Prep wrestling: Senior siblings honors at Cardinal

Jan. 3—ELDON — It was already going to be a special night for Isaac Cox.

It took just 15 seconds, however, to make the night a little more memorable.

Moments before being honored along with his sister as two of the senior members of the Cardinal High School wrestling program on Tuesday night, Cox joined another sibling in securing a milestone win. With the second of his three pins on the night, taking down and pinning Pekin freshman Brantyn Sieren 15 seconds after the opening whistle, Cox earned his 100th career win following in the footsteps of his older brother Isaiah Cox, Ottumwa's all-time winningest wrestler with 149 career victories.

"Comparing myself to my freshman year, there's so much growth," Isaac Cox said. "I wasn't really serious about wrestling when I started out, but once I got into it, I started to like it. It proves that, if you really work at something, you'll be able to be at the top some day.

"It's a cool moment. It's one more member of the family to join the 100-win club."

Issac and Ajaah Cox combined to score four pins for their teams on Tuesday during the Senior Night quadrangular for the Cardinal boys and girls wrestling teams. Ajaah Cox pinned Hannah Kaska in 3:23 of a 155-pound match against Pekin, clinching a 54-24 win for the Comet girls over the Panthers as Cardinal finished 2-0 on the night following a 59-6 win over Moravia.

"I'm amazed how much we're growing as a team," Ajaah Cox said. "A lot of our girls are in their first and second years wrestling. We're really showing what we've been working on in the wrestling room. We've been working really hard in practice pushing each other as teammates. Seeing your teammates thrive and keep pushing to get over those humps is the motivation to keep going."

After both Cardinal wrestling teams clinched their second dual wins of the night, all eight Comet senior wrestlers on both teams along with cheerleaders and managers were honored. Both Isaac and Ajaah Cox were brought out to be honored together along with their family member in a unique Senior Night moment.

"I'm really grateful to share in the experience in this sport with my twin brother," Ajaah Cox said. "It's a hard sport, but having someone on your side pushing you and giving you advice, it makes you not nervous. It gets you excited to go out and compete. Seeing my brother out there working, it makes you want to work as hard as him and gives me someone to look up to."

Cardinal head wrestling coach Shea Swafford can relate. Like Ajaah and Isaac watching Isaiah, Swafford grew up watching his older brothers succeed on the mat before going on to record over 100 wins of his own during his career at Mediapolis.

"When you're growing up, your brothers are kind of like a super hero. I grew up surrounded by that culture that they were a part of," Swafford said. "When you grow up in a family and a culture that's so good and so tight-knit, that's something that is motivating for the rest of your life.

"Isaiah was an awesome wrestler. I can remember watching him compete when I was a sophomore at the tournament in Burlington when he was a senior at Ottumwa. He was a hulk. I'd never heard of him before that. It's kind of funny how things come full circle. He may not have noticed me that day, but I definitely noticed him. Here we are several years later and I'm coaching his siblings. Now I get to talk to him every time we compete with Ottumwa at a tournament."

Once the ceremonies were over, the Davis County boys spoiled the hopes of the Comets of completing a perfect Senior Night. Tucker Ball's second-period pin of Michael Mason at 113 pounds kicked off a run of five straight wins for the Mustangs, erasing a 24-18 Cardinal lead as Davis County closed out a 3-0 night with a 59-24 win, improving to 9-5 in duals this season.

"I was really impressed with some of our younger guys," Davis County head wrestling coach Adam Newton said. "Tucker got a couple big wins for us. Nolan (Cremer) looked impressive. Aries (Derby) really wrestled well. Our guys did what they were supposed to do."

Paxton Thompson scored three wins in three duals for the Mustangs, who opened the night with a 69-6 win over Pekin before pulling away late for a 48-36 win over Moravia. Thompson pinned Pekin's Gannon Greiner in 2:22 at 132 pounds, dropped to 126 to pin Moravia's Tripp Van Zante in one minute before closing out the night back at 132 clinching a 17-0 tech fall against Cardinal's Karson Kirkpatrick.

"We're pretty tough in those low weight classes," Adam Newton said. "We're going to get even tougher on Thursday when Tucker heads back to 106 pounds."

Emmitt Newton, meanwhile, improved to 20-1 on the season as the two-time 106-pound state placewinner scored three pins on Tuesday getting back on the mat for the first time since suffering his first loss to unbeaten Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont sophomore Landen Davis in overtime at Pella's Bill Van Horn Invitational. Newton speed and skill were on full display scoring falls at 126 pounds against Pekin's Zachary Doud and Cardinal's Bradly Snook as well as a dominant first-period fall at 120 pounds against Moravia's Kaleb Rebenack in which Newton scored 10 takedowns in less than two minutes.

"It was a little tough to keep up that speed over the summer just because I wasn't used to being this heavy," Emmitt Newton said. "I just kept working on my speed to get it back to where it was when I was at 106. I kept working on my footwork and kept trying to keep my feet fast."

The Moravia boys salvaged a final win over Pekin with a 60-12 victory over the Panthers. Aiden Kelley finished off a perfect night on the mat with a major decision and two pins, including a 56-second fall scored against Greiner at 132 pounds.

"The chicken wing really worked out great for me," Kelley said. "That's something new that I've been working on this season. I just picked it up halfway through the season. It'll be my secret weapon going forward."

Reed Laudermann led the Pekin boys on Tuesday, scoring three second-period falls against Davis County's Gage Moss, Cardinal's Cole Peters and Moravia's Max McCoy at 106 pounds. Lila Miller, meanwhile, scored a pair of pins for the Pekin girls including a 58-second win over Breegan Ellison that clinched a 66-0 win for the Panthers over Moravia.

"You can really see who showed up for practice over Christmas vacation," Pekin head wrestling coach Al Chapman said. "With Reed, the fun part is that we can still get better. We're going to focus on that end of it. With Lila, it's been fun watching her and Hailey (Pedrick) battling each other every day in the wrestling room. We almost have to find other wrestlers for them to work with just so they can learn what level they need to get to."

The Cardinal boys evened their overall dual record on the season at 9-9 with a 57-22 win over Moravia and a 63-12 win over Pekin earlier in the night. The Cardinal girls, meanwhile, improved to 6-4 in the program's second season and first with enough wrestlers to compete in duals.

"It's cool when you have a really strong class of wrestlers that work together," Swafford said. "In our senior class, there's a lot of natural leaders. I know some of the things they're picking up from this sport that they're going to take with them to be successful in the real world."

Both Davis County and Cardinal will be competing in SCC quadrangulars on Thursday with the Mustangs heading to Chariton while the Comets compete at EBF. Moravia, meanwhile, joins Nodaway Valley in a triangular at Interstate 35 while the Pekin boys join the Comets at the North Mahaska Tournament on Saturday.

Several of the same wrestlers that competed on Tuesday at Cardinal will be back in action in Ottumwa. The Cardinal girls will be in action on Friday in the inaugural Bulldog girls invitational tournament while Davis County and Moravia will be part of the Ottumwa boys invitational on Saturday.

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