Ted Dirkx Feb. 11, 2009

Central falls in last meet before league tourney

INDIANOLA—A shorthanded Central College wrestling squad missed out on its final chance for an Iowa Conference dual meet win in 2008-09 as Simpson College took the first seven matches en route to a 34-12 win Wednesday night. The Dutch (3-12) closed with wins at the final three weights. Ben Davis (freshman, Clay Center, Kan.) won by forfeit at 184 pounds and Nate Fell (sophomore, Avoca, AHST HS) followed with a 5-1 victory at 197 pounds. Both improved to 14-11 on the season. Ted Dirkx (junior, Alleman, North Polk HS) finished at 285 pounds with an 11-6 win and is 11-13.      

Central was without part of its regular lineup. Curtis Hobbs (sophomore, Grinnell), who is 14-15 at 141 pounds, was sidelined along with Reid Imerman (freshman, Guthrie Center), who is 15-12 at 157 pounds and the team’s winningest wrestler Tommy Van Renterghem (freshman, Oskaloosa), who is 19-10 at 165 pounds.

“We’ve got a few guys who are a little banged up,” coach Eric Van Kley said. “So we gave what we thought were some good opportunities to guys who have been working hard. But we did not perform well, from top to bottom. It was very disappointing.

“Any time you’ve got a young team it seems like it’s three steps forward and three steps back. I thought against Wartburg (Saturday) we had an outstanding effort, but that wasn’t the case tonight.

“We need to learn from it and go forward.”

Simpson upped its record to 2-12 while Central wrapped up the regular season with a 0-8 mark against league foes.

The Dutch gear up for the league tournament at Decorah next Tuesday, Feb. 17. Van Kley said he expects Central to be near full strength by then.