By Corey Meints, The Times Citizen
cmeints@iafalls.com
The Ellsworth Community College wrestling squads returned to Dittmer Gym on the home Iowa Falls campus for the first time since November. Though both have been in action since then, the men haven't gone live in over a week and the women have been dormant for a month.
Both had some rust to knock off, but the Panther women beat NIACC 25-20 despite filling just five of the 11 weights, while the men fell 50-6 to the 11th-ranked Trojans.
The un-ranked Panther women faced an unranked Trojan squad that had one in the poll – Valerie Smith at 235 – who on via forfeit. NIACC also took freebies at 138, 180, and 207 for their points. Neither team put a wrestler on the mat at 110 or 131.
Everything else belonged to the hosts, beginning at 103 with Melonie Barillas taking a forfeit. Amara Ehsa (117), Julia Kanne (124), Meridian Snitker (145) and Cambree Howe (160) all won by fall.
"The girls that we have wrestling, they know how to wrestle and they can be tough," said ECC women's head coach Blake Walker. "It's really good to see the things we work on day-in and day-out happen in the match. It gets kind of dull not wrestling for a month, but then when you do get on the mat, you're hungry."
NIACC's men came in with three ranked, and all three three won - two by forfeit as injuries kept those and another Panther out of the line-up. The other, second-ranked Cordell White at 149, earned the fourth of the Trojans' six bonus-point victories with the second of three pins. Their others were a pair of technical falls and a major decision.
The Panthers, who have had trouble filling the line-up for head coach Kaden Karns, had nine of the 10 weights filled in the program, but wrestled seven. Only Giles Cowell earned a win, but not without an early scare.
Cowell was taken down and turned for two by Jonathan Krogman to start their match at 174. But with less than a minute to go in the first period, Cowell reversed Krogman to his back. The Panther sophomore settled in for the fall at 2:26.
"Giles kept us on our toes," said ECC men's head coach Kaden Karns. "Every match I feel like it normally ends really well, but there's always a point where he makes your heart skip a beat. But, it's entertaining."
Cowell's comeback not withstanding, Karns said everybody was a bit rusty in their return.
"We've been working on a lot of technical things, so I think we kind of let off a break with our pace in the room," Karns said. "So maybe we have to get some of that cardio back. I think it showed a little bit. Absolutely there are things we need to work on, and that's one big thing and just really putting it together and putting in the hard work now to the end of the year."
ECC vs. NIACC
Tuesday at Iowa Falls
WOMEN
ECC 25, NIACC 20
103: Melonie Barillas (E) FF; 110: No Match; 117: Amara Ehsa (E) pin Maria Roque 1:54; 124: Julia Kanne (E) pin Jenesis Sanders 2:51; 131: No Match; 138: Keira Suro (N) FF; 145: Meridian Snitker (E) pin Maria Sanfiel 1:07; 160: Cambree Howe (E) pin Carly Klein (N) 2:35; 180: Emery Hippen (N) FF; 207: Destine`e Thomas (N) FF; 235: Valerie Smith (N) FF.
MEN
NIACC 50, ECC 6
125: Luis Acevedo (N) TF Nick Needham 18-3 6:56; 133: Alejandro Rodriguez (N) MD Tyler Roper 14-3; 141: Case Monat (N) pin Richard Barillas 0:50; 149: Cordell White (N) pin Caiden Rentz 3:47; 157: Hansel Pompa (N) FF; 165: Emmanuel Celestin (N) FF; 174: Giles Cowell (E) pin Jonathan Krogman 2:27; 184: Jessey Colas (N) TF Kaleb Homan 19-4 1:23; 197: Macray Klohs (N) FF; 285: Xander Kenworthy (N) pin Aiden McFadden 6:31.