BAXTER – North Mahaska’s wrestling team took to the road Thursday with the boys taking on Baxter and Knoxville while the girls faced only Baxter. The boys defeated Baxter 47-21 then was edged by Knoxville 43-39. In the girls’ match, Jalayna Shipley and Vanessa Murphy each pinned their opponent for the win.

The first two matches against Baxter saw 195-pounder Alex Meland and 220 Jakob Clark win by forfeit putting the Bolts working uphill. Ryan Groom (113) pinned Alex Dille in 1 minute 15 seconds then Joel DeJong pinned Maddox Peters in 1:11 to give NM the 24-3 advantage.

Dylan Meland added a pin at 132 over Ty Bauman in 2:27 and Paul DeJong picked up a forfeit at 145. Peter Stout added a major decision over Jack Anderson 12-0 at 152 pounds and Wyatt Van Weelden scored a major decision over Callyn Bishop at 170 and Max Reed won an exciting 182-pound match over Michael Wilhelm 12-11.

In the girls’ match Shipley took just 18 seconds to score the fall of Zoey Gleim and Murphy scored a second period fall over Jahlynna Epps-Bedolla in 3:34. Knoxville did not have a girls’ team at the meet.

The Knoxville match was a back and forth affair beginning at 220 pounds where Knoxville took the early lead when Trenton Kingery pinned Clark in 2:09. Gage Vande Voort at 285 quickly tied the match with a pin of Reagan Roberts in 3:24. Chris Long scored a pin of Malici Swan in 3:35 to put the Warhawks up 12-6.

Following a forfeit, Ryan Groom (113) pinned Joe Finnegan in 1:19 and Joel DeJong (120) pinned Dane Guillon in 1:38.

The Panthers picked up a pin at 126 then Dylan Meland decisioned Knoxville’s Steven McCreery 7-4. The teams traded pins with Gage Ries winning over Cael Watters in 35 seconds at 145 and Luke Spaur pinning the Warhawks’ Hunter Wernli at 138.

In the final five matches, only Alex Meland won with a forfeit.