Sectional Saturday was a big day for the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk wrestling team as they set two team school records and tied another. The Hawks posted their highest team finish ever in school history, taking the runner-up spot with 185 points, narrowly missing a trip to regional duals behind Albia’s 199 point championship total. Mid-Prairie tied a record they set a season ago, advancing six competitors to the district meet, doing so with a school record five sectional champions.

Vinnie Bowlin won the title at 160lbs by fall over Kyler Ricard of Eddyville-Blakesburg. At 182, Ben Meader won his first ever varsity tournament, beating Theodore Metcalf of Fairfield by fall in the championship match. At 195, Cael Garvey pinned Josh Oldfield of Centerville for the championship. Josh Wallington beat Paul Ballard of Albia in the finals by fall at 220lbs to claim gold and at 285 it was Gannon Callahan earning the title by fall over Skyler Young of Eddyville-Blakesburg. Along with the handful of champions, Mose Yoder moved on by winning a wrestleback at 113lbs over Brogan West of Davis County by fall. After the meet, Mid-Prairie head coach Justin Garvey talked about the team’s day. “These guys are the leaders of our team. They’re workhorses. They are the ones that bring the rest of them along. They are a great influence and why our young guys are also developing so well. They are a great group of kids that we hope keep on rolling. This sparks excitement within our program. We got six guys this year and six guys last year. The younger guys see this and they see how much excitement is behind it and what happens next week and then if they qualify for state. Everyone wants to be a part of that. Winning breeds winning, and that’s what we are going to try to do.”

Those six advance to Saturday’s district meet at Mt. Pleasant where the top two wrestlers in each weight class qualify for the state tournament in Des Moines.