Bulldog wrestling places 6^th

By Cort Reynolds

VAN BUREN__The Ada High School wrestling team finished sixth at the 10-team Blanchard Valley Conference championship tournament hosted by Van Buren on Saturday, February 21.

The host Black Knights won the league title with 150.5 points, followed by Elmwood and Liberty-Benton in a second-place tie (140.5). Ada scored a respectable 52 points.

The Bulldog matmen finished ahead of McComb, Riverdale, Pandora-Gilboa and North Baltimore.

The Bulldogs had seven wrestlers compete in 14 weight class flights, six of whom placed in the top four.

Top-seeded Ada senior Silas Riblet won the league championship at 126 lbs. with two convincing wins. He received a bye into the semifinals, where he won by pin in 1:56. In the championship bout, he pinned freshman Wade Trout of Arcadia in 1:36.

Riblet also captured the BVC 120 lbs. title last year.

Bulldog senior grappler Peyton Karsten lost his first bout in the 215 lbs. bracket. He then got a bye in the consolation semifinals. In the third-place match, he pulled out a 6-1 decision to capture third.

Freshman Carter Dunlap was seeded second in the 106 lbs. division. He lost his first match in the semis by pin to the eventual champion. He then finished third after a pair of byes.

At 120 lbs., Zaiden Denslow lost his first match in the semifinals by pin. He then lost the consolation bracket third place match by a 15-3 decision to end up fourth.

In the 138 lbs. class, junior Kale Pedersen lost his quarterfinal match by technical fall. In the consolation bracket he won a 16-9 decision, then captured a pin in 2:15 to reach the third-place bout. 

He lost by a 3-0 decision to end up fourth and 2-2 on the day.

Sophomore Ethan Carl finished fourth in the 175 lbs. division with a pair of byes. He lost the third-place match by technical fall.

Ada also finished sixth last year at the BVC meet as Liberty-Benton won the 2025 championship. 

BVC Placers:
106 Pound Placers
1st Zechariah Patterson 11, Elmwood, md15-1
2nd Chandlar Derck 10, Arcadia
3rd Carter Dunlap 9, Ada, Bye

113 Pound Placers
1st Zyven Smith 12, Cory-Rawson, Fall 0:56
2nd Jackson Genzman 9, Van Buren

120 Pound Placers
1st Hayden Walters 10, Cory-Rawson, Fall 1:04
2nd Max Wagner 9, Van Buren
3rd Connor Kennedy 11, Liberty-Benton, md15-3
4th Zaiden Denslow 12, Ada

126 Pound Placers
1st Silas Riblet 12, Ada, Fall 1:36
2nd Wade Trout 9, Arcadia
3rd Alex Coldren 10, Liberty-Benton, md10-2
4th Keegan Martin 9, Van Buren

132 Pound Placers
1st Zachary Schafer 11, Elmwood, Fall 2:33
2nd Kelan Derck 12, Arcadia
3rd Cooper Hanna 9, Van Buren, Dec 6-0
4th Ashtin Gallagher 9, McComb

138 Pound Placers
1st Evan Strausbaugh 10, Elmwood, Fall 1:52
2nd Jacob Harrington 11, Van Buren
3rd Carter Stallings 9, McComb, Dec 3-0
4th Kale Pedersen 11, Ada

144 Pound Placers
1st Grady Phelps 10, Riverdale, tf16-1
2nd Brooks Hill 12, Van Buren
3rd McKoy Morlock 12, Elmwood, Fall 1:42
4th Jayson Blankenberg 10, Liberty-Benton

150 Pound Placers
1st Kale Price 11, Arcadia, Default
2nd Brody Gallagher 11, McComb
3rd Ryken Ziegler 11, Elmwood, Dec 4-1
4th Johnnie Omlor 12, Van Buren

157 Pound Placers
1st Tommy Basinger 12, Van Buren, Dec 8-4
2nd Jimmy Eisentrager 12, Liberty-Benton
3rd Conner Niese 11, Cory-Rawson, Fall 2:31
4th Hayden Koehler 10, Arcadia

165 Pound Placers
1st Ben Beard 12, Liberty-Benton, tf19-3
2nd Luke Carr 9, Elmwood
3rd Maddux Blank 11, Pandora-Gilboa, Fall 1:50
4th Alex Balderson 12, Arcadia

175 Pound Placers
1st Drew Phillips 12, Van Buren, Fall 1:33
2nd Austin Collert 12, Liberty-Benton
3rd Logan Evans 12, Elmwood, tf17-1
4th Ethan Carl 10, Ada

190 Pound Placers
1st Kydin Reed 11, Riverdale, Fall 2:57
2nd Aden Bates 11, Liberty-Benton
3rd Landon Miller 12, Van Buren, Fall 3:42
4th Gabriel Schafer 11, Elmwood

215 Pound Placers
1st Andrew Berger 12, Liberty-Benton, md11-2
2nd Luke Martin 9, Van Buren
3rd Peyton Karsten 12, Ada, Dec. 6-1
4th Adler Schuh 11, Elmwood

285 Pound Placers
1st Maddyx Vermillion 12, Liberty-Benton, Fall 0:30
2nd Zach Altvater 11, Arcadia
3rd Christopher Clark Jr. 11, Elmwood, Fall 1:52
4th Kaydin Hedges-Sawinski 11, McComb

BVC team scores:

1. Van Buren 150.5 points; 2. Elmwood 140.5 & Liberty-Benton 140.5; 

4. Arcadia 98.5; 5. Cory-Rawson 54; 6. Ada 52; 7. McComb 47.5; 

8. Riverdale 45; 9. Pandora-Gilboa 15.5; 10. North Baltimore 0.