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.
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