Wrestlers off to a good start

(Above) Clear Lake’s 145 pound wrestler, Kaleb Froiland, puts his St. Ansgar opponenet in a head lock during Tuesday night’s home meet.  The Clear Lake wrestling team is ranked in the top 10 in the State of Iowa.  -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

The Clear Lake wrestling team had a busy week with 10 duals.   

The season started Tuesday, Dec. 1, with a quadrangular at home. Clear Lake started the night with a convincing 51-18 win over Saint Ansgar. In the second meet of the night, the Lions trailed Belmond by 15 points with just three matches left, but pulled out the win with a pin by Ryan Leisure in the last match of the night.  Lake Mills beat Clear Lake in the finale to finish 2-1 on the night.

On Thursday, the Lions traveled more than two hours to take on Storm Lake, Pocahontas and Sioux Central.  Storm Lake is coached by former Clear Lake standouts Matt Doebel and Rudy Wieck.

“It was a lot of fun coaching against two of my favorite students,” stated Coach Gary Weber. The Lions posted a 42-24 victory. They lost a heart breaker, 34-33, to Pocahontas and beat Sioux Central, 72-4.

The Clear Lake wrestling team is once again ranked in the top 10 in the State of Iowa.  Last year the Lions finished fifth in the traditional tournament and seventh in the state dual tournament. Three Lions are currently ranked. Returning state champion Ryan Leisure is ranked first at 138, Ryan Faught is ranked fifth at 152 and freshman Eric Faught is ranked second at 106.

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Wrestlers place 2nd in nine team tournament     

The Clear Lake wrestling team took second out of nine teams competing Saturday in Saint Ansgar.  The Lions beat Northwood 56-18, Perry 42-30, Dubuque Wahlert 37-36, and lost the championship, 53-18, to New Hampton.

“We had a good day. We have two very good starters (Eric Faught and Ace Walton) out of the lineup and managed to beat a good Dubuque and Perry team,” said Coach Gary Weber.  “We have 34 kids out for wrestling and they are all helping with these team wins.”

The Lions are 7-3 after their first week of action, including a pair of one point wins.

“This team is extremely fun to coach,” added Weber.  “They have great attitudes, work ethic, are great teammates and show great sportsmanship.  They are truly a pleasure to coach.”

Among the highlights of the week was Ryan Leisure’s 10-0 start.  

“I am most proud of how Ryan has developed into an awesome leader,” said Weber.  “I have always known he is a great wrestler, but now he is pulling his teammates aside and showing them techniques to make them better.  That is a leader.”

Weber noted Leisure moved up a weight class several times to help the team.  “I have to give all the credit to our assistant coaches for studying the other teams and making line-up changes to win dual meets.  They do an unbelievable job,” added Weber.

Below is a breakdown of each weight class from Weber:

106: Bryan Hillyer.  Bryan improved this week . He learned how to be tough.

120: Jackson Hamlin.  He made a commitment to wrestle 120 and he made it.  He had some big wins this week.

126: Aarron Canchola.  He had several ranked wrestlers this week. He competed  nicely.

132: Will Kirschbaum.  He is 8-1 and might be the surprise of the team. Great week.

138: Ryan Leisure, 10-0. Awesome week. Big win over ranked New Hampton wrestler Andy Geerts.

145: Kaleb Froiland.  Kaleb wrestled up two weight classes last year and took some major lumps. He has a winning record at 145.

152: Ryan Faught. Ryan is our quiet leader. He leads by example. He is one of the hardest workers I have ever coached. I am proud to be his coach.

160: Cooper Merrill. Cooper came out for the first time this year and is doing a great job.

170: Kade Hambly.  Kade had some huge wins this week. He is only a freshman wrestling at 170.  He had a win Saturday at 195 and only weighed 172.

182: Dalton Mennenga. He is another hard worker and is improved tremendously from last year. We moved him up a weight class to 195 and he helped the team beat Dubuque, 37-36.

195: Ace Walton. He has worked as hard as anyone in the weight room and it is showing on the mat.

220: Carter Garrington.  Carter missed all of last year with a football injury.  He is improving and with some more mat time will continue to improve.

285: Kyle Willms. Kyle is also very faithful in the weight room and it is also showing up in his wrestling.  He beat a very good St. Ansgar wrestler.