The Mid-Prairie boys wrestling team is back on the mat, under the lights tonight to start River Valley Conference action when they travel to West Branch for a quad. The Hawks opened the year Monday with a quad at Eddyville-Blakesburg. They went 2-1 on the night, scoring dual wins over English Valleys 64-18 and Wapello 50-27 before falling to the home Rockets 54-30. Golden Hawk grapplers Tucker Miller and Burke Berry were unbeaten at the event. Trevyn Riley, Parker English, Dalton Miller, Mason Howe, Max Howe, Max Kipp, Josh Turner, and Jarron Thomas all had multiple wins. This week, Tucker Miller and Burke Berry joined KCII sports to talk about their opening night and the team’s work in the room this week to get ready for Thursday.

Berry said, “I like to see that our conditioning is paying off. It’s showing out on the mat. We need to keep powering through. This week, we’re going to do a little more drilling in the room. Nail down what we know, and increase our conditioning so we’ll be ready to go.”

Miller added, “We’re going out there and we keep learning from what we’re doing, even if it’s in a loss. The big thing we talked about (Monday) was making sure that we fight off the bottom.”

Dyersville Beckman comes into tonight’s contest with this as their season opener. A year ago the Blazers had a 6-22 dual record. They sent a pair of seniors to the state tournament in Des Moines with Alex Hageman at 170lbs and Ryan Funke at 182. Their returning wins leader is Jake Schmidt at 120lbs who posted 32 victories as a sophomore. The Hawks beat the Blazers at this event last season 48-30.

This is also the kickoff to the year for the Tipton Tigers. Last season Tipton had a 17-8 dual record. Two Tigers traveled to the state tournament a season ago with sophomore Jayson Johnson at 106lbs and senior Tristin Sorgenfrey at 138. Johnson is the wins leader returning with 39 victories a season ago. The Tigers beat the Hawks at this event last year 57-21.

West Branch got their season started Monday, dropping a tight dual to Davenport Assumption 35-33. The Bears recorded four falls in the matchup with Auron Marsh at 144, Cale Seydel at 157, Cooper Gates at 165 and Logan Wright at 285 all winning by pin. The Bears were 13-6 in duals last season. They sent a half dozen wrestlers to state in Des Moines, who all return this year, including sophomore Timmy Hosier at 113lbs, junior Lincoln Edwards at 120, freshman Logan Christoffel at 132, junior Cale Seydel at 145, freshman Cooper Gates at 152 and junior Logan Wright at 220. Gates got to the podium with an eighth place finish. Edwards and Wright led the team last year with 35 wins. The Bears beat the Hawks last season 51-15.

Action in the quad starts tonight at 5:30p.m. at West Branch High School.