Challen places fourth in the state at 138

By SUE RIEDER
sports@beeherald.com
Senior Jordan Challen continued to wrestle well Saturday at the state wrestling championships in Des Moines and claimed 4th place in the 2A 138 pound weight class. This was the highest finish for a Ram wrestler since Chase Flack finished third in 2011.

After Jordan lost his quarterfinal match Friday morning, he went into the consolation bracket and fought hard to get to the medal round on Saturday by winning the rest of his Friday bouts. His first match on Saturday was against Cole Fritz of Solon. He led the entire match and was the more aggressive wrestler. Fritz scored late in the third period, but could not get enough points to take the lead, so Jordan won 10-9.
Challen also had a slim 3-2 lead  over third ranked Mason Buster from Mediapolis in the match to determine third or fourth place. Buster scored a take down with less than thirty seconds left in the match, and even though the feisty Ram made several attempts to free himself from his opponent’s grasp, he could not and lost 4-3.
The gutsy senior finished his season with a 41-4 record. All of his four losses this season were to wrestlers who were state place winners at the tournament.