Cyclones finish 2-3 at tough Al Garrison Dual Tournament

 WAUKEE (Dec. 19) -- The Harlan Community wrestling team finished with a 2-3 record and placed fourth out of six teams at last Saturday’s Al Garrison Dual Tournament in Waukee.
 HCHS lost to Ballard (48-33) and third-ranked (Class 3A) Waukee (70-6) to start the day, then picked up wins over Sioux City North (54-24) and Ottumwa (43-36) before losing its final dual 45-26 vs. Dallas Center-Grimes.
 The host Warriors won the tournament with a 5-0 mark, followed by Ballard (4-1), DC-G (2-2), HCHS (2-3), Ottumwa (1-4) and Sioux City North (0-4).
 The Cyclones, who took a 6-4 overall dual record into the holiday break, trailed Ottumwa 18-10 before notching four straight pins by Zane Bendorf, Matt Schwery, Jesse Schwery and Jeremiah Davis in the upper-weight classes to pull ahead.
 The Cyclones led DC-G 26-24 with four matches to go, but the Mustangs finished with three pins and a win by decision.
 “It was interesting to wrestle teams that we normally don’t see,” stated HCHS head coach John Murtaugh. “For the most part we competed hard against every school.
 “Even [against] the host school, Waukee, who was loaded with 10 ranked wrestlers and soon to be 11, our guys made sure they left a mark on them to the point where they knew they wrestled somebody.”
 Nobody had a better day for HCHS than sophomore Zane Bendorf, who pinned all five of his opponents at 170 and 182 pounds to make the All-Tournament Team.
 Jesse Schwery (195/220), Davis (220/285) and Luke Freund (113) all went 4-1 on the day and combined for eight wins by fall. Schwery’s only loss was a 17-14 decision against seventh-ranked (3A) Tanner Spyksma of Waukee. Schwery is ranked sixth in Class 2A at 195.
 Three other Cyclones went 3-2. Matt Schwery scored three pins at 182/195, Luke Musich had two pins at 126/132 and Dalton McKinley had a win by fall, a technical fall and a major decision at 145/152.