real good year last year, Jaylin Smith was ranked most of the year at 220lbs, Walker Whalen is coming off a great performance against a state finalist, Jacob Darr has been behind some state qualifiers, and Sean Cunningham is in the lin