After capturing the championship at Williamsburg’s dual tournament on Saturday, the Bobcats smashed Mason City, 60-9, losing only one head-to-head match in the main event of Tuesday’s Iowa Alliance action in the Roundhouse.

“We’re looking pretty solid right now,” MHS head coach Luke Cross said. “We’ve got the mindset of going out there for as many points as possible, and that’s what elevates us to scores like 60, which you don’t see very often.”

The Bobcats got started with a bang as Xayvion Anderson recorded a 5-2 decision at 165 pounds against Hale Rhodes.

The wrestlers were tied at 2-2 after two periods before Anderson escaped from bottom position and grabbed a takedown to ride out the decision.

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - Marshalltown’s Deanna Mancillaz works toward a pin of Mason City’s Madeline Hoover during their 130-pound match in Tuesday’s Iowa Alliance Conference wrestling meet at the Roundhouse. Mancillaz won the match by fall in 3 minutes, 43 seconds.

“That’s arguably their best wrestler, a guy who’s always in contention for state qualification,” Cross said. “Winning that match was a good, solid win for Xayvion.”

Mason City picked up their only non-forfeit points two weights later with a 9-2 decision for the Riverhawks’ Aidin Askildson.

The Bobcats didn’t lose a head-to-head match the rest of the way. Nick Wise, Kager Kremer and Carson Wright won their matches by pinfall and Johan Gomez, Ivan Pantoja and Kenyon Niehouse added decision victories. MHS added five victories by forfeit.

Marshalltown’s success on Tuesday was an extension of how they responded from Saturday’s meet, with Cross noting that wrestlers that didn’t do as well on Saturday were able to put that result behind them and focus on beating the Riverhawks.

“I told the team, for guys who didn’t do as well as they wanted to on Saturday, or for the guys that did awesome, you have to have a short-term memory with that,” Cross said. “Get back to the drawing board and keep on going. If you stay on top thinking you’re the best and do nothing, you won’t be the best for very long.”

Marshalltown’s boys are on the road for a dual at Des Moines Lincoln on Thursday with a 6 p.m. start time.

The Bobcat girls were competitive in their head-to-head matches with Mason City on Tuesday, but three forfeits pushed the Riverhawks ahead for a 54-30 win.

Ava Kusserow, Deanna Mancillaz, Nintee Tarr and Meya Roberts won their matches by fall for MHS; Genevieve Lantigua received a forfeit.

Even in defeat, it was a year-over-year improvement for Marshalltown after Mason City smashed the Bobcats 48-18 last year, winning only two head-to-head matches in the 2022 dual.

“I was incredibly pleased with them,” Cross said. “We’ve got a lot of new girls, brand new girls, but Deanna and Meya have been our steadfast leaders in the room of the girls that returned from last year. They don’t go for flashy stuff, and they get their hand raised as a result.

“There’s so many of those newcomers that I could talk about, but Ava Kusserow has really blossomed into being a wrestler. She had her doubts after her first tournament, thinking this wasn’t the sport for her, but she’s winning and she’s starting to believe.”

Next up for the MHS girls is a Saturday tournament at Marion.

GIRLS

Mason City 54, Marshalltown 30

115–Averi Peterson (MC) pinned Rayna Bastidas, :58; 120–Kamina Munson (MC) pinned Velkis Zelaya, 1:23; 125–Ava Kusserow (MHS) pinned Makayla Lukes, 1:56; 130–Deanna Mancillaz (MHS) pinned Madeline Hoover, 3:43; 135–Kallie Gibbons (MC) pinned Addyson Lovelace, 2:29; 140–Emma Meyer (MC) pinned Rhayne Morales, 1:18; 145–Nintee Tarr (MHS) pinned Lauren Hermanson, 2:45; 155–Meya Roberts (MHS) pinned Jayda LaSalle, 1:10; 170–Kyleigh James (MC) won by forfeit; 190–Genevieve Lantigua (MHS) won by forfeit; 235–Aniyah Smith (MC) pinned Ireland Banderas, :20; 100–Ashlyn Myers (MC) won by forfeit; 105–Eve Askildson (MC) won by forfeit; 110–Madeline Cornish (MC) pinned Kaitlyn Yepez, 1:17.

BOYS

Marshalltown 60, Mason City 9

165–Xayvion Anderson (MHS) dec. Hale Rhodes, 5-2; 175–Dalton Zednichek (MHS) won by forfeit; 190–Aidin Askildson (MC) dec. Michael Narvaez Correa, 9-2; 215–Ignacio Macias (MHS) won by forfeit; 285–Johan Gomez (MHS) dec. Alex Kenward, 10-3; 106–Dylan Hill (MC) won by forfeit; 113–Damien Rodriguez (MHS) won by forfeit; 120–Anthony Chavez (MHS) won by forfeit; 126–Lucas Bantz (MHS) won by forfeit; 132–Nicholas Wise (MHS) pinned Dmitri Prince, :46; 138–Ivan Pantoja (MHS) dec. Aidyn Kline, 4-2; 144–Kager Kremer (MHS) pinned Nikolay Gonzalez, 2:19; 150–Kenton Niehouse (MHS) dec. Alfonso Villarreal, 18-11; 157–Carson Wright (MHS) pinned Ryan Pearce, 1:20.