The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk wrestling team is back in action tonight when they host a home quadrangular at Tim Grady Gymnasium in Wellman. Mid-Prairie opened the season Tuesday with a trip to Wapello where they took one of three duals on the evening, beating English Valleys before falling to Eddyville-Blakesburg and the homestanding Indians. On the night, the Golden Hawks were led by Mose Yoder, Jardin Mufaume and Ben Meader who each posted multiple wins on Tuesday.
Thursday, Mid-Prairie will meet West Branch, Tipton and New London. The Bears were 1-13 a season ago. The Golden Hawks beat West Branch in their only meeting last year 69-6. Tipton was 14-4 last year including a 40-36 victory over the Golden Hawks. The Tigers were led by senior Austin Lenz, a state qualifier at 126. New London was 16-2 last year and a regional dual qualifier. The Tigers qualified six wrestlers for state last season including Currey Jacobs, Dominic Lopez, Gabe Carter, Josh Glendening, Jaxon Allen and Marcel Lopez. All but Carter and Allen return. This week, Mid-Prairie head coach Justin Garvey talked about what will make Thursday a success for his team. “I just want to see continued improvement at this point. When I was a younger coach, I hung everything on awards. As I have gotten older, I have seen that improvement is the biggest thing. If we don’t win every tournament first thing, or all of the duals early in the season, it’s not the end of the world. As long as we are getting better as we are moving forward so we can peak in late January and early February. Right now, success is seeing improvement and having guys do things the right way. Winning at all costs, or winning with bad habits, isn’t going to help us get on the podium at state. It’s fundamentals and making sure that we’re doing the little things right, seeing improvement from all of our guys, especially the young wrestlers, and make sure that our veterans and upper classmen are setting an example and providing leadership.”
Action starts at 5:30 at Tim Grady Gymnasium in Wellman.