Local wrestlers compete on Iowa side of ‘Border Battle’

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

CRESTWOOD — Sometimes laughter is the best medicine.

Especially when you find yourself in a bad way against an undefeated state champion

Charles City senior AJ Maloy somehow thought it was amusing when Christopher Bain hooked his right leg from a standing position and seemed on the verge of a one-legged takedown during a catchweight bout late in Friday’s “Border Battle” that pitted grapplers from Iowa and Minnesota against each other at Crestwood High School.

Grand Meadow senior Bain, who was Minnesota’s undefeated Class 1A 195-pound champion, thought it was amusing, too, as he displayed a Cheshire cat’s grin that matched Maloy’s.

No joke, Maloy was able to avoid the takedown, and then from the down position to start the 90-second second period, escaped to a 1-0 lead going into the final period.

Bain was able to tie the match with an escape of his own and later scored a takedown on way to a 3-1 decision.

That tied the Border Battle at 33 with a match remaining before Reid Seelhammer, a Class 1A 220-pound champion from Dover Eyota, sealed it for Minnesota with a major decision over Osage’s Caleb Ring.

Maloy, a two-time state qualifier for the Comets, was among the handful of participants who wrestled twice at the annual meet hosted by the Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Against two-time heavyweight Minnesota state tourney qualifier Jacob Thomas from Fillmore Central, Maloy was able to turn Thomas’s shoulders while breaking him down from the top position and eventually got the fall victory which gave Iowa a 15-3 lead at the time.

Two-time state champion Keaton Geertz of New Hampton helped Iowa regain that 12-point advantage two bouts later when he pinned Grand Meadow’s 138-pound state runner-up Brenn Olson in the second period of their bout.

But Minnesota went on to win the next four matches in a row, including two-time state champion Bailee O’Reilly of Goodhue defeating Osage’s Class 2A 170-pound state champ Brock Jennings in overtime.

Maloy as well as several other members from Iowa’s squad will likely be a part of the North/South All-Star Wrestling Meet to take place March 25 at Charles City High School.

Though the school has been the traditional host of the 39th-annual tournament, this will be the first meet held in the new competition gym.