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Empty feeling after loss will fuel Doolittle’s future

Drake Doolittle (top) looks to come out of a scramble with a takedown during the first period of his Class 2A 113-pound state title match against Albia’s Aden Reeves on Saturday. Reeves won, 8-7. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

DES MOINES — Tyler Patten didn’t attempt to ease the pain of Drake Doolittle as the Webster City sophomore wandered around the back hallways of Wells Fargo Arena Saturday night.

Patten, a first-year Webster City assistant wrestling coach, is all too familiar with what Doolittle was going through as he attempted to escape from everything and everyone.

The pain. The disappointment. The anger. All of it.

Why didn’t Patten try to say something, anything, to console his pupil? Because he’s been there, done that. He, too, has felt the sting of a Saturday night loss in front of a sold-out crowd of wrestling fanatics. Twice, in fact.

That platitudes that came Patten’s way in the minutes after he finished as the state runner-up at 125 pounds in 2010 and again at 135 in 2011 were nice, but they went in one ear and out the other.

WCHS assistant coach Tyler Patten shouts out encouragement during a match at the state tournament this week. He was a two-time state runner-up for the Lynx. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

“It’s a real empty feeling,” Patten, a 2011 WCHS graduate and former UNI Panther wrestler, said as he kept one eye on Doolittle. “The only thing you can do is

get back out there. It’s going to be rough, but getting back out there, being with his teammates and seeing success is going to get him back on track.”

Doolittle didn’t want to talk to anyone following his heartbreaking 8-7 loss to Albia’s Aden Reeves in the Class 2A 113-pound final. Not me (I didn’t blame him one bit). Not his coaches (they understood, too). Coming so close to glory only to have it plucked away, it would make anyone feel like their chest had caved in from pain.

But here’s the good news: Doolittle is far from a finished product. And as the cliche goes, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

You only need to look a few miles down the road to see where Doolittle could go from here. After placing fourth at 106 in 3A as a freshman in 2014, Fort Dodge’s Triston Lara also felt the bite of a runner-up finish at 113 as a sophomore in 2015. He used that bile as fuel and the result was back-to-back state titles at 126 and 138 as a junior and senior.

Lara exits the Dodger program with 170 victories, a national ranking, and a spot reserved in the UNI wrestling room later this year.

DFJ photo/Troy Banning

Through two years, Doolittle has state bronze and silver medals hanging on his wall. He owns 85 victories and is well on his way to breaking Gavin Dinsdale’s WCHS career record of 145 wins. Barring injury or some other unforeseen circumstance, the career takedown record and probably a dozen others will be his, too.

Can Doolittle be the next Triston Lara? It obviously won’t be easy — Lara is an all-time great Dodger, no doubt about it — but then nothing worthwhile ever is. Doolittle’s natural instincts and ability, coupled with his dogged determination lead me to believe that he’s only scratched the surface.

But don’t take my word for it. Listen to Patten, who has the wrestling credibility to speak about Doolittle’s potential.

“The best thing for Drake is he’s got two more years,” Patten, who placed third at state as a freshman and again as a sophomore, said. “He’s in a great position and he’s got great support from his team.”

Speaking of the team, what WCHS head coach Chad Hisler and his stable of assistants — Patten, Bill Bertran and Joel Kennedy — are currently building has the potential to not be just good, but great, next winter.

DFJ photo/Troy Banning

Doolittle will be back and he’ll be ornery. A healthy Cooper Lawson, who knows a thing or two about disappointment as well after his second-place finish at heavyweight in 2016, will return to the fold. Eighth-place state medalist Caleb Olson (195), as well as state qualifiers Carson Hartnett (132) and Zane Williams (170) return.

Look at it this way: In the long and rich history of the WCHS wrestling program, 10 individuals have reached 100 career victories. Next season, another five — Doolittle (85), Williams (85), Hartnett (84), Lawson (73) and Luke Rohmiller (70) — could and probably should join the fraternity.

You know Doolittle and Lawson will be thinking about nothing but gold. State medals should be in the plans of the other three as well.

None of that means much of anything to Doolittle right now. But eventually the disappointment will turn to resolve and determination. And when he turns that corner, look out.

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