Phenomenal effort by CL grapplers

(Above) Eric Faught beat Sergeant Bluff-Luton’s Jack Gaukel in overtime during the championship round.  Faught wrapped up his season with a perfect 38-0 record.  -Photo By Mike Burvee, Mid-America Publishing

Eric Fought claims 132-pound State title

by Marianne Gasaway

Motivated.  Hard-fought.  Determined.

It is hard for Clear Lake Wrestling Coach Mike Lester to pick an adjective to describe his Lions at the State Wrestling Tournament.

“Words are hard to describe the emotions we had this past week of wrestling.  Phenomenal is a word that I used a lot to describe our outcome Saturday.  The effort our boys put in was phenomenal,” said Lester.

The Lions fought to the very end and earned a well deserved third place finish at the traditional state tournament in Des Moines.  All four Clear Lake qualifiers reached the podium, highlighted by Eric Faught’s championship at 132-pounds.

“As Saturday approached we saw our score at the top two spots, which provided much more motivation for our wrestlers to wrestle strong and they did just that,” said Coach Lester.

Sam Nelson, at 113, clawed his way on the back side of his bracket after the quarter-finals to place fourth.

“His motivation and coach-ability was way above par, which showed as he wrestled smart and aggressive to place fourth,” said Lester.  “Sam will be the only returning State veteran, as our other three are seniors.  Sam will give great leadership to the others in the room.”

Braxton Doebel came out of the gates strong at 152-pounds.  He started his tournament knocking off a highly rated Mitchel Mangold, of West Delaware, in the first round.

“Braxton stuck to our game plan and great things worked out for him,” said his coach. “Being his first time at State, his composure was great and led to a sixth place finish.”

Kade Hambly fell just shy of the finals at 220-pounds.

“In his semifinals match he was the better wrestler and way aggressive.  It was a tough loss, but he did not let it get him down.  He bounced back from the loss to beat Kaden Sutton, of Adel, and fought tooth and nail on the back side to earn a respectable fifth place finish.”

Eric Faught, at 132, capped off his prep career at 38-0 and won his State title.

“His perseverance through the years paid off in his final match at Clear Lake in the State finals,” said Coach Lester.

In an overtime win, Faught held his composure through the match and kept working on what he knows best — his phenomenal offense and single leg takedown gave him the win in sudden victory over Jack Gaukel, of Sergeant Bluff-Luton.

“He has been working year in and year out for this state title and it is much deserved,” said the coach.  Faught reached the finals in fashion with big wins from the first match to the semifinals match.

“As this team progressed through the year we knew we had a ton of good athletes.  These four peaked out at the right time, all earning a spot on the podium and a spot in Clear Lake history,” said Lester.  “We had a ton of compliments from coaches in the state on how well we competed and deserved a top three position at the tournament.  These four kids gave it their all to earn this.  During the placing round you could tell the tournament was taking a  toll on all the wrestlers, not just ours.  Aches and pains, bloody noses and bruises, wrestling is a tough sport and all athletes should be commended on how they wrestled.  I was in the basement watching our kids warm up along with all the others.  You could see the determination and the fight putting their pain aside for one last match.  Our kids fought through a bum knee, hurt shoulder, bruised thigh among other to work for the great memories of a state tournament podium finish.  Those efforts paid off for us as we were able to bring home three medal winners, a state champion, and a third place team trophy.”