Clear Lake grapplers live up to ranking

The Clear Lake wrestling team is off to a great start with five wins last week. 

The seventh ranked (2A) Lions opened the season by dismantling the sixth ranked (1A) Ft. Dodge St. Edmond Gaels 66-12 Thursday, Dec. 5.

Spencer Orr got the team going at 126 pounds and the Lions never looked back.  The highlight of the night was at 113, where freshman Ryan Leisure beat third ranked Ryan Szalt, 15-0. 

“All of our boys wrestled well.  Every one of our wins was by at least major decision. The only loss was at 220, where Ace Walton had to wrestle the number one wrestler in the state,” said Coach Gary Weber.

St. Ansgar tournament

  On Saturday, the Lions traveled to St. Ansgar for a nine-team dual tournament.  Clear Lake opened up with an 84-0 win over Rockford.  All Clear Lake wrestlers won by pin and scored the maximum 84 points.

The second dual of the day was against Northwood- Kensett.  Again, the Lions were victorious by a score of 72-3.  The highlight of the meet was at 160 pounds, where Alex Meddlin pinned his opponent in his first varsity match ever. 

“Alex only weighs 145 and had to drink a little water to make the weight class, so we were real happy for him,” said Weber.  “Mitchell Jordan also had a very good match,” he added.

  The Lions next beat a tough Clarksville squad, 47-30. 

“We need to not give up pins and we did not do a good job of that in this dual. That is something we need to work on as a team,” said the coach.

  In their final match the Lions beat Dubuque Wahlert, 45-21. 

“They beat a good New Hampton team to get to the finals, so we did a nice job in that dual,” said Weber.  “We had to juggle our line-up a little Saturday due to the unfortunate injury to Ryan Schmalen.  Ryan is a great kid and we all feel bad for him. He did an awesome job as a captain Saturday helping out his teammates and coaching staff.”  

Schmalen suffered a broken bone in his elbow in wrestling practice Monday, Dec. 2.  He had surgery Friday and had two screws put in. 

“We are hoping for a recovery in time for Sectionals,” said Coach Weber.  “Ryan is a quality young man who has worked extremely hard to get where he is at. This is a tough blow to him. He is already helping our team as a captain and we all are hoping for a good recovery.”

Here is Coach Weber’s re-cap of his wrestlers’ performances during the week:

  106: Brennen Doebel, 5-0. Brennen is a beast at 106. He has not been scored on this year.

113: Ryan Leisure, 4-1.  Ryan is helping the team a bunch by bumping up to 120.  His only loss is at 120.

120: Sam Jones. Sam received three valuable forfeits as we juggle the line-up.

126: Spencer Orr, 5-0. Spencer is doing awesome; he wrestles hard.

132: Ryan Faught, 5-0. Ryan is wrestling very aggressively and looks good.

138: Andres Gonzalez,  5-0. Andres looks dominating.

145: Blake Kelso, 4-1. Blake is at a comfortable weight and looks good.

152: TJ Hauser, 3-2.  TJ is much improved and we are figuring out his style and it will be a very good year.

160: Alex Meddlin, 2-0. Great job by undersized Alex.

170: Logan Wilcke, 4-1. Logan’s only loss was to a state qualifier from Dubuque.

182: Connor Nosbisch, 5-0. Connor is taking his senior year very seriously and looks great.

195: Carter Garrington, 4-1. Carter is really looking good after not wrestling at all as a freshman due to injury.

220: Ace Walton, 2-3. Ace only weighs 190, so he is doing very well.

285: Mitchell Jordan, 4-1. Mitchel looks 100 percent improved.  He will have a good year.

Lions travel to Hampton Thursday

  The seventh ranked Lions travel to Hampton Thursday, Dec. 12, to take on the - Read More Via e-Edition