The Clarion-Goldfield-Dows boys wrestling team concluded a solid season with a third place finish at the Class 2A dual team tournament and had three medalists at the Class 2A state traditional tournament. Head Coach Dillon Anderson reflects on the year and looks forward to the future.
“Especially towards the end of the year, we tried to get people in the right positions to make our team even better. We did a really good job of that, by moving a few kids down a weight or up a weight or to the right weight, which we thought that they’d be successful. It really paid off in a big way for us,” says Anderson. “We were really young. We thought we were pretty good. We didn’t know if we were top three or not. Obviously we showed that we’re pretty good. These next couple of years look really bright. I think the sky’s the limit for this team. This community gets behind wrestling really well. It’s really easy to get the guys ready to go when you have a lot of support.”
Two of the Cowboys’ medalists at the state traditional tournament were Linden Phetxoumphone, who placed fourth at 120, and Adrian Phetxoumphone, who placed seventh at 126. Anderson on the Phetxoumphone brothers’ drive to finish even better next year.
“Linden, absolute amazing kid. Wish him nothing but the best. He came up a little short of his goals this year. The kid works his butt off, no question in my mind that he’s gonna come back next year and tear up the whole field. Adrian this year, came out as kind of an unknown, we were not sure exactly how good he really was. He really put a statement out there that he’s the guy. I look forward to seeing him with one full year of wrestling under his belt. He will be coming into technically his second year wrestling in his third high school year. He’s gonna be very, very talented.”
Charlie Campbell also medaled with a seventh place finish at 175. Anderson on a statement year by Campbell following an injury in freshman season.
“He got the knee healed up and came back this year. We were just not sure what to expect of him. He lit up the scoreboards and put people on their backs. He was a highlight of this year and a little bit of a surprise. We knew he was good, but he really showed, that he was wanting to prove that he’s one of the best. He did a great job of it this year.”
The Cowboys will graduate four seniors, including Caleb Seaba, Ian Soesbe, Jaxen Engstrom and Coleton Johnson. They are projected to return 30 wrestlers from this year’s team, including seven with 28 wins or more.
