Mid-Prairie head wrestling coach Justin Garvey won his 100th career dual as head coach of the Hawks on December 19th. Mid-Prairie scored a 48-33 win over Mount Pleasant at Fort Madison High School. Garvey’s first dual win came over English Valleys in 2009, year two of his Mid-Prairie tenure. Garvey spoke with KCII sports about that first win and recounted building the program. “We had gone the whole previous season without a dual win, we were 0-fer, and that was our only dual win. But to get that first win felt good. We wrestled pretty well, we were still a little green, didn’t have a lot of studs in the lineup yet. Things are a lot different for me now, we have a huge support staff. Great families and community members that are willing to help. Early on we were really trying to build this thing up. ”

Once the numbers began to grow, so did the excitement around the program and the wins soon followed. During his time at the helm Mid-Prairie has reached the double digit win plateau six times, the first in the 2012-13 season and every year since 2014, with the high water mark being 14 wins, a school record, set in the 2017-18 season and matched in 2018-19. His 50th dual victory was a 45-30 win in January of 2016 over his alma mater New London. Garvey spoke this week about his mentors, coaching philosophy and what the 100th victory means. “The guys who have really meant a lot to me, and to this day, I can call are Mark Chiri and Brian Swafford at New London. Mark has been like a second father to me, from when I was in middle school wrestling to now. They took me under their wing when I was a young kid and tried to steer me in the right direction. Sterling Rex from WACO was my head coach when I was down there for a few years. He taught me a different aspect of coaching. Things that I hadn’t seen before. The camaraderie and family from the Pekin area and how he built the WACO program.”

The Golden Hawks will next be on the mat in dual action January 9th at Camanche.