Floridians invade BC-Ida Grove Invite

By JERRY GIESE

Photo Caption: Gulf High School, New Port Richey, Fla., wrestler T.J. Dickey, left, spars with Odebolt-Arthur Battle Creek-Ida Grove wrestler Alex Bogue during a practice session Thursday evening at the school's wrestling building. (Staff photo by Jerry Mennenga)

IDA GROVE, Iowa -- For the second time in the last three years, Gulf High School of New Port Richey, Fla., will be among the participating teams in the annual Battle Creek-Ida Grove wrestling tournament.

The 35th annual, 22-team, two-day event starts at 4:30 this afternoon and will conclude Saturday.

There's a reason why the Buccaneers are returning and it's more than just a reunion of two old Westmar University wrestling teammates.

"We want to show them what Iowa wrestling is all about and give them a different look of the Iowa lifestyle," said Odebolt-Arthur/Battle Creek-Ida Grove Coach Tony Spradlin, whose Falcons hosted a practice with Coach Travis DeWalt's Buccaneers Thursday afternoon.

"We want to break the stereotype of what they think Iowa is," he added. "Thirteen of their 14 kids have never been to Iowa before. Talking to Travis, they have the stereotype that farm animals are in every yard. This is going to be like a cultural experience for them."

"Tony did all of the legwork for this," said BC-IG High School principal Pat Miller. "Tony and their coach were talking one night at a reunion at Westmar about how nice it would be to have a cultural exchange for both teams, a learning experience."

"(DeWalt) asked me if I'd like to come to their 22-team duals tournament at their high school," said Spradlin. "I looked into it, but the state of Iowa wouldn't let us because of a sanctioning rule. I told him, we run a 22-team tournament and he said they had been looking to go somewhere.

"So, he took it to a school board meeting and they set it up as a cultural trip. They visited a couple of colleges and because of this, two of their kids ended up going to Briar Cliff and one of them went to Dana."

While DeWalt and Spradlin went to the seeding meeting with the other coaches Thursday night, the O-A/BC-IG wrestlers took their Gulf counterparts to BC-IG's home basketball doubleheader against Remsen-Union. Gulf wrestlers were hosted by seven O-A/BC-IG wrestling families, where they'll stay for three nights.

Meanwhile, DeWalt, two of his assistant coaches, a Gulf High assistant principal and 12 other fans stayed for the first of three straight nights at The Inn, a former historical house in Battle Creek that has been turned into a bed and breakfast.

DeWalt and his team will tour various historical sites in Sioux City today and will have a light practice at Briar Cliff University, where he will be reunited with another old Westmar wrestling teammate, Damon Clayborne, the Chargers' head coach.

Clayborne was a Westmar freshman heavyweight in the 1996-97 season while DeWalt was a junior, competing at 126. DeWalt, a two-time NAIA national placewinner for the Eagles, went 90-20 in three seasons (1994-95 to 1996-97) at Westmar before the Le Mars, Iowa, college closed in the fall of 1997. At the time, DeWalt had the school record for the fastest fall (9 seconds), doing it as both a sophomore and a junior.

T.J. Dickey is the only Buccaneer who wrestled two years ago at the BC-IG Tournament, competing in the 112-pound weight class. A state tournament qualifier at 119 last year, Dickey enters the two-day event with a 22-4 record for a squad that's 15-4 in dual meets.

"They're a young team," said Spradlin. "They won their conference tournament last weekend, so their young guys had to step it up so they can pull it out. Five of their wrestlers are pretty salty."

Dickey is among five who have won 20 or more matches. John Eden, a state tournament particpant last year, has a 24-2 record at 160.

Teammates Mike Calafiore (21-2 at 103), Danny Montanez (22-2 at 130) and Bubba Neptune (23-3 at 189) will add to the list of contenders in a tournament that includes defending team champion Pocahontas Area, which outscored Kingsley-Pierson 198-155.5 in last year's battle for first place.

Pocahontas Area has a defending champion in 215-pounder Matt Jergens, who's top-ranked in Class 1A. Kingsley-Pierson's Joey Verschoor, last year's 135-pound champ, is ranked second in Class 1A at 152 while Twin River Valley's Jordan Hasenkamp, last year's 103-pound title winner, has moved to 119.

Rounding off the list of returning champs is Westwood's Jesse Worrell, who moves from 130 to 135.

According to Spradlin, 25 state-ranked wrestlers will compete. Among them are Sergeant Bluff-Luton's Ben Knight, who fell 5-1 to Hasenkamp in last year's title match.

Knight is ranked second among Class 2A 112-pounders while West Lyon's Alec Bonander is ranked second in Class 2A at 189. Third-ranked (Class 2A) 125-pounder Joel Anderson, the winner of 156 career matches, is 23-1 for the tournament's host.

Joey Schaefer (19-6 at 112) will also contend for the Falcons. Spradlin also has high hopes for Devin Bresnahan (14-4 at 140), Pat Redenius (27-5 at 160), Seth Eason (17-4 at 171) and Austin Bobzien (26-4 at 215).

Spradlin's only wish?

That DeWalt's squad could come back.

"It would be so cool," he said. "Iowa sanctioning rules say you can only go a 600-mile round trip. We thought we'd start a neat tradition, but the Iowa High School Athletic Association put a kibosh to it."