PERRY – It was a long day – a torturously long day, to be exact – but the 11-plus hours spent in a hot, sticky gymnasium were well worth it to the Webster City and South Hamilton wrestling programs here on Saturday.

Sixteen teams, 169 grapplers, and the Lynx and Hawks were better than most.

“I thought we wrestled really well,” WCHS coach Chad Hisler said after 12 of his 14 wrestlers placed among the top eight to propel the team into second in the team standings with 188 points. “We’re always going in with the mindset of wanting to win, but we’re happy with how we did.”

“It was a fantastic day for us,” South Hamilton head coach Dan Brodie echoed once he returned home with a sixth-place finish with 100 points despite filling just nine of the weights. “It was a tough tournament with lots of kids and the guys wrestled their butts off. It’s really pleasing as a coach because you’re telling them to do these things and you’re starting to see them execute it.”

West Des Moines Dowling ran away from the field and claimed the team title with 2571?2 points.

Four area individuals reached the gold medal round and WCHS eighth-ranked (Class 2A) heavyweight Gavin Dinsdale, a junior, brought home a title. Just a week after losing his one and only bout, Dinsdale improved to 30-1 with three falls and a 4-0 decision over Des Moines North-Hoover’s Ad Edwards in the finals.

“Gavin had a really good day,” Hisler said.

Dinsdale’s training partner, freshman 220-pounder Cooper Lawson, navigated his way through his bracket to the center mat with two preliminary wins. He scored an early takedown on top-seed Marcus Boldy of Panorama in the finals, but made one mistake on an attempted suicide cradle and gave up four points. Boldy went on to win, 6-2.

Still, at 18-6 on the season, it’s clear Lawson is a force. Hisler says his two big guys thrive because of the work they put in during practice.

“(Lawson) isn’t afraid because he’s had varsity experience in football and he works with Gavin every day,” Hisler said. “It’s definitely mutual, too. Having both of them together is great.”

Another WCHS rookie made his way to the finals, as unseeded 145-pounder Zane Williams decked three foes before losing to Logan-Magnolia’s Brady Wilson by fall.

“It’s big for his confidence to make the finals of a tournament like this,” Hisler said of Williams. “He just kept battling all day.”

South Hamilton senior JD Rader blew through the early rounds, which included a pin against ninth-ranked (1A) Cooper White of West Marshall in the semifinals. But in the finals, Rader – ranked No. 3 (1A) at 138 – ran into third-ranked (3A) Michael Zachary of Dowling and dropped a 3-2 decision. Zachary scored the only takedown of the match in the second period; it was also the first takedown Rader (25-1) has allowed this season.

“I know (Rader) is a little frustrated, but you’ve got to give credit to Zachary. It was like watching two JD’s battle each other,” Brodie said. “But that’s the quality of opponent that we’re trying to find for him and moving forward this will definitely help.”

WCHS compiled a 35-23 match record, which included 21 falls and 25 wins with bonus points attached. South Hamilton went 23-15 with 13 pins and 17 wins with bonus points.

Freddie Seeley (120), Ryan Ferrari (160) and eighth-ranked Antrez Conley (170) were all third. Carson Hartnett (113) and Gage Sadler (138) placed fourth.

“Ferrari is really coming on. There are some things he’s been working on and he’s really improving,” Hisler said. “Antrez’s bracket was stacked, so to go 4-1 and finish third was really good.”

The 170-pound bracket featured a pair of returning state champions – West Marshall’s Dale Hilleman and Dowling’s Isaiah Patton. Hilleman beat Conley in the semifinals, but Patton won the finals showdown, 3-0.

South Hamilton’s haul featured a third-place finish for freshman Keaton Hetland (113), who disposed of Hartnett in the bonze-medal match, 4-1. Hetland won four of five matches.

“He had a ton of takedowns by creating angles,” Brodie said of Hetland. “His only loss was to the champ (North-Hoover’s Shadrach Zarwie), so that’s not a bad day.”

Hawks’ 152-pounder Luke Peters upset Logan-Magnolia’s sixth-ranked (1A) Brady Charbonneau, 6-5, in the quarters and eventually placed fifth.

Charlie Reiter (126) also took fifth, highlighted by a come-from-behind 11-9 win over eighth-ranked (1A) and top seed Ryan Szalat of Fort Dodge St. Edmond in the final round. Szalat led 9-2 at one point, but Reiter took control from the top position and turned Szalat four times over the final two periods.

“Luke’s match proved to him that he can tangle with some of the best,” Brodie said. “For Charlie, that just kind of validates what he’s been working on.”

South Hamilton faces a stacked week, with duals on Tuesday and Thursday, followed by the Heart of Iowa Conference tournament in Gilbert on Saturday.

WCHS will have the next five days to put all of its focus on Saturday’s North Central Conference tournament in Clear Lake. The Lynx are the reigning league champions.

“It’s always a big goal to compete for a conference championship,” Hisler said. “It’s going to be tough and every point is going to matter.”