Polk County’s wrestlers returned to the mat Tuesday for the first time since the Christmas break, hosting a Western Highlands Conference tri-match with Owen and Mitchell.

The young Wolverines proved competitive in both, falling 61-15 to Mitchell and 43-30 to Owen.

The score of the night’s opening loss to Mitchell didn’t reflect the competitiveness of the match as Polk County extended more than half of the individual matches into the second period against one of the state’s top 1A programs.

Devin Panchyshyn earned a 4-2 decision at heavyweight to start the Polk County scoring, with Brady Hall recording a pin at 147 and Dillon Knighton doing the same at 154 for the remainder of Polk’s points.

The evening’s final match with Owen proved a thriller. The Wolverines raced to a 24-0 lead as Panchyshyn opened the match with another win, recording a first-period pin.

Chris Rickman received a forfeit win at 106 before Triston Watkins notched a first-period pin at 120 pounds. Abdias Ramirez added to Polk County’s lead at 126 points with a win by forfeit for the Wolverines’ 24-0 lead.

A high-scoring match at 132 pounds gave Owen its first points as Aiden Nalley outlasted Preston Burnett 16-10. A frantic first period saw Burnett take a 7-5 lead, but Nalley surged ahead in the second and held on throughout the third period for the victory.

That started a run of six straight match wins for the Wolverines, finally snapped when Hayden Shumate recorded a pin in 40 seconds in his match at 195 pounds for the Wolverines’ final points of the evening.

Polk County’s next action will be January 19, a WHC match at Madison.

– submitted by PolkSports.com