150 for the win
RED OAK — Red Oak wrestler Seth Esaias completed two rare milestones last week.
The senior crossed the 150-win plateau, as well as 100 career pinfalls, neither of which has been accomplished by any wrestler in Red Oak High School history.
“It feels pretty good, I guess,” Esaias said.
Esaias broke the 150-win mark at Jan. 10’s double duals at home, against Bedford/Lenox and Griswold.
Esaias defeated Bedford/Lenox’s Cole Bonde via pinfall at 1:49 to get his 150th career victory, which is the most all-time for Red Oak.
“It’s a testament to Seth as a kid and really this program and direction we’re heading. I mean we can’t take all the credit for that, but that’s awesome,” Red Oak wrestling Head Coach Tiegan Podliska said.
After taking first place at the Adel DeSoto Minuburn Tournament Saturday, Esaias now has 154 career wins. Nearly 150 wrestlers in Iowa have had the honor of winning 150 matches.
“I saw other kids get 150 and I said I wanted to get 150 too,” he said.
Esaias won via pinfall in all three of his matches as he moved his career pinfall record to 101. The senior is joined on the 100 or more pinfall list by nearly a hundred wrestlers. Austin Blythe of Williamsburg holds the career pinfall record with 146.
“When you see the kid and the hard work he puts in, it’s awesome to see the payoff,” Podliska said about Esaias.
Podliska said he’s worked on building Esaias’ arsenal.
“It helps to have [practice partners] in the room that are hanging with you,” Podliska said. “It’s just good to have somebody in that size that can roll with him.”
The senior holds the all-time career pins record. Brett Sandholm, who had 68 pinfalls, is second on the list in Red Oak history.
“More pins is more team points and more team points is better for us,” Esaias said.
Esaias is 31-0 this season, with 23 of those wins coming via pinfall, seven by forfeit and one by decision. He remains nine wins shy of his third straight 40 win season.
Last season, Esaias won 44 matches, while in 2009-10, he had 40.
“When I was a freshman, I was 160 and I was undefeated until John J. (Invitational), which is also this weekend. I lost in the finals and since then I haven’t been undefeated until now,” Esaias said.
Esaias also has the most career takedowns record, with more than 200.
“When I started, I didn’t really know what to expect. I just came out and wrestled,” Esaias said.
With less than a month until the state tournament, Esaias isn’t likely to reach 200 career wins. His goal is to finish the season undefeated and win a state championship at 182-lbs. Esaias said he needs to keep working hard in order to attain it.
The most wins in Iowa High School History belong to T.J. Sebolt of Centerville. Sebolt finished his career with a 207-1 record.
Other action
The Red Oak varsity wrestling team finished ninth out of 15 teams at the Adel DeSoto Minburn Tournament in Adel Saturday.
Geoff Sellers finished in second place, while Dakota Petty was fourth and Tanner Mertz fifth. Jordan Vrba took home sixth place from the meet.
Red Oak lost both of last week’s duals at home against Bedford/Lenox and Griswold. The Tigers lost to Bedford/Lenox 45-33 and to Griswold 46-33.
Along with Esaias getting the win, Vrba picked up a pinfall victory, while Mertz came back from a 9-5 deficit in the third period to win his match with an early takedown against Dusten Reed in overtime. Mertz said he was hyped up going into the overtime.
“I knew that I was down by four and I just needed to keep moving and keep my feet going, just know in my heart that I can get going and get those four points,” Mertz said after the meet.
Mertz also had an 8-4 decision win over Griswold’s Hadley Ogg.
“It was pretty fun, I liked the competition,” Mertz said after the meet.
Vrba had the other non-forfeit win for the Tigers.
Red Oak was home Tuesday night to take on Creston and Shenandoah. Results weren’t available as of press time. Friday and Saturday, the Red Oak varsity team travels to Corning to compete in the John J. Harris Tournament.