FORT MADISON — The Notre Dame-West Burlington/Danville boys wrestling team spends a lot of time sitting on school buses, traversing the state to find the kind of competition that will have them ready for February, when it really matters.

The Nikes didn’t have to go far this past weekend to find prime competitors.

In fact, the Nikes spent just 25 minutes on the bus to get to and from the Fort Madison Invitational.

By the time the Nikes loaded the bus and headed for home Saturday evening, they had plenty of hardware in tow.

Notre Dame-West Burlington/Danville put five wrestlers in the finals, crowned two champions and had six placewinners on its way to a sixth-place finish in the team standings with 317 1/2 points.

Dubuque Hempstead edged Clear Creek-Amana for the team title, 382-376 1/2. Ottumwa was third with 341 points, followed by Columbus/Winfield-Mount Union with 328 points and Benton Community with 319 points.

Fort Madison was 10th with 242 points, Burlington was 14th with 160, Mediapolis was 15th with 146, New London took 16th with 134, Louisa-Muscatine was 19th with 80, Keokuk was 20th with 68 points and Van Buren County finished 22nd with 42 points.

ND-WB/Danville head coach Bill Plein and assistant coach John Siegel became fixtures in the chairs on the championship mat.

“It was just a matter of grinding the first period. The second period, as well,” said Nikes’ senior Carter West, who went 6-0 to win the championship at 113 pounds.

West pinned Ashton Grace of Ottumwa in 4 minutes, 52 seconds in the final in a physical match.

“I wrestled the kid before. He’s a lot bigger than he was last year, but all I had to do was stay physical and I would be fine,” West said. “I knew I would pin him once I had that second one locked up. I had it super tight. I knew he was done.”

Junior CJ Davis followed with a hard-fought 4-1 win over Evan Bratten of Dubuque Hempstead in the final at 126. Davis was able to score a pair of takedowns.

“It’s more of a mindset going into it. He was seeded No. 1. I was seeded No. 2. It’s more of a mental thing. You have to go out there and prove that you are the one seed,” Davis said. “I worked really hard to get a turn, but my coaches tell me to just be a tough rider.”

Kael Cook (138), Blake Wilson (144) and Dirk Boyles (150) each finished second for the Nikes, while Coly Boyles was third at 106.

Burlington’s Braxton Hutchinson and Hempstead’s Elijah Hyet are no strangers to one another. They met last year at the Fort Madison tournament.