Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Ryan Duckett of St. Edmond takes on Southeast Valley’s Coledon Bethel on Saturday in the Gael gym. For more photos, please visit CU.messengernews.net

Ryan Duckett knew if he wanted to turn in a solid performance at the St. Edmond Duals on Saturday, he would have to fight through his illness.

Duckett, who missed the Gaels triangular on Thursday with Alta-Aurelia and Iowa Falls-Alden while dealing with strep throat, figured it was going to be a tough task.

“During my matches, I felt weak and tired,” Duckett said. “But I knew I had to keep competing and go out there and wrestle tough.

“It’s nice to be at home and see the fans come out and support us.”

After a bump in the first round of the duals — a 10-3 setback against Southeast Valley’s Coledon Bethel — Duckett recorded two falls and a decision the rest of the way.

“I knew I had to fight through it,” Duckett said. “If I want to keep getting better, I had to keep going.”

Short-handed St. Edmond went 0-4 on the day, while West Hancock was 4-0 and Southeast Valley finished 3-1.

“After the first round, we had to re-evaluate things. We didn’t have much energy (early on),” said St. Edmond head coach Eugene Carlson. “Right now we are just trying to learn valuable lessons each time. We have a lot of young wrestlers and at each practice, we try to teach one move and work on that.

“Next we’ll have some kids at a junior varsity tournament and let them get some mat time. It isn’t about results at this point — it’s about progression as we go through the season.”

With a 3-1 finish at 113 pounds, Duckett is now 7-2 in his career at his program’s home invite. In his second match of the day, the sophomore earned a 4-2 decision over Roland-Story’s Joe Hovick. He then had falls over West Hancock’s Nathan Cabrera (3:28) and AGWSR’s Zach Johnson (:29).

“Ryan has been battling strep throat, and just had a tough time against a good kid (from SV),” Carlson said. “After that match, he looked a lot better.

“There are valuable lessons to take from a loss. So he just needs to keep moving forward.”

Cayne Reed (132) earned two forfeit victories. Clay Kelley (138) and Jonah Hindt (170) also had forfeit wins.

“Cayne had a good day and is really working on things,” Carlson said. “He started the season late, but is catching on.

“He was taking some good shots. He’s a har worker.”

The Gaels are back in action on Thursday when they travel to Webster City to face the Lynx and Humboldt.

ST. EDMOND DUALS

Records

1. West Hancock 4-0; 2. Southeast Valley 3-1; 3. Roland-Story 2-2; 4. AGWSR 1-3; 5. St. Edmond 0-4.

First Round

Southeast Valley 81, St. Edmond 0

West Hancock 61, Roland-Story 15

Second Round

West Hancock 39, Southeast Valley 27

Roland-Story 49, AGWSR 12

Third Round

Roland-Story 54, St. Edmond 15

West Hancock 66, AGWSR 13

Fourth Round

West Hancock 78, St. Edmond 6

Southeast Valley 66, AGWSR 76

Fifth Round

AGWSR 41, St. Edmond 18

Southeast Valley 64, Roland-Story 18