Local boys wrestling teams will head to Clear Lake for the 2A District 5 state qualifying meet Saturday, with coverage airing on 104.9 KLMJ. Hampton-Dumont-CAL, Iowa Falls-Alden and North Butler-Clarksville will be among the teams in attendance.
The Bulldogs have returning state qualifiers Charlie Showalter at 132 and Taylor Mahler at 157. Head Coach Patrick Hansen says his team is prepared to lay it all on the line.
“I tell the kids all the time, the only way that you’re going to be upset about what happens is if you don’t give 100 percent,” Hansen says. “If you go out, you give 100 percent, everything that you’re capable of doing and you put that all out on the mat, you’re never gonna hang your head low and you’re gonna look back at it and be like, man, I gave it everything I had. And if you don’t make it, you gave it everything, you can’t give any more than that. If you give everything you had, I like the chances with a lot of our kids. So we’ve been getting after them.”
Showalter, Mahler and Colin Bird at 165 are Hampton-Dumont-CAL’s ranked wrestlers.
Among the teams at the meet, the Bulldogs, Crestwood, Decorah and Garner Hayfield Ventura each have three ranked wrestlers.
Iowa Falls-Alden coach Scott Patton says his team will face familiar competition.
“We wrestled everybody in this district except Decorah at some point, with whether it be at a Saturday tournament or in dual meets,” Patton says. “So we’ve got a lot of information on a lot of different guys. I think we’ve got some other guys maybe kind of hiding back a little bit, maybe coming in under the radar that, if they’re able to pull off an upset, could see themselves down in Des Moines as well. So I feel really good about where we’re at as a team, where we’re sitting as a team. We match up against the other competition that’s there. And not to take any of them lightly because it is a tough district. As I mentioned before, if we show up with our best effort and our best performance, that’s all you can ask for as a coach and I think we’ll see that on Saturday.”
Trevor Bailey at 215 is Iowa Falls-Alden’s lone returning state qualifier.
Jack Bartels at 144 is North Butler-Clarksville’s lone returning state qualifier. They’ll compete in Class 2A after competing in Class 1A for the last several seasons.
The top two placewinners in each weight class will advance to the state tournament. Wrestlebacks will be held for second place.
The meet will start at 12:00 p.m., two hours after its originally scheduled time due to anticipated snowfall.
Patrick Hansen interview:
Scott Patton interview:
