Written by Ezra Oldenkamp
The Algona Bulldogs had an early Christmas in 2024 with many great meets. They went to two tournaments, the Independence and the Don Miller Invitational on December 6th and December 21st respectively. At both, several wrestlers placed.
For the first dual of the year, they traveled to Humboldt on December 12th and won 39-24. They then had their first home dual of the year, where they wrestled Iowa Falls and Clarion-Goldfield on December 19th. They beat Iowa Falls 72-3 and beat Clarion-Goldfield 42-17. The weekend after New Years, they wrestled at the Osage Invitational, on January 4th.
This past Thursday, January, 9th, the Bulldogs wrestled at Webster City and faced two Conference opponents, St. Edmond and Webster City. They beat St. Edmond 75-6 and beat Webster City 65-6. Two wrestlers got tech falls, Teague Alesch (18-0) and Tate Slagle (18-3). Algona had a total of six falls against Webster City: Brooks Morgan, Isaac Wilson, Barrett Morgan, Carter McGregor, Brody Shipler, and Jack Limbaugh. Ashton Moreno got a major decision, where he earned his 100th win, wrestling against Webster City. Moreno states, “The best part about it was seeing how proud my mom was.”
This past Saturday, January 11th, the Bulldogs wrestled at the Forest City Tournament where the team got 1st overall with 244.5 points. Eleven out of 15 wrestlers who went to the tournament placed, five of them getting first. Wrestlers who got third were Nile Owen, Thomas Zabka, and Tayten Rummel. Wrestlers who got second were Carter McGregor, Shipler, and Limbaugh. First place wrestlers were Brooks Morgan, Wilson, Barrett Morgan, Moreno, and Foster Myhre. Way to go Bulldogs!
On January 14th, the Bulldogs wrestled at home. They wrestled against Cherokee, where they won 74-3. They wrestled Estherville and won 70-4. There was one tech fall, Brooks Morgan, who won with a score of 21-6. The Bulldogs had eight falls against Estherville: Carter McGregor, Rummel, Shipler, Gavin Goche, Limbaugh, Zabka, and Wilson. The Bulldogs also wrestled Okoboji. The Bulldogs won 56-20. There were two tech falls. Slagle won with a score of 17-2 while Shipler won with a score of 15-0. The Bulldogs got seven falls: Barrett Morgan, Carter McGregor, Goche, Limbaugh, Alesch, Zabka, and Wilson.
On Thursday, January 16th, the Bulldogs traveled to Clear Lake to face Clear Lake and Hampton-Dumont-CAL. On Saturday, January, 18th the Bulldogs head to the Panther Invitational at Creston. Let's go Bulldogs!