TITLE TOWN
Lynx bring home fourth league crown in last seven years, sixth all-time
WEBSTER CITY — One point was just as important as the next, whether it came from the glare of the championship spotlight or a consolation bout after dreams had been crushed.
That was Webster City’s mantra and it proved to be the best recipe for success at Saturday’s 50th North Central Conference wrestling tournament.
Cade Felts’ first-period fall in the 145-pound consolation semifinal round? Yep, that was just as important as what Lynx gold medalists Trey Nelson (106), second-ranked Drake Doolittle (120), Carson Hartnett (132) and Caleb Olson (195) accomplished in the title round.
And in the end, it led to the WCHS grapplers chasing down rookie head coach Chad Hisler in the Algona High School halls to douse him with a cooler of water to celebrate the program’s sixth team championship all-time.
“This is what we hoped we could do. We hoped we could come in here and be competitive at every weight and we were,” Hisler said after WCHS led wire-to-wire and ended Clarion-Goldfield-Dows’ two-year run on top. “Up and down the lineup, it took everybody, and even the guys that weren’t wrestling. It’s a great win for us and something to build on.”
WCHS tallied 1991⁄2 points to hold off runner-up CGD, which finished with 190. Algona hung around for much of the tournament, but faded late and settled for third with 169. Humboldt (144) and Iowa Falls-Alden (1351⁄2) rounded out the top five.
It’s been an incredible nine-year run for WCHS, a span that has led to eight first- or second-place finishes. The conference title it won in 2011 ended a drought of 19 years, but Saturday’s coronation was the Lynx fourth in the last seven seasons.
Consistency was what worked for Hisler’s crew. They pushed a tournament-best 11 wrestlers into the semifinals and their six finalists were two more than their closest rivals. Their four individual crowns nipped the Cowboys by one; Iowa Falls-Alden and Hampton-Dumont both had two champions.
WCHS boasted nine top-three medal winners. Algona, CGD and Humboldt were next with seven. The Lynx went 24-14 on the mat with bonus attached in 18 of those victories courtesy of 13 falls, one tech fall and four major decisions.
“Getting bonus points, pushing through at the end of matches to get those extra team points, that was big,” Dolittle, a sophomore who became just the 15th WCHS wrestler to be a multiple-time NCC champion, said. “This is good for our self-confidence and it’s a building block thing going into sectionals (next month).”
In addition to the four champions, James Cherry (220) and Bryer McCoy (285) both took second. Bronze medals went to Luke Rohmiller (138), Zane Williams (170) and Brandon Peck (182), while Felts and Zane Carter (160) placed fourth. Harrison Hayes (152) was sixth.
No round was more important for the Lynx than the consolation semifinals where they went 4-1 with three falls. Rohmiller, Williams and Peck, all No. 2 seeds, were knocked off in the semifinals, but they didn’t pout. Rohmiller and Williams answered the call with pins in 1:57 and 27 seconds, respectively, Felts decked his foe in 1:08 and Carter, a first-year wrestler who didn’t even join the team until early December, rolled up a major decision.
The flurry pushed the Lynx team lead to double digits where it remained for the majority of the tournament.
“The kids on the backside (of the brackets), that’s always what it comes down to,” Hisler said. “Which kids can step up after losing, after being disappointed about not making the finals, but we had a lot of kids suck it up.”
Rohmiller, who suffered a 2-1 setback to 2016 conference champion Joey Busse of Humboldt on a third-period reversal in the semifinals, took out Iowa Falls-Alden’s Riley Burke in 27 seconds in his third-place match. Williams controlled the pace against Zachary Muller of Algona and scored on takedowns and back points to cruise to an 11-3 major decision to claim his bronze, and Peck — back on the mat for the first time since suffering a concussion at the Allie Morrison Duals in Marshalltown earlier this month — took out the host Bulldogs’ Calvin Kruse for the second time on the day, 6-1. Peck showed Kruse the lights in 4:41 in the quarterfinals.
It was a validating day for Hisler and assistant coaches Billy Bertran, Joel Kennedy and Tyler Patten — a new-look staff that put in the time in the practice room to prepare the competitors for what they’d face at the prestigious tournament.
“Our assistant coaches have really done a great job working with these guys and getting them ready,” Hisler said. “We all get along and we all have different strengths. But it’s not about us, it’s about getting the kids to accomplish their goals.”
WCHS will go old school on Tuesday when it welcomes Roland-Story to Jefferson Gymnasium for a non-conference dual that will begin with junior varsity competition at 6:30 p.m. On Saturday, the Lynx will travel to Story City to take part in the Norsemen Duals and then it will be time to focus on the 2A sectional meet that will be hosted by Humboldt on Saturday, Feb. 4.
Webster City Results
106 — Trey Nelson 3-0, 1st. 120 — Drake Doolittle 3-0, 1st. 126 — Brady Auderer 0-2, DNP. 132 — Carson Hartnett 3-0, 1st. 138 — Luke Rohmiller 2-1, 3rd. 145 — Cade Felts 1-2, 4th. 152 — Harrison Hayes 1-3, 6th. 160 — Zane Carter 2-2, 4th. 170 — Zane Williams 2-1, 3rd. 182 — Brandon Peck 2-1, 3rd. 195 — Caleb Olson 2-0, 1st. 220 — James Cherry 1-1, 2nd. 285 — Bryer McCoy 2-1, 2nd.