The Roland-Story Norsemen wrestling team made the trip east on Highway 30 on Thursday night, to compete in a Heart of Iowa Conference tri dual against the West Marshall Trojans and Greene County Rams at West Marshall High School in State Center.
The Norsemen opened the night against Greene County, where they took an early 9-0 lead with a Kooper Spalding 11-9 decision over Roman Sebour at 132 and a Reece Fulton forfeit at 138. Greene County would win 3 of the next 4 matches with falls from Crew Conner (144), Jackson Turner (157) and Brent Dennhardt (165), as Isaac Hall picked a pin for the Norsemen at 150. Roland-Story would then reel off 4 straight wins with pins from Hesston Johnson (175) and Jaxson Kadolph (215), as well as a Hunter Hardin forfeit at 190 and an Aaron Peyton forfeit at 285. Greene County would get wins at 106 and 113 on a Jaron Jacobs decision and Brennan Jacobs pin, before a Hayden Eslick forfeit win clinched the dual for the Norsemen, with the final of 45-33.
Roland-Story then took on West Marshall and the Trojans pounced on the Norsemen from the get out, taking 4 of the first 5 matches via pins from Shane Hanford, Kinnick Geers, Dillon McMorran and Ben Gonzalez to take a 24-6 lead. Hesston Johnson scored a tech fall (17-1) at 175, as Hunter Hardin followed up with a major decision (11-0), with Jaxson Kadolph and Aaron Peyton picking up pins at 215 and 285 to make the score 27-24 Norsemen. However, the Trojans would dominate the light weights, with James Decker picking up 10-5 decision on Konnor Blume at 106, before 4 straight pins to give the Trojans a 50-26 win after unsportsmanlike deductions from both teams.
Roland-Story returns to action on Saturday, when they compete at the Saydel Invitational at Saydel High School on Saturday at 10 AM.