Comets ‘Pack the House’ with coed wrestling duals against the Cadets.

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — Sometimes the night is just stacked against you.

Near the end of Thursday’s “pack the house” boys and girls varsity wrestling duals held simultaneously inside Comet Gym while featuring NEIC rivals Crestwood and hosting Charles City, the Comet girls team managed to overcome a greater number of open-weight forfeit losses to catch the Cadets.

With junior 190-pounder Leah Stewart pinning Crestwood’s Briana Burke 26 seconds into their 190-pound bout, and Comet senior Ava Thompson receiving an open-weight forfeit win at heavyweight, the final 12 points scored by the Comets ended the dual in a 39-39 tie.

But because the Comets had more open-weight forfeits, that was the tiebreaking factor in tipping the victory in the Cadets’ favor.

The Comet boys also spotted Crestwood open-weight forfeit wins — four with the Cadets filling a complete lineup — but it was too much for Charles City to overcome as Crestwood won 54-21.

Charles City’s boys did roll out some inspired performances from their resident ranked wrestlers.

Freshman Carter Cajthaml, ranked as the No. 6 Class 2A 126-pounder according to IAwrestle, dominated freshman counterpart Ethan Bergan while compiling a 15-2 lead. With Cajthaml on the verge of earning a technical fall after cradling Bergan into a near-fall position, Cajthaml got the 6-point slap midway through the second period for Charles City’s first win of the boys dual.

Senior Talan Weber, ranked as the No. 12 Class 2A 150-pounder by IAwrestle and now — due to a recent departure on the boys team  — is Charles City’s lone returning state-qualifier, put on a takedown-and-release clinic while compiling a big lead over Crestwood’s Brennan Pater. Like Cajthaml before him, Weber got the fall victory midway through the second period.

At 157, Charles City picked up another win with senior Carter Burkhart earning a 6-3 decision over Jace Pedretti.

The Comets were in position to win three matches in a row, but Cadet senior Tyler Pisney was able to score a sudden-victory takedown against Comet senior Colton Anderegg after both wrestlers battled to 1-1 through regulation of the 165-pound bout.

One of the most thrilling matches of the evening occurred during the girls dual when Comet freshman Nya Nosbisch overcame a 9-4 deficit with less than 35 seconds remaining in the third period of her 135-pound match against Cameron Thiele to record a stunning fall victory.

Earlier in the 110-pound bout, Comet freshman Alexuz Ohlendorf also got busy late in the third period to break a 1-1 tie with a reversal and near-fall to defeat Addalyn Isaacson 5-1.

Other Comet girl victories included 115-pounder Emma Schmitt pinning Eva Sebastian 1:20 into their bout; and 125-pound freshman Edie Collins stopping Odessa Nibbelin at 1:33.