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Lynx Play 2nd Fiddle

Cowboys reclaim top spot in NCC, WCHS takes silver with 13 place winners

WCHS seventh-ranked 170-pounder Zane Williams waits to hear the slap of the mat during his quarterfinal-round match against Humboldt's Levi Naeve at Saturday's NCC tournament. Williams won by fall in 2:27. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

HUMBOLDT — Five individual champions. Seven finalists. Eight top-three finishes. Thirteen place winners.

You would think all of that would be enough to contend for a team championship at Saturday’s 51st North Central Conference wrestling tournament. But as it turned out, that didn’t even give Webster City a sniff at the top of the standings.

And, honestly, the race was over an hour into the tournament.

Eighth-ranked (Class 2A) Clarion-Goldfield-Dows reeled off pin after pin — there were 10 to be exact — in the quarterfinal round and sent 13 of its 14 grapplers into the semifinals to build a commanding lead, and the Cowboys led wire-to-wire for their third league tournament title in the last four years.

CGD joined No. 6-ranked WCHS with five individual champions and notched 2471⁄2 points. The Lynx settled for second with 2121⁄2, followed by Clear Lake (192) and Iowa Falls-Alden (153).

WCHS 160-pounder Harrison Hayes (front) hits a fireman’s carry on Clear Lake’s Ben Finn in the quarterfinal round on Saturday in Humboldt. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

It was the eighth straight Top-2 finish and ninth in the last 10 years for WCHS, a feat never before matched in program history. But the Lynx had their sights set on a fifth team title over that stretch and seventh overall, so to come up short was disheartening.

“It was definitely one of our goals to win and we came up short,” WCHS head coach Chad Hisler said. “But five champions is pretty good and we had some kids wrestle well.”

The Lynx were unable to match CGD’s early firepower. They went just 4-6 in the opening round with four byes and found themselves in third, 18 points in back of the Cowboys.

“We would’ve had to have a perfect day the rest of the day to have a shot,” Hisler conceded.

A pair of transfers into the CGD program — 113-pound champion Remington Hanson, who wrestled for Belmond-Klemme until just recently, and 285-pound runner-up Spencer Trenary, who joined the Cowboys a year ago after competing for Pocahontas Area as a freshman — accounted for 411⁄2 team points. The final difference between the top two finishers was 35 points.

Lynx 126-pounder Nick Gasca collects near-fall points in a consolation-round win over CGD’s Bryce Allen at the NCC tournament. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

“They had some extra points, but I’m not going to make a comment on that,” top-ranked heavyweight Cooper Lawson, a WCHS senior and two-time conference champion, said. “You control what you can control. The effort was there and that’s all you can ask.”

Carson Hartnett, the Lynx 10th-ranked 132-pounder, joined Lawson as a two-time gold medalist. Third-ranked Drake Doolittle (120) became just the fourth WCHS wrestler to win three NCC titles. Luke Rohmiller (152) and James Cherry (220) stepped on the top step of the podium for the first time.

Chase Rattenborg (113) and seventh-ranked Zane Williams (170) came up short in the title bouts. Rattenborg suffered a 16-1 technical-fall loss to Hanson and Williams dropped a 6-3 decision to eighth-ranked Mason Carpenter of CGD.

Rattenborg reached the finals by decking Algona’s Reece Eakins in 1:49 in the semifinals. Williams needed just 2:27 and 41 seconds in his two bouts leading up to the finals.

Caleb Olson (195), a 2017 NCC champion for the Lynx, was dealt a semifinal loss by Clear Lake’s Kade Hambly, 10-3, but he battled back to win his final two matches to take third. Olson fended off Algona’s Noah Murphy, 8-4, in the consolation final.

DFJ photo/Troy Banning

Nick Gasca (126) went 2-2 and placed fourth. His only two losses came at the hands of St. Edmond’s Noah Carlson, but in between he collected back-to-back falls.

Daltyn Peck (145) and Harrison Hayes (160) both won their final matches to place fifth for WCHS.

“Second is not where we wanted to be, but we had guys show some good things,” Doolittle said. “We just have to go back to work and fix some situations.”

Clear Lake crowned a pair of champions, while Algona and Hampton-Dumont both had one.

Humboldt’s run of 29 straight years with at least one individual champion came to an end when seventh-ranked Joey Busse dropped a 17-7 major decision to second-ranked Tanner Abbas of CGD in the 145-pound final. Clear Lake is now the gold standard with at least one winner in each of the last 25 NCC tournaments.

DFJ photo/Troy Banning

NCC Tournament

Saturday at Humboldt

Team Standings

1. Clarion-Goldfield-Dows 247 1/2; 2. Webster City 212 1/2; 3. Clear Lake 192; 4. Iowa Falls-Alden 153; 5. Humboldt 126; 6. Algona 112; 7. Hampton-Dumont 61; 8. St. Edmond 34.

Championship Matches

106 — Spencer Nelson (CL) dec. Tyler Stein (CGD), 6-1. 113 — Remington Hanson (CGD) tech fall Chase Rattenborg (WC), 16-1, 3:58. 120 — Drake Doolittle (WC) pinned Mason Kent (IF-A), 4:20. 126 — Eric Faught (CL) pinned Quinton Buresh (IF-A), 1:07. 132 — Carson Hartnett (WC) pinned Darin Lemke (IF-A), 0:47. 138 — Reed Abbas (CGD) major dec. Jackson Hamlin (CL), 13-5. 145 — Tanner Abbas (CGD) major dec. Joey Busse (HUM), 17-7. 152 — Luke Rohmiller (WC) major dec. Sam Wigans (CGD), 9-1. 160 — Reymundo Vasquez (CGD) dec. Ben Finn (CL), 12-9. 170 — Mason Carpenter (CGD) dec. Zane Williams (WC), 6-3. 182 — Calvin Kruse (ALG) dec. Riley McWherter (IF-A), 4-0. 195 — Dalton Chipp (H-D) dec. Kade Hambly (CL), 7-5 (SV-1). 220 — James Cherry (WC) injury default Victor Sanchez (IF-A), 1:15. 285 — Cooper Lawson (WC) major dec. Spencer Trenary (CGD), 14-4.

Third-Place Matches

106 — Ryan Duckett (SE) pinned Cole Nelson (HUM), 4:36. 113 — Conner Morey (CL) pinned Reece Eakins (ALG), 4:40. 120 — Keaton Wilson (CGD) pinned Luke McKenna (ALG), 0:18. 126 — Noah Carlson (SE) dec. Nick Gasca (WC), 8-4. 132 — Zach Kollmorgen (HUM) dec. Bryan Hillyer (CL), 7-0. 138 — Riley Burke (IF-A) pinned Timmy Larson (HUM), 3:18. 145 — Braxton Doebel (CL) tech fall Cayden Howland (IF-A), 16-1, 5:11. 152 — Austin Chase (ALG) pinned Rhys Glidden (CL), 2:27. 160 — Mitchell Priebe (ALG) pinned Kyler Hadwiger (IF-A), 3:37. 170 — Chance Poley (CL) tech fall Trey Barz (H-D), 15-0, 4:30. 182 — Colby Lienemann (CGD) pinned Joel Osborn (HUM), 0:51. 195 — Caleb Olson (WC) dec. Noah Murphy (ALG), 8-4. 220 — Brandon Johnson (HUM) pinned Kain Nelson (CGD), 1:31. 285 — Justin Jones (HUM) pinned McKade Eisentrager (IF-A), 0:54.

Fifth-Place Matches

106 — Abe Scheideman (H-D) dec. Evan Deal (ALG), 9-5. 113 — Zach Packard (HUM) pinned Nicolas Kim (SE), 0:51. 120 — Jaycob Martzahn (H-D) medical forfeit Colby Clarken (HUM). 126 — Bryce Allen (CGD) pinned Tomas Cavazos (H-D), 2:44. 132 — No match (double injury default). 138 — Cole Johnson (ALG) pinned Brady Auderer (WC), 5:23. 145 — Daltyn Peck (WC) pinned Caleb Talbot (ALG), 5:39. 152 — Levi Henderson (IF-A) pinned Davion Goodell (HUM), 4:41. 160 — Harrison Hayes (WC) pinned Logan Moser (HUM), 5:30. 170 — Levi Naeve (HUM) pinned Alberto Salmeron (IF-A), 5:17. 182 — Dalton Mennenga (CL) major dec. Hunter Collicott (WC), 16-8. 195 — Salvador Fregoso (CGD) pinned Nicholas Hamilton (IF-A), 1:33. 220 — AJ Stevenson (IF-A) medical forfeit Gavin Meints (ALG). 285 — Jake Keith (CL) major dec. Kale Kramer (ALG), 9-1.

Webster City Results

106 — Reece Sadler 0-2, DNP. 113 — Chase Rattenborg 1-1, 2nd. 120 — Drake Doolittle 2-0, 1st. 126 — Nick Gasca 2-2, 4th. 132 — Carson Hartnett 2-0, 1st. 138 — Brady Auderer 0-3, 6th. 145 — Daltyn Peck 1-2, 5th. 152 — Luke Rohmiller 3-0, 1st. 160 — Harrison Hayes 2-2, 5th. 170 — Zane Williams 2-1, 2nd. 182 — Hunter Collicott 1-3, 6th. 195 — Caleb Olson 3-1, 3rd. 220 — James Cherry 2-0, 1st. 285 — Cooper Lawson 3-0, 1st.

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