Tommy Van Renterghem Feb. 17, 2009

Van Renterghem leads Dutch at league meet

DECORAH—Tommy Van Renterghem (freshman, Oskaloosa) finished sixth at 165 pounds as the Central College wrestling team showed signs of progress at the Iowa Conference tournament Tuesday.  

Complete brackets and final team standings.

While the Dutch were again ninth in the team standings, the turnaround under second-year coach Eric Van Kley is clearly underway. After scoring just seven points in last year’s league tourney, the young Dutch finished with 30 points Tuesday. Central’s nine-man lineup included six freshmen, two sophomores and a junior.

No. 2-rated Wartburg College cruised to its 17th straight title in the powerful league, which features six nationally ranked teams.

After falling in his first-round match, Van Renterghem defeated Roman Villegas of Buena Vista Univ. 8-6 for his 20th season victory, before settling for sixth with a 1-3 mark. Luther College’s Lance Serbousek defeated Van Renterghem in the fifth-place match 11-3. With a 20-13 season record, Van Renterghem became the first Central wrestler to reach 20 wins since Josh Porter posted a 28-14 mark in 2005-06.

“Tommy was in a very, very tough bracket,” said coach Van Kley. “I thought he battled throughout.”

Three Central wrestlers finished seventh. Kyle Ray (sophomore, Greenfield, Nodaway Valley HS) was the only Dutch wrestler to post two victories, going 2-2 at 174 pounds. Ray blanked Simpson College’s Jordan Ammons, the No. 7 seed, 4-0 in the seventh-place match. Ray closed with a 15-14 season record.

“Kyle did a nice job today,” Van Kley said.

Alex May (freshman, Grinnell) was seventh at 133 pounds and Curtis Hobbs (sophomore, Grinnell) was seventh at 141 pounds. Both were 1-2.

“I thought everyone, even the guys who didn’t win matches, wrestled hard and hung together,” Van Kley said.

“The kids did a pretty decent job of competing. With as many young guys as we have, it was obviously a bit of a challenge, but we competed well.”

Wrestling in arguably Division III’s toughest conference provides a rather harsh barometer of Central’s progress.

“I think today really showed our guys that we can do some good things and we can score on these wrestlers but we’ve got a lot of work to do so that we can put seven minutes together and win matches like that,” Van Kley said. “The thing they have to realize is that not only were they facing the best wrestlers in the conference but the best in the country.”

Without any NCAA Division III tourney qualifiers, the league tournament marks the end of Central’s season. The young Dutch ended a 44-dual match losing streak and finished at 3-12. Van Kley said the team reached the objectives he set at the season’s beginning.

“It was good to just see the kids go through the process,” he said. “They competed and gave a good effort every time out. I was really proud of them.”

But Van Kley has higher expectations for next season and said there’s no time to rest.

“The biggest thing is each guy needs to work out and find ways to improve,” he said. “The system is in place and the resources at Central are great, now we need to utilize them and that starts this week. We’ve got to get better and we’ve got to get stronger. The guys have carried a great attitude throughout the season and I think we’ll have a positive off-season as well.”

Central has no seniors and just one junior on the roster and Van Kley said he’s working hard to bring in another talented group of freshmen to the Dutch wrestling room in the fall.