Reid Imerman Jan. 24, 2009

Dutch drop four conference duals

STORM LAKE—After spending the last month-and-a-half facing non-conference competition the Central College wrestling team ran back into the Iowa Conference buzz saw Saturday and came out winless in four duals against league opponents. The Dutch had won their two previous duals but started off the day with back-to-back matches against 15th-ranked Luther College and 10th-ranked Cornell College, dropping 37-15 and 42-6 decisions, respectively. Central then fell to Buena Vista Univ. 22-15 and Loras College 40-9.  

“In every dual we probably went in as significant underdogs,” said coach Eric Van Kley. “The Iowa Conference (teams are) just far and away more talented and experienced than anyone we’ve faced all season.”

After falling behind early against Luther the Dutch got consecutive victories out of freshman Reid Imerman (Guthrie Center) at 157 pounds, who recorded his first of two falls on the day, and freshman Tommy Van Renterghem (Oskaloosa) at 165 pounds, who scored a 2-0 decision.

Central was held scoreless until its final individual match against Cornell when 285-pounder Nate Rouse (freshman, Ankeny) won by fall over Robert Widmer in 1:48.

Falls from both Alex May (freshman, Grinnell) at 133 pounds and Imerman against Buena Vista gave Central a 12-10 lead. Then Buena Vista won decisions at 165 and 174 before Ben Davis (freshman, Clay Center, Kan.) recorded a takedown with 3 seconds remaining to win by a 6-4 decision at 184 pounds. That brought the Dutch to within 16-15. However 2-point and 1-point wins at 197 and 285, respectively, gave Buena Vista a 22-15 victory.

“We lost some matches we thought we should have won against Buena Vista,” said Van Kley. “But we competed very hard and I’m proud of the way all of our guys wrestled out there.”

In its final dual of the day Central fell 40-9 to Loras, scoring on a 12-1 decision by Van Renterghem and a 17-2 technical fall by Davis.

Van Kley felt the day was just another great opportunity for his young team to learn.

“We’re certainly a bit short as far as experience goes,” he said. “But we’re getting there. We’re seeing that our guys can compete out there and continuing to battle week in and week out.”

Central (2-10 dual match record) is off until Feb. 4 when it travels to Rock Island, Ill. for a dual match against Augustana College (Ill.) at 5:30 p.m. and another with Knox College (Ill.) at 7:30 p.m. The Dutch defeated Knox 34-10 on Jan. 10 and last faced Augustana on Dec. 10, 2007, falling 36-10.