Clear Lake crowns three NCC champs

Lions finish a close fourth in team race

The Clear Lake wrestling team placed fourth in the eight-team North Central Conference wrestling tournament Saturday, just 7.5 points out of second place. Clarion, the number one ranked dual meet team in Class 1A, won the tournament, with Webster City 

second and Humboldt in third place.

“Fourth place does not sound that good, but we actually wrestled well,” said Clear Lake Coach Gary Weber.  “We have three starters out of the line up due to injury.  Ryan Schmalen, T.J. Hauser and Rowdy Yates are all hurt. With those three in the lineup, I believe we would have contended for the title and surely would have placed second.”

The Lions crowned three NCC champions.  

Ryan Faught won his third NCC title and is poised to become just the eighth wrestler in the 50-year history of the tournament to win all four years.  This year he captured the title at 145-pounds in convincing fashion.  He is currently ranked seventh in Class 2A.

Brennen Doebel, wrestling at 113-pounds, was also unbeatable.  The senior, who is ranked second in Class 2A, took home his second NCC title, with no competitor closer than eight points all day.

Ryan Leisure, a sophomore who is ranked number one in Class 2A, used a fall and major decision to win at 126-pounds.  

Logan Wilcke and Ace Walton both advanced to the championship match, but finished as runner-ups.  Wilcke, a senior at 170, lost 4-3 in an ultimate tiebreaker, while Walton, a junior at 195, lost to a state-ranked wrestler. 

Here are Coach Weber’s comments about his team’s performance at the NCC meet:

106: Ben Hillyer, fifth place. Ben is showing big improvements in his wrestling and it is showing up in the win column. He had a big overtime 16-14 win.

113: Brennen Doebel, first place.  Brennen won his second NCC title on Saturday and nobody was within eight points of him. 

120: Aaron Canchola, second place.  Aaron placed second in a varsity tournament, which is awesome. He is filling in for Ryan Schmalen because of his knee injury.

126: Ryan Leisure, first place. Ryan did a great job of getting takedowns and building his lead. Our staff feels Ryan is excellent on takedowns.

132: Christiano Gonzalez.  Christiano had several close matches and is also showing big improvements from the beginning of the year.

138: Spencer Orr, third place. Spencer’s weight class has been very tough this year. He showed big improvement on his single leg takedown and whizzer, which are two areas we have worked on with him.

145: Ryan Faught, first place.  Wow! Ryan beat the Clarion wrestler who he had lost to twice this year. He won his third consecutive NCC title and is poised to become just the eighth wrestler in the 50-year history of the tournament next year. He is an awesome young man that works very hard.

152: Brad Hillyer, fourth place.  Brad has improved more in two months than any wrestler that I have had the privilege to coach in my 33 years.  He is very coachable and is buying into what our staff is teaching. We are very happy for Brad.

160: Kaleb Froiland.  Kaleb is wrestling kids 12 pounds heavier to try and help the team. He is giving great effort and that is our goal.

170: Logan Wilcke, second place.  Logan lost an extremely close finals match in overtime that could have went either way. He, too, has showed improvement in the past three weeks, which is encouraging heading into Sectionals.

182: Rowdy Yates.  Rowdy was injured in the first match of the day and was forced to injury default.  Rowdy was winning against a wrestler he had lost to earlier in the year.  It is very unfortunate.

195: Ace Walton, second place. Ace lost to a ranked wrestler from Humboldt in the finals.  He had a losing record the last two years and is now competing for a spot in the state tournament. He is a 4.0 student who listens to the coaches and is reaping the benefits.

220: Kyle Wilms, fifth place.  Kyle is another 4.0 student who is improving by leaps and bounds. He is just a sophomore and has a winning record at 220 and 285 which is very impressive.

285: Nate Benson. “Nate had a tough draw having to wrestle the number one ranked wrestler in the state. He gave it his all and that is all our staff asks out of our student athletes.