Nothing guaranteed for Lynx 10 at treacherous district
Heavyweight bracket the feature; 5 state silver medalists in field
BY TROY BANNING
tbanning@freemanjournal.net
WEBSTER CITY — Twenty-one ranked individuals, 12 former state medalists and five former state runners-up will all be inside the WCHS gymnasium on Saturday vying for spots in next week’s state tournament.
This should be fun.
Host Webster City will send 10 grapplers, six of whom are rated, into the treacherous Class 2A district tournament that will get underway at noon. With rated wrestlers at 13 of the 14 weights, including six with two Top-10 guys and one with three, nothing is going to come easy.
“Up and down the lineup we’ll have to wrestle well because there are quality kids everywhere,” WCHS head coach Chad Hisler said.
For context, consider this: Three of the eight teams that will compete in next week’s state duals — Webster City, Clarion-Goldfield-Dows and Ballard — will all be duking it out.
Competing for the Lynx will be Reece Sadler (106 pounds), Chase Rattenborg (113), second-ranked Drake Doolittle (120), seventh-ranked Carson Hartnett (132), 10th-ranked Luke Rohmiller (152), eighth-ranked Zane Williams (170), Hunter Collicott (182), Caleb Olson (195), seventh-ranked James Cherry (220) and top-ranked Cooper Lawson (285).
Lawson (41-0), the winner of 50 consecutive matches, is the only No. 1-ranked individual in the field, but he’s also walking
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into the most loaded of the brackets. He’ll be joined by semifinal-round opponent and fourth-ranked Dominick Etherington of Algona and fifth-ranked Spencer Trenary of CGD, and only two can advance.
Lawson, the 2016 state silver medalist at heavyweight, owns wins over both rated foes this season; he knocked off Etherington, 5-3, in a December bout and dominated Trenary, 14-4, in the finals of the North Central Conference tournament in January.
Lawson has his sights set on one thing — a state title. But he can’t reach that status if he slips up on Saturday. The senior is excited for the challenge though.
“It’s going to be fun. I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “I’m glad I get to wrestle Etherington again and I obviously would like to face Trenary again as well.”
Doolittle (39-3), last year’s state runner-up at 113, will be an overwhelming favorite to reach his third state tournament. Hartnett (35-5) and Cherry (31-4) will also be front-runners, but that doesn’t mean it will be a cake walk. Hartnett will face a stiff challenge right away from former state qualifier Connor Hanson of CGD.
Rohmiller (26-5) will face an equally daunting challenge right away against South Central Calhoun’s Chase McAlister, who has 45 wins under his belt this winter.
At 170, familiar foes Williams (37-6) and ninth-ranked Mason Carpenter of CGD will tie up in the semifinals. They split two matches earlier this season; Williams won by fall on the opening night back in November and Carpenter earned a 6-3 decision with a NCC title on the line last month.
Sadler (21-22) will kick things off against CGD’s Tyler Stein, who won the first encounter by fall. But the WCHS freshman has won six consecutive matches.
Rattenborg (34-10) will be tested by Southeast Valley’s 37-match winner Coledon Bethel with 10th-ranked Remington Hanson of CGD a possible finals opponent for the winner. Hanson controlled Rattenborg in the gold-medal match at the conference tournament.
Olson (16-10) is housed in the only bracket without a rated individual. The Lynx junior, last season’s eighth-place state medalist at 195, will square off against Algona’s Noah Murphy in the semifinals. Olson knocked off Murphy, 8-4, in the third-place match at the league tournament.
Collicott (15-18) faces arguably the toughest semifinal test against second-ranked and unbeaten Kyler Fisher of Southeast Valley. Fisher lost at sectionals and districts to Williams at 170 a season ago, but went on to place second at state.
On the other side of the 182-pound bracket sits third-ranked Ben Lee of Ballard, the state runner-up at the weight class 12 months ago.
Advancing to the state duals on Tuesday has given WCHS momentum entering the district tournament and Hisler says his guys just need to stay the course.
“We’ve had a regular routine this week where we wrestled during the week and then again on Saturday and hopefully that helps,” Hisler said. “All of them are just taking it one period at a time. Our focus is always to stay in good position and if we do that then things will take care of themselves.”
Class 2A District Tournament
Saturday at Webster City
Noon Start
(Individuals ranked noted)
Semifinal Matches
106 — (3) Jacob Mielke (41-6), Pocahontas Area vs. Jacob Pierick (19-12), Collins-Maxwell; Tyler Stein (34-13), CGD vs. Reece Sadler (21-22), Webster City.
113 — (10) Remington Hanson (35-3), CGD vs. Jacob Vawter (20-12), W. Marshall; Coledon Bethel (37-12), SE Valley vs. Chase Rattenborg (34-10), Webster City.
120 — Keaton Wilson (26-8), CGD vs. Cael Ihle (42-9), Gilbert; Luke McKenna (28-21), Algona vs. (2) Drake Doolittle (39-3), Webster City.
126 — (2) Shea Ruffridge (45-1), Pocahontas Area vs. Gage Long (28-17), Ballard; Bryce Allen (24-24), CGD vs. (7) Hunter Pfantz (38-5), W. Marshall.
132 — Trey Lawrence (40-10), SE Valley vs. Grant Nason (26-19), W. Marshall; Connor Johnson (37-8), CGD vs. (7) Carson Hartnett (35-5), Webster City.
138 — Reed Abbas (43-5), CGD vs. Caleb Fullerton (25-8), Collins-Maxwell; Cole Johnson (30-22), Algona vs. (2) Jarrett Miller (42-2), Ballard.
145 — (2) Tanner Abbas (41-3), CGD vs. Carson Johnson (39-13), Gilbert; (7) Joey Busse (39-3), Humboldt vs. Josh Borg (20-20), Ballard.
152 — Chase McAlister (45-3), SC Calhoun vs. (10) Luke Rohmiller (25-6), Webster City; Austin Chase (38-16), Algona vs. (2) Skyler Noftsger (29-3), Ballard.
160 — (10) Reymundo Vasquez (34-7), CGD vs. Cael Kline (24-19), W. Marshall; Brody Goodman (44-7), SC Calhoun vs. (4) Tate Battani (38-7), Ballard.
170 — Carson Devine (19-7), Algona vs. Gerald Gute (33-14), Ballard; (9) Mason Carpenter (37-10), CGD vs. (8) Zane Williams (37-6), Webster City.
182 — (2) Kyler Fisher (49-0), SE Valley vs. Hunter Collicott (15-18), Webster City; Calvin Kruse (32-14), Algona vs. (3) Ben Lee (40-6), Ballard.
195 — Noah Murphy (28-15), Algona vs. Caleb Olson (16-10), Webster City; Philip Minkler (33-13), Pocahontas Area vs. Reldon Miller (44-5), Gilbert.
220 — Brandon Johnson (30-12), Humboldt vs. Josh Detar (26-13), Ballard; Xavier Nichols (33-8), SE Valley vs. (7) James Cherry (31-4), Webster City.
285 — (5) Spencer Trenary (45-3), CGD vs. Colin Anderson (33-14), Ballard; (4) Dominick Etherington (35-4), Algona vs. (1) Cooper Lawson (41-0), Webster City.