The Webster City Lynx and Clarion-Goldfield-Dows wrestling teams made the trip north on Saturday morning, to compete in the annual North Central Conference wrestling tournament at Clear Lake High School in Clear Lake. The Lynx and Cowboys were joined by the host Lions, as well as Algona, Hampton-Dumont-CAL, Humboldt, Iowa Falls-Alden and St. Edmond.
Webster City saw 2 individual champions on the day, the first coming from sophomore 113-pounder Linden Phetxoumphone. After a first round bye, Phetxoumphone pinned Algona’s Thomas Zabka in the semifinals to advance to the finals. In a battle of #2 vs. #3, Phetxoumphone trailed Jayson Stevens of HD-CAL 6-2 in the 2nd-period, before Phetxoumphone’s take down and cradle lock avenged him his loss to Stevens in last year’s conference meet with a 2nd-period pin.
Carson Doolittle would win the 2nd individual title for the Lynx, making history by doing so, becoming the 12th athlete in North Central Conference history to win 4 conference titles in his career. Doolittle started the day pinning St. Edmond’s Kinnick Henning, before pinning Clarion-Goldfield-Dows’s Kolton Hefti in the semifinals. In the finals, Doolittle won by 12-2 major decision over HD-CAL’s Charlie Showalter to clinch his 4th title, joining his brother and Webster City head coach, Drake Doolittle, and former teammate Cam Phetxoumphone as Webster City’s members of the 4-time club.
Clarion-Goldfield-Dows senior Ashtin Willms claimed his first conference championship at 215 pounds. Following a first-round bye, Wilms pinned Iowa Falls-Alden’s Trevor Bailey in the semifinals, before winning a 9-2 decision over Clear Lake’s Jake Trenary to claim his first conference title.
Other Webster City results saw Landon Griffin take 2nd at 285, losing a 3-0 decision to HD-CAL’s Carter Heilskov. Tristan Mason would place 3rd at 150, as would Luke Estlund at 175, while Isaac Firsching finished 4th at 165. Angel Ramirez would place 5th at 106, Gavyn Wynkoop would be 5th at 132, as would Dawson Bertran at 138. Finishing 6th for the Lynx were Brayden Burtnett at 120, Blake Berninhaus at 144 and Carson Bertran at 190.
Clarion-Goldfield-Dows would see 3 runner-up finishes with Lucas Ennis at 106, Ryan Hartwig at 120 and Mason Allen at 175. Caleb Seaba would be the Cowboys lone 3rd place-finisher at 157, while Kolton Hefti (126) and Abram Wessels (132) would place 4th. The Cowboys then had 4 6th place-finishers with Lucas Cayler (113), Coleton Johnson (138), Cooper Nosbush (150) and Selvin Gonzalez (165).
Webster City would finish 5th in the team standings 144 points, while Clarion-Goldfield-Dows placed 6th with 134.5 points. Algona was the tournament champions, winning the first conference title in over 20 years.
Webster City returns to action on Thursday, when they host the Ballard Bombers in a non-conference dual. Clarion-Goldfield-Dows returns to action on Tuesday with a tri dual with St. Edmond and Eagle Grove.