Wrestling notebook: Stars come together at Ed Winger Invitational

Oklahoma State head coach David Taylor among those to catch action at Ed Winger Invitational

Dreshaun Ross reached 100 career wins, claiming gold at the Ed Winger Invitational for Fort Dodge. / Cody Scanlan/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK

We are closing in on the start of the road to Wells Fargo Arena and the state wrestling tournament. Many of those who will be competing for glory in Des Moines gathered at the Ed Winger Invitational hosted by Urbandale Saturday.

Among those in attendance was Oklahoma State head coach and former Penn State national champion David Taylor, as the Cowboys have been in Iowa for duals with Northern Iowa and Iowa State.

Taylor took time to do some scouting, including an in-person viewing of Dreshaun Ross, the Fort Dodge junior who is one of the top unsigned wrestlers in the nation. Ross didn’t really give Taylor much mat time, as he dominated his way to gold at 215 pounds.

Ross had two falls in a total of less than two minutes and two more technical falls, with one ending in the first period. Joining Ross as individual champions included Carew Christensen of Waukee Northwest, Weston Porter from Lewis Central, Jake Knight from Bettendorf, Christian Castillo of Ames, TJ Koester from Bettendorf, Cody Trevino of Bettendorf, JahKari Clark from West Des Moines Valley, Jabari Hinson from Ames, Maximus Dhabolt of Ankeny Centennial, Carlisle’s Jaxon Miller, Lincoln Jipp from Bettendorf, Asa Hemsted of Carlisle and Kolton Borcherding-Johnson of Norwalk.

Koester and Waverly-Shell Rock’s Ryker Graff had a thriller at 132, with Koester pulling out a 4-1 sudden-victory. His teammate, Trevino, bested Ryan Rider of Carlisle in the ultimate tiebreaker at 138, and Jipp downed Jacob Helgeson of Johnston at 175, 3-1.

In the 144-pound championship, Clark topped defending state champion Koy Davidson of Fort Dodge, 4-1 in sudden-victory. Hemsted earned gold at 190 when he handed Cain Tigges of Urbandale his first loss of the year, 4-2. 

Carlisle pulled out the team title, scoring 148 points to finish 14 points ahead of Waverly-Shell Rock. Waukee Northwest was third with Bettendorf and Johnston rounding out the Top-5.

Algona reigns supreme as NCC champions

Algona saw all 14 wrestlers earn a medal with five pick up individual gold to win the team title at the North Central Conference Tournament. 

Brooks Morgan, Ashton Moreno, Tate Slagle, Carter McGregor and Gavin Goche were all winners for the Bulldogs, who finished ahead of Hampton-Dumont/CAL, Clarion-Goldfield/Dows and Humboldt in the team standings. 

Slagle earned his third league crown, making the finals for a fourth time for the University of Iowa baseball signee. Iowa State University football recruit Jack Limbaugh, out for wrestling for the first time, placed second at heavyweight.

Tyce Clarken, twice before a runner-up for Humboldt, captured gold in his final chance. The win came 40 years to the day that his uncle, Tom Clarken, won the same 138-pound class at the NCC meet. Broedy Hendricks, a state runner-up last year as a freshman, picked up his second NCC title.