Waddell the lone Gael standing

McLoughlin, Maguire bow out at state wrestling

By JOSH MEYER, Messenger Sports Writer
DES MOINES — Things didn’t go quite as planned for head coach Jim Allison and the St. Edmond wrestling team on the first day of action at the Class 1A state tournament inside Wells Fargo Arena.

After sending three individuals to state for a second consecutive season, the Gaels finished with just one victory in six matches on Wednesday.

“When you come down here, you know the competition is going to be very good,’’ said Allison. ‘‘We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but I thought we had a chance to pick up a couple more wins.

“It was a tough day for us.’’

Sophomore Mason Waddell finished 1-1, including the lone victory for the Gaels.

In his opening match, Waddell was downed by Guthrie Center’s fifth-ranked Christopher Reil. After falling behind 8-0 at the end of the second period, Waddell recorded a reversal and takedown in the final two minutes, before eventually losing by a 10-4 decision.

Waddell bounced back strong in the consolation round with a 9-2 victory by decision against Jesse Jamison of Lisbon.

“I thought Waddell wrestled excellent his second time around,’’ Allison said. “He was in control throughout and was really aggressive.

“If he continues to wrestle up to his ability, he should be able to place for us.’’

Waddell (26-16) will now meet Okoboji’s Ethan Johnson (33-15) in a consolation bracket match today.

Sophomore Lance Maguire (103) dropped both of his matches following a first-place showing at districts on Saturday. Maguire (30-11) lost his opener to seventh-rated Alex Wright (41-4) of Durant (5-0), before falling to West Monona’s No. 10 Brandon Chestnut (34-6) in the consolation round (4-3).

“Maguire is still a young kid who has to continue to mature,’’ said Allison. “He is a good wrestler and will be much better next year.

“It was a nice accomplishment for him to make it this far.’’

Senior Thomas McLoughlin (18-8) was pinned by fifth-rated John Simon (32-4) from Aplington-Parkersburg in his first match (3:28) and fell to Northeast Goose Lake’s Brian Hoffmann (26-10) in the second-round by decision (4-0).

“Thomas struggled in his first match against a tough kid, but really fought hard in his second one,’’ Allison said. “He is a senior that understands what it’s like to to be in this position at state.’’

McLoughlin placed eighth at state a year ago.

Overall, Allison was proud of everything his state participants achieved this year.

“We were hoping that all three of our kids would move on,’’ Allison said. “They each had great seasons and proved a lot of people wrong by getting to state.’’



Contact Josh Meyer at (515) 573-2141, or by e-mail at sports@messengernews.net