It was a frustrating day for Dubuque wrestlers at the Mississippi Valley Conference Tournament Saturday, but reasons for optimism abounded.

Iowa City West ran away with the team championship, crowning five individual champions -- including the sixth four-time conference champion, former Dubuque wrestler Nick Moore at 160 pounds -- and Dubuque schools went 0-for-3 in championship matches at Senior's Nora Gymnasium.

Wahlert's Shane Broderick came the closest to climbing atop the medal stand but instead was forced to settle for silver, dropping a 6-3 decision to Cedar Rapids Kennedy's Luke Kremer, ranked No. 6 in the state by The Predicament.

"I didn't wrestle my match," Broderick said. "I knew coming in to the match a couple things that he liked to do and I knew what I would have to do in order to put myself in position to win, which I thought I did.

"It's pretty tough, but that's the spirit of wrestling. It's got to come from within you. It's all about heart, and you've got it or you don't. You just have to go crazy."

Despite the loss, many positives

"Shane's wrestling great," Golden Eagles coach Joe Kane said. "He's been steadily building all year long and in the semifinals he avenged a loss that we had earlier this week against Iowa City West, which was huge.

"In the final (he) lost a close decision to a ranked kid and wrestled him a lot closer than we did earlier this season. I'm really pleased with the progress Shane's making."

Senior's 112-pounder, Bryce Lynn, also reached the finals but was pinned in 5:21 by Iowa City West's No. 2 Jack Hathaway.

"My first two matches were good," said Lynn, who picked up a pin in 3:50 in his first match and won a 12-6 decision in the semifinals. "Third match, wasn't ready. Good kid, obviously."

Hempstead's Brock Haas advanced to the 215-pound final behind a 7-1 quarterfinal decision and a 4-1 decision in overtime in the semifinals.

But that's where No. 3-ranked Haas ran into Iowa City West's No. 2 Josh Lambrecht.

Lambrecht picked up two-points on a first period takedown and led wire-to-wire in a 5-1 decision.

"That kid is obviously very good," Hempstead coach Chuck Haas said. "That kid wrestled his match and Brock didn't wrestle his.

"He out-wrestled Brock today and that's definitely a guy Brock is going to have to beat if he wants to be a state champion."

"You never like losing," Brock Haas said. "Losing is probably one of the worst things in the world. You've just got to learn from your mistakes and get better from them. It's better to be disappointed now than at the end of the season, I guess."