Cowboy wrestlers take second straight NCC tournament

The Clarion-Goldfield-Dows wrestling team took their first North Central Conference tournament title in many years one year ago, and now they’ve repeated the feat for a second straight year. Scoring 231 points, the Cowboys finished comfortably ahead of Webster City (205.5) to take the top team spot once again. The rest of the team finishes were: Clear Lake 167, Humboldt 143.5, Algona 105, Hampton-Dumont 105, Iowa Falls-Alden 103.5 and St. Edmond 34.

Josh Portillo (120) and Brady Brott (145) both finished the day with gold around their neck. Portillo used a fall over Hartnett of the Lynx to push himself into the finals, then scored a technical fall 19-2 over Tacchia of the Cadets for the title. Brott went his usual route, scoring back to back pins over Chase of the Bulldogs and Peck of the Lynx to reach the title match. He then overwhelmed Froiland of the Lions 18-3 to win his bracket.

Placing second were Connor Johnson (106), Justin Portillo (113), Calen Rosenbaum (132), Tanner Abbas (138) and Ben Powers (182). Johnson enjoyed two falls to reach the finals, Portillo followed an opening bye with a pin in 2:36 to move into the finals, Rosenbaum won by fall and a 11-7 decision to make it to the final match, Abbas used a fall and 5-3 win to set himself up for a gold medal and Powers followed a bye with a fall to reach the championship round. Finishing third for the day were Lucas Lienemann (126), Sam Wigans (160), Mason Carpenter (170) and Caden Hanson (220).

For the full story and results, see the January 28 edition of the Monitor.