Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines was packed Wednesday through Saturday as wrestlers throughout the state came to compete for a chance to bring home hardware and stand on the podium.
Clear Lake took five wrestlers to compete, but it was a tough road for the Lion squad consisiting of John Amos (106), Aiden Hippen (132), Raif Baack (157), Christian Dunning (165) and Jake Trenary (215).
At the end of the 2A session Wednesday, Clear Lake had been bumped into the consolation bracket, but each had a chance to wrestle back.
John Amos fell in his first bout to Bryce Oostenink, of Sioux Center, getting pinned in 5:38 to end his day.
Aiden Hippen was defeated by Kaiden Parker, of Oskaloosa, by way of a pin, after 5:32.
Raif Baack was defeated by Hampton-Dumont-CAL’s Taylor Mahler by an 11-2 major decision.
Christian Dunning was the first Lion to get a victory in the day, defeating West Marshall’s Ben Gonzalez by a 9-0 major decision.
In his second match of the day, Max Gast, of Osage, defeated Dunning by a 10-5 decision.
Jake Trenary defeated Jesse Brouwer, of AP-GC, by an 8-0 major decision.
It was in his second match that he went five rounds with Rhett Schaefer, of Assumption, Davenport, losing in a 3-2 tiebreaker.
Thursday’s matches saw the Lions compete for a shot to stay alive in the tournament, but they came up short, with Christian Dunning being the last Lion standing by the end of the day.
Amos lost to Garner-Hayfield-Ventura’s Kaleb Feld by a 7-5 decision.
Aiden Hippen earned a win over Carroll’s, Levi Dirkx, pinning him in 1:22, but he fell to Logan McDonald, of Grinnell, by an 11-4 decision to end his tournament.
Baack lost to Carroll’s Owen Klocke, getting pinned after 3:25.
Dunning had a good Thursday, he defeated Independence’s Luke Johnson by a 12-3 major decision and turned around to defeat Elston Lindner, of Central DeWitt, pinning him in 3:59 to stay alive until Friday.
Jake Trenary defeated Lucas Kooima, of Western Christian, due to a medical forfeit, but Ahstin Willms, of Clarion-Goldfield-Dows, defeated Trenary by a 5-0 decision.
On Friday, with one alive, Dunning needed one win to guarantee himself a spot on the podium.
Unfortunately, the Clear Lake sophomore came up just short and fell Friday morning to Brenden Hyeing, of Benton Community, in a 9-0 major decision.
