CLEAR LAKE — Now that the first live action is out of the way, the St. Edmond wrestling team really gets into the swing of things.

Up first this week is a North Central Conference triangular here Thursday night with Clear Lake and Iowa Falls-Alden.

Wrestling begins at 6 p.m.

On Saturday, the Gaels head to Emmetsburg for the Bob Roethler Invitational with a 10 a.m. start time. Along with St. Edmond and the host E-Hawks, the field includes Eagle Grove, Pocahontas Area and West Bend-Mallard from the area.

Last Saturday at the Doug Wood Invitational in Manson, the Gaels placed 10th overall. Matthew Crimmins reached the finals at 144 pounds, placing second, while Nick Utley was fourth at 113 and Hudson Blunk fifth at 106.

Jace Stanley, Cooper Cokeley, Owen Rutherford, Sam Touney and Evan Knox all got in matches for St. Edmond head coach Kaden McClintock.

Clear Lake had four state qualifiers last year, with three of those returning. Christian Dunning leads the way, as he was the state runner-up at 175 pounds a year ago with a 53-1 record.

Aiden Hippen is also back, as he placed eighth at 150 pounds in 2025, while Raif Baack was a qualifier at 165.

Iowa Falls-Alden features state qualifiers Kolbe Hansen and Trayvahn Williams. Hansen reached the third place match at 113 pounds, placing fourth while going 42-8, and Williams went 28-19 overall at 285 pounds.

Rounding out the list of teams at the Roethler Invite will be Central Lyon/George-Little Rock, Estherville-LC, Forest City, GTRA, Lake Mills, Mason City, Okoboji-HMS, Spencer, Storm Lake and West Hancock.

Last year, weather caused the meet to be called off.

Roethler was a St. Edmond wrestling coach from 1967-72, going 37-17-1 overall before taking over at Emmetsburg where he went 77-7-1 and won four consecutive state championships from 1976-79. The E-Hawks won 63 consecutive duals during that time.

A 2018 National Wrestling Hall of Fame inductee, Roethler passed away in 2015. He is also in the IHSAA Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Central College Hall of Fame.