Currier places 7th at State Wrestling Tournament

by Marianne Gasaway

Clear Lake’s Max Currier earned a seventh place finish in the 126-pound weight class at the Iowa State Wrestling Tournament last week.  Currier recorded a takedown in overtime to defeat Nick Koch, from North Fayette Valley, and claim his spot on the podium.

“We knew that he was very long and tall and was very hard to score on so we just wanted to create lots of motion and try to get him to misstep and then capitalize,” said Coach Evan Johnson.  “We knew that if we were able to get to his legs that we could finish but it was just a matter of actually getting there.”

The coach said Currier, a junior, had one of his best performances as a high school wrestler at State.

“He was very focused all week and was extremely coachable. While we were down there we saw some really high level competition and made the most of our experience.”

Currier opened the tournament against Abe Bushong, from Winterset. 

“Our game plan was to use our strength to our advantage because this kid was very tall and long so we wanted to keep it close and pour it on at the end and that is exactly what Max did,” said the coach.  Going into the third period Currier had a 2-1 lead and went on to score eight unanswered points at the end to get a big first round win. 

The win was especially satisfying because in Currier’s first State experience as a sophomore last year he was eliminated on the first day of action.

Currier faced a tall task in the second round, as he was pitted against eventual state champ Jaiden Moore, from Benton Community. 

“We wanted to try and keep it close and be selective with our shot selection, but we got down 7-1 after the first period and it is hard to come back from that kind of deficit at the state level.” Currier lost the match, 10-1.   

Currier’s third match was a so-called “blood round match,” meaning it was win and place, or go home with nothing.  Max answered the call against Dawson Bonnett, from Albia. 

“We wanted to have a very similar game plan to our first match because the kid had a similar build,” explained Johnson.  “Max again was very coachable and very calm and we were able to come out with a 8-1 victory. 

Round four presented a matchup that Currier and 

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Johnson said they had been looking forward to all year against Derrick Bass from Davenport Assumption. 

“We had seen them twice during the year but never had the opportunity to wrestle,” said Johnson. “I just think we got a little to tied into the hype of the match and we had a couple of missteps and couldn’t put a solid match together. We fought hard for six-minutes, but came up just short and lost 9-2. 

The seventh place match against Nick Koch, of North Fayette Valley, provided the opportunity to end the tournament on a high note and Currier did just that.

“It always feels a lot better when you are able to end the year with a win. I know we were very pleased with how Max went out and competed and now that he has a taste of placing at this tournament I think we can expect very good things from Max next year.”

The coach also expressed his thanks for the support he got from the wrestling community in Clear Lake. 

“It is always more fun to compete with fans in the stands and we had a lot of people come down to watch. We saw the best version of Max to date as a high school wrestler, but I know that there is a lot more in the tank that he can give us and I can’t wait to break into that side of Max next year because I think he is going to be much more focused and dangerous with this experience in place.”

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