Washington’s Kyle Anderson shakes the hand of his opponent during last year’s Southeast Conference dual versus Fort Madison. Photo by KCII’s Sally Hart.

He has aspirations of being an individual and dual state wrestling champion in February. Kyle Anderson’s experience at Wells Fargo Arena has featured trips to the podium his freshman and sophomore seasons. He also helped the Washington Demon wrestling team to their first state dual tournament appearance last year. However, a third place finish at districts kept Anderson from competing for an individual state championship as a junior.

Anderson, the No. 7 wrestler at 126 pounds, is this week’s KCII Hedge Above Lawncare Athlete of the Week after starting his senior season with nine straight victories, including five wins by fall. His pin of Assumption’s Joe Fields in the second period last Thursday helped Washington earn the win over the reigning Class 2A dual champion Knights, 33-30. Washington lost to Assumption in the quarterfinal round of state duals last February, 40-18. Anderson spoke with KCII Sports about how missing out on last year’s individual state tournament impacted his offseason preparation. He says the best wrestlers in the state scout one another and he’s been working on widening his offensive attacks to help his versatility. Anderson enters tonight’s dual with 121 wins.

Anderson and the No. 10 Washington Demon wrestling team opens the Southeast Conference dual season in Fairfield tonight. Live play-by-play coverage of the match will begin with the Washington Hy-Vee Predual show at 6 p.m. on AM/FM KCII. The dual will also stream live on KCIIRadio.com and on the KCII mobile app.