Clear Lake team places 7th at State Duals

The Clear Lake wrestling team capped off a very successful season with a thrilling 37-36 win over Central Lyon/George-Little Rock Wednesday to place seventh at the Class 2A State Duel Meet.

“I couldn’t be more proud of this team” stated coach Weber.  “Central Lyon was 19-0 coming into the tournament, so it is a real feather in the kids’ caps.  Our schedule really helped us prepare for the state tournaments. I would like to thank our athletic director Dale 

Ludwig for allowing us to travel and wrestle the state’s best teams so we can experience so much success.”

The Lions started out the State Dual competition against the number one team in state, Laporte City Union and lost, 65-10.  Ryan Schmalen and Ryan Leisure had the only two wins for the team. Ryan Faught and Brennen Doebel sat out due to the fact that they were going to wrestle their opponents in the traditional state tournament, Weber explained.

The second dual had the Lions against fourth ranked Independence and the Lions lost, 50-20.  Ryan Faught, Kyle Willms, Spencer Orr and Brennen Doebel all had wins. Ryan Leisure and Ryan Schmalen did not wrestle.

The two losses put Clear Lake in the seventh place match, where the Lions pulled out an exciting 37-36 win over Central Lyon/George-Little Rock.  

The meet started at 132, where Ryan Leisure moved up a weight to help the team and recorded a big six-point pin.  Spencer Orr also moved up a weight and had another big pin at 145.  Ryan Faught wrestled 152 and recorded an important major decision. Logan Wilcke was the sixth wrestler to move up weight classes and had a 7-2 win.

Nate Benson did a nice job and wrestled 40-1 Travis Vander Streek, allowing Kyle Willms to move up to 285 and gain a pin for the Lions, said Coach Weber.   The Lions needed two pins at the last four weights in order to pull out the victory.

Brennen Doebel and Ryan Schmalen did just that to help give the Lions the valuable points to win, 37- 36.

“Our assistant coaches were responsible for scouting and strategy and they did a superb job,” said Weber.  “They came up with the plan to move our kids up a weight class and it worked to perfection. The kids did their part and the win was had. Coaches Lester, Kopriva, Schmitt and Munn deserve so much credit.  Our record is 22-18 and to beat a quality team that was 19-0 is just awesome. We also got to get all of our junior varsity kids into the tournament, which was one of our goals. They work hard, so it was nice to reward them with the opportunity to participate. The only two we could not get in were TJ Hauser and Rowdy Yates due to season ending injuries which was unfortunate. They contributed by being good leaders and supporting the team.”

Quarterfinal: #1 Union, LaPorte City defeated #8 CL 65-10

120 - Ryan Schmalen (CL) over Josh Lawrinenko, Fall 1:55

126 - Ryan Leisure (CL) over Ryder Albertsen, Maj 17-5

132 - Brock Barnhart (ULC)) over Dylon Crotty, Fall 3:27

138 - Tyler Hansen (ULC) over Spencer Orr, Dec 4-0