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Cowboys top Lynx for NCC gold

Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Tanner Abbas of Clarion-Goldfield/Dows grabs Humboldt’s Joey Busse during the championship match at 145 pounds on Saturday in Humboldt. For more photos, please visit CU.messengernews.net

HUMBOLDT — Once again, the North Central Conference belongs to the Clarion-Goldfield/Dows wrestling team.

After sweeping through the conference duals season and earning that title, the eighth-ranked (Class 2A) Cowboys racked up 247.5 points to earn the league tournament crown here Saturday over Webster City.

The No. 6 Lynx, who ended Clarion-Goldfield/Dows’ run last year, finished second followed by Clear Lake, Iowa Falls-Alden, Humboldt, Algona, Hampton-Dumont and St. Edmond.

Remington Hanson, Reed Abbas, Tanner Abbas, Reymundo Vasquez and Mason Carpenter all earned individual championships for the Cowboys, with Tyler Stein, Sam Wigans and Spencer Trenary securing silvers.

“We didn’t wrestle our best, but we wrestled a good finals and had a good start with a lot of pins in the first round,” Clarion-Goldfield/Dows head coach Dr. Dan Gabrielson said. “We felt like we let the tourney title slip away last year, so it was definitely good to win it moving forward this time.”

The Cowboys finished the day with 22 pins, with Keaton Wilson earning three of them. Tanner Abbas, a senior who has committed to Grand View University, and Carpenter each repeated as NCC champions, as Clarion-Goldfield/Dows has now won four team titles and 64 individual crowns.

As Vasquez and Clear Lake’s Ben Finn were battling over the 160-pound bracket, things got heated between fans from each side and the coaching staffs, including former Clarion-Goldfield/Dows head coach and current volunteer Kurt Morgan.

“I was told a long time ago that if everybody is loving you, you probably aren’t doing everything well,” Gabrielson said. “Kurt was the head coach for nine years, and this is my first. When you run a program for 10 years like we have, you do some things that get wrestling better — not just for our team, but our area.

“I don’t get too caught up on all the hoopla. I leave that up to the fans and everybody else. Kurt and I are wrestling guys. I’m working to coach kids who want to wrestle for us, for (C-G/D), and for our wrestling club. If people knew me, they’d understand what I’m all about.”

Gabrielson, who won a state title himself for Belmond-Klemme, added “if we aren’t hated a little bit, then we probably aren’t doing real well.”

Webster City tied a program record with five individual champions and secured its eighth Top-2 finish in the last nine years at the meet.

Earning gold for the Lynx were Drake Doolittle, Carson Hartnett, Luke Rohmiller, James Cherry and Cooper Lawson. For Doolittle, the title was his third in three years. Hartnett and Lawson each secured a second championship.

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

Lawson, a senior, earned his 40th consecutive victory without allowing a takedown. He improved to 31-0 on the season. Cherry scored the fastest fall of the meet, earning an 11-second pin, and Doolittle scored the most single-match points with 19.

“That’s what we’ve always known that Cooper can do,” Hisler said. “He wrestled up to what we think he’s capable of doing all the time. He’s just very athletic; when Cooper wants to do something, he can do it.”

Chase Rattenborg and Zane Williams each advanced to the finals before settling for runner-up showings.

St. Edmond had a pair of third-place medalist in freshman Ryan Duckett and sophomore Noah Carlson, with Nicolas Kim finishing sixth.

Duckett went 3-1 on the day, with his lone loss coming to 106-pound champion Sam Nelson of Clear Lake. He had two falls and a major decision to improve to 22-10.

Carlson was also 3-1 with a fall and two decisions. His lone loss also came at the hands of eventual 126-pound champion Eric Faught of Clear Lake, who is a three-time NCC titlist.

“With the kids we had here, I thought we had a good day,” SEHS head coach Mike Szalat said. “Both Ryan and Noah had good finishes. Ryan was up on (Nelson) in their match. With both of them, they just need to be more confident in their abilities.

“If we can get them all believing in themselves, we’ll continue to see good results.”

Humboldt’s incredible 29-year run of crowning at least one individual champion came to an end, as junior Joey Busse finished second at 145 pounds. Zach Kollmorgen, Brandon Johnson and Justin Jones all finished third.

Busse dropped a 17-7 major decision to Abbas in the 145 finals. The loss was just the second of the year for Busse. Jones dropped a 1-0 decision to Trenary in the semifinals before rebounding with a 54-second fall for bronze.

Algona was led by Calvin Kruse, as he claimed back-to-back decisions for the 182-pound bracket. Austin Chase and Mitchell Priebe were third for the Bulldogs, who moved within one individual title of tying Humboldt for the all-time NCC lead.

Chase and Jones finished tied with Faught and Clarion-Goldfield/Dows’ Keaton Wilson with three falls for the tournament.

The Wildcats have claimed 102 individual championships at the conference tournament, with Algona now at 101. Clear Lake is third on that list, with Webster City fourth and Clarion-Goldfield/Dows now fifth.

NCC WRESTLING MEET

(Saturday’s results, at Humboldt)

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Clarion-Goldfield/Dows, 247.5; 2. Webster City, 212.5; 3. Clear Lake, 192; 4. Iowa Falls-Alden, 153; 5. Humboldt, 126; 6. Algona, 112; 7. Hampton-Dumont, 61; 8. St. Edmond, 34.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

106 pounds

Championship: Sam Nelson, CL dec. Tyler Stein, C-G/D, 6-1; Third-place: Ryan Duckett, SE pinned Cole Nelson, H, 4:36.

113 pounds

Championship: Remington Hanson, C-G/D tech. fall Chase Rattenborg, WC, 16-1 (3:58); Third-place: Conner Morey, CL pinned Reece Eakins, A, 4:40.

120 pounds

Championship: Drake Doolittle, WC pinned Mason Kent, IF-A, 4:20; Third-place: Keaton Wilson, C-G/D pinned Luke McKenna, A, :18.

126 pounds

Championship: Eric Faught, CL pinned Quinton Buresh, IF-A, 1:07; Third-place: Noah Carlson, SE dec. Nick Gasca, WC, 8-4.

132 pounds

Championship: Carson Hartnett, WC pinned Darin Lemke, IF-A, :47; Third-place: Zach Kollmorgen, H dec. Bryan Hillyer, CL, 7-0.

138 pounds

Championship: Reed Abbas, C-G/D major dec. Jackson Hamlin, CL, 13-5; Third-place: Riley Burke, IF-A pinned Timmy Larson, H, 3:18.

145 pounds

Championship: Tanner Abbas, C-G/D major dec. Joey Busse, H, 17-7; Third-place: Braxton Doebel, CL tech. fall Cayden Howland, IF-A, 16-1 (5:11).

152 pounds

Championship: Luke Rohmiller, WC major dec. Sam Wigans, C-G/D, 9-1; Third-place: Austin Chase, A pinned Rhys Glidden, CL, 2:27.

160 pounds

Championship: Reymundo Vasquez, C-G/D dec. Ben Finn, CL, 12-9; Third-place: Mitchell Priebe, A pinned Kyler Hadwiger, IF-A, 3:37.

170 pounds

Championship: Mason Carpenter, C-G/D dec. Zane Williams, WC, 6-3; Third-place: Chance Poley, CL tech. fall Trey Barz, H-D, 15-0 (4:30.

182 pounds

Championship: Calvin Kruse, A dec. Riley McWherter, IF-A, 4-0; Third-place: Colby Lienemann, C-G/D pinned Joel Osborn, H, :51.

195 pounds

Championship: Dalton Chipp, H-D dec. Kade Hambly, CL, 7-5 (OT); Third-place: Caleb Olson, WC dec. Noah Murphy, A, 8-4.

220 pounds

Championship: James Cherry, WC injury def. Victor Sanchez, IF-A, 1:15; Third-place: Brandon Johnson, H pinned Kain Nelson, C-G/D, 1:31.

285 pounds

Championship: Cooper Lawson, WC major dec. Spencer Trenary, C-G/D, 14-4; Third-place: Justin Jones, H pinned McKade Eisentrager, IF-A, :54.

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