The North Central Conference Boys Wrestling Tournament will take place Saturday at Algona High School, with coverage airing on 104.9 KLMJ.
Coming off a fourth place finish in the league’s dual season, Hampton-Dumont-CAL coach Patrick Hansen says the margins will be narrow in a loaded field.
“We got fourth in the duals and we still think we can win the tournament,” Hansen says. “So that shows how tough it is. Like our kids wholeheartedly believe, I believe too, that we can win it. If we wrestle well and we do our jobs. We knocked off one of them that did beat us and like, every time it comes down to a flip and it’s going to be a barnburner. And then you add in like Clear Lake’s got like three ranked kids. So one of the teams that got second to last in our conference, they got three ranked kids. Iowa Falls-Alden’s got some good kids. I just penciled out like all the seeds. We got a lot of kids in that four or five area that I think they can improve on that and try to get to like a third place or get to a runner up finish. We’ve got a lot to prove, and hopefully this weekend we come ready to roll.”
Charlie Showalter at 132, Taylor Mahler at 157 and Colin Bird at 165 enter as possible favorites in their weight classes, being the highest ranked wrestlers in those classes.
Iowa Falls-Alden coach Scott Patton says in order to improve upon last year’s seventh place finish, the wrestlers will have to place higher than their seeds.
“We had way too many guys that went O-2,” Patton says. “We didn’t get many guys into those placing rounds. We can score some extra points. So we’ve got to get guys wrestling at or above their seed. I think it’s the key for us. Obviously, we won’t know exactly where we’re seeded until Saturday morning. But if we can play at or above our seeds at all of our weights, I don’t see any reason why we can’t improve on our finish from last year.”
Kolbe Hansen is Iowa Falls-Alden’s lone ranked wrestler, and is a potential favorite at 113.
Clarion-Goldfield-Dows coach Dillon Anderson says some wrestlers are trending toward favorable placings near the end of the regular season.
“Adrian Phetxoumphone has wrestled incredible lately, and he’s beat a handful of really good ranked kids at both 132 and 126, and he’s coming along really, really good at the right time and looks tough,” Anderson says. “Charlie Campbell at 175, and he’s wrestled 190 for us as well a few times this year, is also wrestling extremely tough and looks like he has a chance to do some damage here in the postseason.”
Linden Phetxoumphone enters as the top ranked wrestler in Class 2A at 120 and is likely to contend for that championship, with no other ranked wrestlers in the conference at that weight class.
Action will start at 10:00 a.m. with Jon Mohwinkle and Colt Powers on the call.
Patrick Hansen interview:
Scott Patton interview:
