Saturday was worth the wait for Mid-Prairie senior wrestler Cael Garvey. After the River Valley Conference championship meet was canceled in 2021, Garvey took full advantage of his opportunity last weekend, pinning his way to the RVC title at 195lbs.

He opened Saturday with two byes and got his first live action in the semifinals, putting Aiden Hewitt of Wilton on his back in under 20 seconds. The title match was another one everyone had been waiting for between the No. 3 ranked Golden Hawk and No. 11 Jahsiah Galvan of West Liberty. Despite the two teams seeing each other at a quad meet in West Liberty last week, the anticipated head to head top 15 matchup did not happen. On Saturday the wait ended, and Garvey ended it with a statement victory. The senior Golden Hawk pinned Galvan in 2:43 to claim RVC gold. Garvey talked after the match about the lead up to the title bout with Galvan, the pinning combination and having it all happen with his dad, head coach Justin Garvey, in his corner. “I believe in my ability to wrestle and scramble. I’m not scared of him. I just had to wrestle my match. I hit a switch, then I trapped his arm, then I grabbed a wing and tried to pull him backwards with it. Then I hipped over him, hooked his leg, grabbed up around his should and pulled him straight back, leaned. slid up on top and put him away. This feels really good. I mean, that kid was talking a lot of trash the last couple of weeks and that never sits well with me. It’s always nice to go out there and beat somebody who says some stuff. I have always loved having my dad in my corner. I feel like I wrestle that much better when he’s there.”

Other top finishes for the Golden Hawks included Mose Yoder at 113lbs, Kaden Meader at 170lbs and Gannon Callahan at 285lbs all finishing third. Mid-Prairie finished sixth of 14 teams with 80 and a half points. Wilton won the team championship with 177 and a half points. The Golden Hawks are off until Saturday when they open the postseason at the class 2A sectional meet at Benton Community.