How Valley's Cinsere Clark battled back from stunning upset in state wrestling tournament

Winning an individual state wrestling title in Iowa is hard. Maybe the hardest thing to win in Iowa high school sports.

The only thing that might be tougher than that is what Valley 157-pound senior Cinsere Clark did at the boys state wrestling tournament.

Seeded No. 2 in his class with a 35-1 record entering the tournament, Clark was one of the top contenders in his class. After his bye into the second round, he drew Southeast Polk's Abe Bushong. In a Jan. 11 dual, Clark defeated Bushong in a 5-1 decision and seemed the upper hand in this bout.

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Right from the first whistle, however, Bushong looked ready to go with a pair of takedowns and a 58-second ride to conclude the first period up 4-1. From there, Bushong held on to advance 5-4 over Clark, one of the biggest upsets of the first day of action.

In an instant, Clark's dreams of finishing atop the podium were gone.

"I was pretty crushed," Clark said. "I couldn't get what I had been working all season for."

Clark, better known as "Woe" by the rest of the team, is a fairly quiet guy according to Valley coach Brett Wheelan. You know when you get a laugh out of him, something had to be fairly funny. Even so, Wheelan and the team noticed he was looking particularly down following that loss.

The one to put his arm around Clark was his little brother, 144-pound junior JahKari Clark. He told him, in sincerity, to keep his head up. But he said it in the most brotherly way possible.

"Don't lose no more," JahKari told his brother.

JahKari walked away from that conversation confident in his brother, knowing full well that Cinsere would not quit. Even though he was crushed by that loss, he got back to work in the consolations rather than dwell on what couldn't be changed.

"I would have let a lot of people down, let myself down (if I quit)," Cinsere said. "I'd get older and regret it, so might as well just finish strong."

So, Cinsere put his head down and got to work the following day in the consolations, going after "the next best thing", which was third place.

First, he faced Landon Bell of Iowa City Liberty, rolling to a 10-0 major decision. He then took on Indianola's AJ Pontier in his final match on Thursday. Up 3-2 with just over a minute left in the third period, he executed a takedown and rode out Pontier until there were 20 seconds on the clock to stay alive into Friday.

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Hanging out that Thursday night, Cinsere hadn't laughed or even smiled much since the second-round loss. Then the team began to start poking fun at his brother JaKari, and then a laugh finally cracked from Cinsere. There, Wheeler saw his wrestler starting to round back into form.

Facing Bondurant-Farrar's Jack Lewis in his first match Friday afternoon, Lewis and Cinsere were knotted up at five apiece with seconds to go. It looked as if the match might slip into overtime, but Cinsere ended the match on top with a two-point takedown to advance.

Now, if he won his next match, he would ensure a place back on the podium after finishing fifth the year prior.

Squaring off with Dubuque Hempstead's Dawson Fish, Cinsere left little doubt in this with six takedowns, including three in the final period. After losing in upset fashion to kick off the tournament, the senior had rallied to make the podium. Even through the disappointment, it was clear Cinsere was having fun again.

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"He was feeling it in that match," Wheelan said, "That was fun to watch. Woe was back to being Woe."

He would go on to finish third at 157 pounds, the highest finish in his high school career. While not the exact finish he wanted, he accomplished what in Wheeler's mind is the hardest thing to do in wrestling: rallying to make the podium.

"It takes guts," Wheeler said. "Cinsere did a great job."

Of course, this is the epitome of how Valley finished much of the tournament. JahKari Clark went on to take second, dropping his final bout to Linn-Mar and Iowa State commit Kane Naaktgeboren. Andrew Price took fifth at 215 pounds after making the semifinals. Wheeler said Nic VanArkel did "everything right," posting a 4.3 grade-point average and never missing a workout. He lost one round short of making the podium.

Both Cinsere and VanArkel, along with senior Owen Walker, will walk away with some heartbreak after qualifying for state and not accomplishing their main goal. However, Cinsere is already looking for the next step, still searching for somewhere to wrestle in college.

Ultimately, even though the heartbreak hurts now, it's great fuel and a starting point for first-year coach Wheeler and his program moving forward.

"Sometimes champions don't come home with the big bracket," Wheelan said. "There's champions of the tournament and there's champions in life, so it's picking yourself up whether you like it or not and pushing forward. That's why wrestling is so great."

Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Valley's Cinsere Clark battled in the Iowa state wrestling tournament