JUCO wrestling: Warriors, Tritons battling for titles

Mar. 1—COUNCIL BLUFFS — It's somewhat bittersweet.

On one hand, Madison Leverknight and Javanica Mickens ensured that the Indian Hills women's wrestling team would have at least one wrestler competing for a national title. On the other hand, Leverknight and Mickens will have to go through each other to get to the 109-pound finals.

Setting an early tone for the nation's top-ranked junior college women's wrestling program, both Mickens and Leverknight took care of business on Friday as the three-time national champions vaulted back to the top of the standing in the NJCAA National Invitational Wrestling Tournament. Mickens scored a pair of falls in less than a minute while Leverknight worked her way to a fall in 4:13 against Dianna Pineda of Iowa Central, securing an all-IHCC national semifinal showdown on Saturday morning at the Mid-America Center.

"It's actually funny. Even though Vany (Mickens) and I are in the same weight class, we never practice with each other," Leverknight said. "We talk a little bit, but we're not practice partners. It's bittersweet knowing that two people on the same team could accomplish the same thing, but it's disappointing knowing you might have to knock your teammate out at some point."

Leverknight and Mickens is the only assured match between IHCC teammates at the national tournament. There may be more to come on Saturday, however, with Ruth Jimenez Batista and Amaria Ridgner both competing in the 130-pound national semifinals after scoring four wins on Friday, including three combined 10-point tech falls.

All told, 19 of IHCC's 22 wrestlers in the women's national tournament advanced to the championship quarterfinals on Friday, giving the Warriors a 30-point lead to work with heading into the consolation rounds. Iowa Central, however, made a strong rally as IHCC struggled late in Friday's session with five wrestlers being eliminated, allowing Iowa Central to overtake the three-time reigning national champions by a single point (126.5-125.5) heading into Saturday.

"I don't understand the scoring. We have 14 girls on the front side of the bracket. Iowa Central only has seven. We have 16 wrestlers alive. Iowa Central has 10," IHCC head wrestling coach Cole Spree said. "Something's not quite adding up right now, but that's okay. We've got 14 girls in the semifinals. We're in good position. We're fighting hard. When you're at the national tournament, you expect everyone to give your their best effort.

"Iowa Central tailed us all day, but I'm sure we're going to come out strong if everyone just stays on their game," Leverknight added. "At some point, we're going to need to knock people down off the front side. We need those people to fight hard even from the back side if they don't make it into the national finals and work to earn the next-best thing."

The Indian Hills men pulled into second place midway through the opening day of the NJCAA Men's National Tournament, scoring 52.5 points finishing the morning and afternoon just 4.5 behind Iowa Central. The Warriors finished the day in seventh place with 79.5 points, paced by Ayden Kingery who advances to the national semifinals at 157 pounds scoring 30 points in a pair of major decisions before pinning Taedon Nichols of Ridgewater in the final minute of the national quarterfinal match.

"Coming out of the district tournament three weeks ago, I was not a very happy guy. We under-performed," Spree said. "I'm excited to see these guys respond. We've been hard on them. We really challenged them not just as wrestlers, but as individuals. What do you want to represent? What are you built on? Are you built on sand where a little bit of rain will wash you away, or do you have a concrete slab underneath you?

"Some of these guys showed they have some character and are not afraid of adversity."

The Warrior men opened with three decisive first-round wins starting with Arieh Hart scoring 11 points in the opening period of his 141-pound first-round match, finishing off a 17-2 tech fall against Hunter Gartmann of Rochester midway through the second period. Peyton Asbury (165) and Treyshawn White (285) both secured opening wins with opening-period falls.

"You get a few early wins and things can happen," Spree said. "We're a very young team trying to figure out our identity. They way they performed was excellent. They competed well. They didn't bow down to anyone. They competed hard the entire day."

Asbury, the only IHCC men's wrestler to have competed at last year's national tournament, showed plenty of heart working his way into the third round of the championship bracket with an 8-4 win over Dylan Hogan of Lackawanna. Asbury, wrestling with a injured back, scored a key takedown in the final 10 seconds of the opening period before holding off Hogan in the final seconds of the last two periods to secure his second win of the day for the Warriors.

"My body's a little banged up, but so is everyone else's," Asbury said. "At the end of the day, you just have to push through it. Last-second takedowns mean everything in a match. They can break somebody or they can propel you to a big win.

"That late takedown I scored was huge. It gave me a boost a confidence. It probably also drained him. It was a low-scoring second period, but in the third period we got after it. That was the result."

Isaac Gibbs and Arojae Hart continued the dominance for the Warriors early in round two of the NJCAA National Men's Wrestling Tournament. Gibbs put 20 points on the scoreboard in less than a minute, opening his national tournament at 125 pounds with a 20-3 tech fall against Beau Murphy of Cowley in 2:44 while Hart locked in a second-period fall against Kyle Stampfly of Southwestern Michigan to advance to round three at 133 pounds.

Hart also battled his way into the 133-pound quarterfinals, shutting out Triton's Andrew Giurini 11-0 for a major decision following the pin of Stampfly. Gibbs continued to rack up points in bunches at 125, securing a 20-3 tech fall against Roman Citro of Sussex County scoring 12 points in the final period including six final points in the last 29 seconds of the match.

"My coach told me that's the difference between average and excellent," Gibbs said. "No matter what situation you're in, find a way to make the best of it and score the next point."

Genisis Gilmore, meanwhile, got the top-ranked IHCC women off to a fast start pinning Alexandra Martinez of Trinidad in 45 seconds in opening-round action at 155 pounds before pinning Northland's Madelyn Gallant in 62 seconds. Gilmore advanced to the national semifinals securing a 10-0 tech fall in 72 seconds against Jennifer De La Torre of Umpqua, leading IHCC on the day by scoring three wins in the opening session of the tournament.

Mickens got round two off to an equally impressive start for the three-time national champion Warriors pinning Alex Carty of Iowa Lakes in 45 seconds before locking up Nia Perez of Umpqua in 30 seconds to clinch her spot in the national semifinals.

"I needed that killer instinct going in. I just got my paws on (Carty and Perez) and cradled them up," Mickens said. "I had (Carty) locked in pretty tight and she actually kicked out. I wasn't going to let go of that a second time."

All told, the Indian Hills women will have 14 wrestlers competing on Saturday morning in the national tournament semifinals. Reigning national champions Dutchess King (101), Shammilka Miranda Diaz (116) and Eliana Bommarito (235) kept their hopes of consecutive titles alive while Angelica Vincente Gonzalez (123), Eden Smith (136), Yaracely Saenz (170), Tiffany White (191) and Karla Padilla Zepeda (235) are also within one win of competing in Saturday night's national championship matches.

"You need that support system to have that killer instinct to get out there and finish the match," Mickens said.

— Scott Jackson can be reached at sjackson@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter@CourierScott.