CL wrestlers fall to tough Lake Mills team, 44-24

By Marianne Gasaway

Clear Lake wrestlers wrapped up the regular season with a dual meet against highly regarded Lake Mills Thursday, Jan. 24.  The Bulldogs, who ended the season with a 34-2 record in dual meets, earned a 44-24 victory.

Despite the loss, Lions Coach Mike Lester said the meet provided better insight into what fine tuning needs to be done as the team heads toward Sectionals on Saturday at Osage.  The Sectional will also include Charles City, Forest City, Garner-Hayfield-Ventura, Hampton-Dumont and Osage.  First and second place finishers will advance to the District Tournament, to be held at Clear Lake, Saturday, Feb. 9.

“We had some great matches with Sam Nelson (113) and Connor Morey (120) winning at the lower weights,” said Coach Lester.  Morey started the dual with a 12-7 decision over Jimmy Gallardo, while Nelson posted a 6-2 win by decision in the final match of the night.

Undefeated Eric Faught went up to 145 for the team and had a solid 10-4 win over Casey Hanson, followed by fall from Braxton Doebel in 2:48 over Brett Peterson.

A highlight of the meet was Dylan Kruckenburg’s 8-6 win over ninth rated Zach Harnish in sudden victory.

“We were looking for a good match between two rated wrestlers, Kade Hambly and Lake Mills’ Max Johnson, but they decided to move away from Kade and he recorded a quick fall at 220,” explained Coach Lester.   “All in all we are right on track for our state tournament run starting this Saturday.”

120: Conner Morey (CL) over Jimmy Gallardo (LM) (Dec 12-7) 126: Tyler Helgeson (LM) over Isaiah Smith (CL) (Fall 2:34) 132: Kyle Beery (LM) over (CL) (For.) 138: Caiden Jones (LM) over Bryan Hillyer (CL) (Dec 7-1) 145: Eric Faught (CL) over Casey Hanson (LM) (Dec 10-4) 152: Braxton Doebel (CL) over Brett Peterson (LM) (Fall 2:48) 160: Elijah Wagner (LM) over Thomas Gansen (CL) (TF 18-3 4:00) 170: Zack Wagner (LM) over Connor O`Tool (CL) (Fall 5:52) 182: Dylan Kruckenberg (CL) over Drake Harnish (LM) (SV-1 8-6) 195: Brayden Lindeman (LM) over Braden Byrnes (CL) (Fall 1:45) 220: Kade Hambly (CL) over Nate Lorenson (LM) (Fall 0:46) 285: Max Johnson (LM) over AJ Stevenson (CL) (Fall 2:22) 106: Hayden Brua (LM) over Gavin Rich (CL) (Fall 0:23) 113: Sam Nelson (CL) over Jack Ramaker (LM) (Dec 6-2)