TRURO — Two champions, two other finalists and a trio of third-place finishes powered the Woodward-Granger wrestling team to second place Saturday at the Rich Gray Invitational.
Host Interstate-35 nipped W-G, 169.5-168.5, for top team honors, with Albia third in the 17-team event with 157.5 points.
Seventh-ranked Peyton Nixon (28-3) won the 113-pound bracket. Nixon opened with a pin before recording a technical fall and then an 8-3 decision to claim the top spot on the podium.
Kade Polich (29-7) also came through for the Hawks, with the senior winning at 182 pounds. He recorded three pins, in a combined 2 minutes, 13 seconds, en route to the title.
Riece Graham (25-8) was second at 126 with a major decision (16-6) and a pin, with Alex Evans (21-6) second at 285 with a pair of pins.
Dustin Harney (33-5) tallied a pin, scored a 5-0 decision, then overcame a two-point loss to receive a medical forfeit and place third at 160.
Also third were Alex Saxton (24-14) with two wins by pin at 106 and Jon McKeever (31-5) third with two pins at 170.
Oliver Potter was 1-2 with a pin at 145 and Kolby Fogarty 1-2 with a pin at 220 for the Hawks. Holden Heard (2-3 at 120), Jayden Flugge-Smith (18-17 at 132), Tjaden Smeltzer (7-26 at 138), Brayden Simons (9-13 at 152) and Devan Brown (24-6 at 195) were all 0-2 for W-G.
