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 takes on Norwalk in a Little Hawkeye Conference dual tonight, facing off against the #10 team in class 3A Warriors according to The Predicament. The Indians and Warriors will face off with several ranked matchups coming tonight, including Indianola’s #3 Ryder Downey vs #6 Norwalk’s Grant Harbour at 132lbs, #7 Sean Cunningham vs #8 Tristan Duncan at 170lbs, and #5 Walker Whalen vs #10 Jason Kritzler at 195lbs. Indianola head coach Clint Manny tells KNIA Sports the Indians faced a gauntlet of tough teams early on in the season to help prepare them for moments like this against a quality Norwalk squad.
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.
The Indianola wrestling team has faced some of the top teams in the state of Iowa and surrounding states, and will spend the rest of their holiday break working to fine-tune mechanics and technique. 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.
“We need to refocus our energy towards solid technique and solid defense, our bottom to top approach of what works and what is really performing against those top level guys. Really focusing on that over the next week.”
The Indianola wrestling team is dealing with uncertainty this season, along with every other team in Iowa and across the nation, but have at least had a familiar place to try and adapt to the changes this year, hosting six straight events on their home mats to start their campaign. Indianola head coach Clint Manny tells KNIA Sports he can’t think of another time a team has been able to begin their season with a run like they are on.
“Really it’s uncharted waters for us, at least in my 10 years of being the coach here we have never even hosted a varsity tournament here. So throw on top of that the duals we have had in our home gym, and bringing in top-notch teams not only from Iowa but across the midwest to our gym, it’s completely uncharted water and we’ve been fortunate and really lucky to have the competition we’ve had.”