Clear Lake wrestlers win own Invitational

The Clear Lake wrestling team won the eight-team Clear Lake Invitational over New Hampton on Saturday.
“This was one of the best tournaments we have ever wrestled in the past 20 years,” said Clear Lake Coach Gary Weber. “We have some regulars out of our line up and our whole team stepped up, from our JV kids to our state kids. We wrestled with a ton of intensity.”
The Lions put eight wrestlers into the finals and four came away as champions-- Jacob and Joe Colon, Tucker Weber and Spencer Rollefson. Four westlers made the finals but were defeated. Jake Kopriva, Rudy Wieck, Christian Trebil and Pat Kolker all placed second.
“It always helps to wrestle at home. Our crowd pumps up our guys,” added Coach Weber. “The tournament was also run very well. We have about 20 people who have worked our tournament for the past 15 years and they do a super job. It is by far the best tournament we wrestle on all year. A big thank you goes out to all of the people who helped make it such a great day.”
The coach provided this tournament re-cap:
103-Jacob Colon, first place. Jacob had the day of his life. He beat the undefeated and second ranked kid in state, 13-6. You can’t do much better than that. I underestimated how good he can be. What a day!
103-Austin Horner, third place. The brackets had a couple openings, so we entered five of our JV kids and they all did well beating other teams’ varsity. Austin Horner place third, which shows he could be on just about anybody’s varsity in the area. He is just behind a very talented wrestler in Jacob Colon.
112-Joe Colon, first place. Joe moved to 16-0 on the year with another impressive showing. Joe won by technical fall over the fourth ranked wrestler. Nobody has gone the distance with Joe this year.
112 Brady Horner, fourth place. Brady, like his brother, did great beating two varsity wrestlers.
119-Tucker Weber, first place, 3-0. Tucker pinned all three of his opponents and that is as good as you can do. He pinned Joey Milstead, of Forest City, who was 15-1.
125-Sean Clemons, third place. Sean did a nice job at a tough weight. Sean’s only loss was to state ranked Jake Ingalls of Algona.
125-James Moran, sixth place. James had a big win over a Storm Lake kid who was 10-8. It shows he is capable of beating varsity kids.
130-Jake Kopriva, second place. Jake lost 1-0 to a state ranked wrestler. Jake is 12-6 and showing continued improvement.
135-Ray Teasdale, sixth place. Ray had a big pin in the consolation round to score big team points. Ray is wrestling up one weight class to help the team. His efforts are appreciated.
140-Christian Trebil, second place. Christian is 14-4 and having a great year. He beat two state place winners on Thursday night so he is right on target. He got beat in the finals being very aggressive, so we can’t fault him for that.
145-Rudy Wieck, second place. Rudy had two big pins to get into the finals and just got beat by a big strong kid. He is 14-4 and having a great senior year.
152-Spencer Rollefson, first place, 3-0. Spencer wrestled like we thought he would this year. He was 7-7 coming into Saturday. I think he is much better than that, and I hope he thinks so, too.
152-Ryan Wilcke, fifth place. Ryan wrestled very well. He beat a good athlete from New Hampton in the Schuckhard kid.
160-Nathan Higgins, did not place. Nate is very close to turning into an above average wrestler. Now, we have to get over the hump and translate that into wins.
171-Levi Kellogg, fifth place, 2-2. I have a ton of respect for Levi. He has not been pinned yet this year and he picked up two huge wins for the team wrestling up a weight class. He was not expected to be in the varsity line up this year and he is working hard and is a valuable member of our team.
189-Jace Snyder, sixth place. Jace, like Levi, was not penciled in as a starter, but they are doing fantastic. Jace had a big pin to help the team and he, too, is improving every day.
215-Patrick Kolker, second place. Patrick got beat by being aggressive and that is our style at Clear Lake. We will work on some technical things and be better next week. Pat is 15-3.
285-No wrestler was entered, due to the fact that both Zach Lindquist and Cody Stevens are injured.

Grapplers in action this week
The Clear Lake wrestling team is home this Thursday, Jan. 10, against Iowa Falls. The Lions are 4-0 in the North Central Conference.
The junior varsity will wrestle at 6:30 p.m., with the varsity to follow.
Saturday, Jan. 12, the grapplers will travel to Wapsie Valley for the six-team Wapsie Duals. The Lions will get five matches on the day. Wrestling starts at 10 a.m.