The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk wrestling team is back on the home mat today when they entertain five other schools in the annual Colton Allen Invitational. The tournament is named after Allen, a Mid-Prairie student and wrestler who passed away in 2019, following his junior year at the school. The Golden Hawks sport a 3-5 dual record entering action after dropping two at Monticello Thursday to the Panthers and Iowa City Regina. A week ago at the Jeremy Fulk Classic Mid-Prairie finished as team runner-up with Mose Yoder winning the individual title at 113lbs. According to the most recent set of rankings from IAwrestle.com, Cael Garvey remains at No. 1 at 195lbs and Gannon Callahan at No. 11 at 285. The Golden Hawks won this tournament a year ago by one half point over Alburnett. This week head coach Justin Garvey talked about the team’s goals for the tournament and what it means to him and the team. “This is a big date on our calendar. It’s really big for us to be able to have an invitational. Right now we run a six-man round robin format, so we hope to fill up the brackets and get everyone five matches. The importance of this tournament right now as far as the wrestling team goes, and the Mid-Prairie community, is that there are still athletes on this team that were teammates with Colton. It’s got a lot of importance to those kids and me as well.”

Alburnett, comes to Wellman with a 1-2 dual record this season. The Pirates have four ranked wrestlers in 1A in their lineup with Brody Neighbor at No. 7 at 126lbs, Dylan Barenz 12th at 132lbs, Carson Klostermann 6th at 145lbs and Gunnar Kreney 12th at 152lbs.

Benton is 2-4 on the season. They dropped duals to Independence and Williamsburg on Thursday. The Bobcats have one ranked wrestler in their lineup with Jaiden Moore 2nd in 2A at 126lbs.

The Clear Creek Amana Clippers are 0-2 so far this year, dropping duals to South Tama and Alburnett. They have one ranked wrestler in their lineup with Jack Stevens checking at No. 8 in 3A at 126lbs.

The Iowa Valley Tigers are 5-1 coming into Saturday. They have a pair of ranked wrestlers in class 1A with Zane Keim 12th at 126lbs and Brody Hoyt No. 8 at 182lbs.

Mediapolis is 2-2 in duals this year. They have one ranked wrestler in their lineup with Quinten Aney No. 3 in 1A at 132lbs.

Action continues all day inside Tim Grady Gymnasium at Mid-Prairie High School.