Bringing third home

Osage takes consolation trophy at state dual meet

By Kristi Nixon

DES MOINES — An eventful day that culminated in a Class 2A third-place state dual finish, Osage 220-pounder Barrett Muller was surprised by his sister, Sophie, making an appearance in the crowd at Wells Fargo Arena.

His brother, Owen, had already surprised him by arriving home earlier. Both siblings are stationed in Las Vegas and Washington state in the Air Force.

If the junior didn’t already want to put on a show and help the Green Devils, the extra support from family added a little extra incentive.

And Barrett, along with his distant cousin Mac, clinched the consolation team trophy with a 35-34 win by criteria-3 (most first points scored) over Sergeant Bluff-Luton on Wednesday, Feb. 16.

“I didn’t know, but I had a suspicion,” B. Muller said of his sister’s arrival. “Owen came home last weekend, on Saturday. So, my sister was in Colorado visiting friends. I just figured she was coming home, too.

“I’ve been looking forward to this all year. Coming down with the team and them being here affected me, but not totally. I knew I had to win matches.”

Coach Brent Jennings added, “It’s pretty cool, they surprised him, so it’s cool for them.”

He won all three and with both Mullers needing to win by fall, they came through.

“Jennings came over to me and said, ‘you’ve got to get a pin here or we won’t win the dual.’ Me, Cole (Jeffries) and Mac took care of business. When you lose in the semifinals, this is the next-best-thing. Just have to keep your head up and come back.”

Osage was sent to the consolation final after Independence completed a 37-31 comeback in the final winning three matches by fall after two of the three Green Devils were winning their matches.

“Exciting last dual,” Jennings said. “Actually, they were all exciting. Probably a little disappointed after the semis, let a few slip through our hands. It hurt a little bit not being in the finals, but it was good to come back and win this one. We were in trouble in this one and guys at the end came through for us.”

Jennings was seen talking things over with B. Muller and M. Muller before their matches.

“I knew it was going to come down to it,” M. Muller said. “I knew I didn’t want to let my team down and the fans, so I put it all on the line for them.”

Jennings added, “I explained the points, that it was reachable and what they had to do to get it done and they did. Big performances in that meet: Darren Adams came through; Jalynn, not giving up a fall at 113 was good, she stepped up. Overall, we had pretty good performances from everybody. Some of our kids are pretty young.”

Osage started the day with a 38-33 dual win over Atlantic despite losing the final three matches, two by fall, while having a point deducted for unsportsmanlike conduct.

After a long day, the individual state tournament begins in earnest on Thursday, Feb. 17.

“I have a tough first round,” B. Muller said, “I should win it, hopefully win it, and hopefully reach the finals.”

Jennings said, “We have a couple of big days coming up. We’ve got to get rested up, get weighed in at 7 a.m., so it’s going to be a short turnaround.”