Clackamas wrestling earned the second place trophy at the Mid-American Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa on Saturday, Feb. 25. Photo contributed by Clackamas Athletics

By Travis David V Whittaker

With a season that was as historical as it can get, the Clackamas Community College wrestling team had their hearts ripped out of their chests by Iowa Central’s heavyweight Thomas Petersen after he was declared the winner in his 285-pound finals match.

Going into the NJCAA national finals round, Clackamas led by 3.5 points over both Iowa Central and Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, who were tied at 135 points.

During the final round, the team score leaderboard changed six times over the course of ten matches. Clackamas led by a narrow 2.5 points after 174-pounder Colt Doyle won his finals match against Adrian Lyons-Lopez of Southwestern Oregon Community College.

Clackamas had the potential to possibly lock up the team title with a win by 184-pounder Haszell “Bam Bam” West, but he lost by fall to Preston Lauterbach of Iowa Western Community College. Lauterbach was later named the most outstanding wrestler of the tournament.

Even though Clackamas didn’t win the national team title, they came home with a total of eight All-Americans and two individual national champions in 149-pounder Josh Reyes and 174-pounder Doyle.

Reyes defeated Dylan Lucas of Northeastern Oklahoma A&M by a 6-4 decision.

125-pounder David Campbell, 165-pounder Dillon Ulrey and West all earned runner-up honors after falling in their finals matches.

141-pounder Kurt Mode was upset in the quarterfinal round and came back to earn a third-place finish.

Nathan Johnson (133-pounds) finished fourth, and 157-pound wrestler John Leal finished in seventh place.

CCC ends the season with its first undefeated dual meet season (16-0) in school history, a fourth straight National Duals title, a fourth straight regional title, eight All-Americans and a runner-up finish in the team standings at the National Tournament.

Finals Matches scores:

125: Todd Small (Iowa Central) DEC David Campbell (Clackamas), 4-3

149: Josh Reyes (Clackamas) DEC Dylan Lucas (Northeastern Oklahoma A&M), 6-4

165: Wyatt Jordan (Northeastern Oklahoma A&M) DEC Dillon Ulrey (Clackamas), 6-2

174: Colt Doyle (Clackamas) DEC Adrian Lyons-Lopez (SW Oregon), 8-2

184: Preston Lauterbach (Iowa Western) F Haszell West (Clackamas),1:23

Team scores:

Iowa Central – 150

Clackamas – 146.5

Northeastern Oklahoma A&M – 143

Lincoln (IL) – 88.5