Class 1A and 2A wrestling sectionals are today around the state. Knoxville will host a class 2A sectional meet with PCM joining the Panthers along with Bondurant-Farrar, North Polk, Ballard, and Saydel. Bondurant-Farrar may be one of the favorites to win the meet as the Blue Jays have four wrestlers ranked in the top ten according to The Predicament’s latest rankings that came out on Thursday and the Blue Jays are ranked #10 as a team. PCM’s Landon Fenton is 4th in the 145 pound weight class and Colby Tool is 4th at 152 pounds. While Knoxville does not have a wrestler in the top ten, the Panthers have been seeing vast improvement up and down the line up and Coach Doug Hatch hopes to see several of his guys in contention for a spot at districts next Saturday. The top two finishers in each weight class qualify for the district next Saturday which takes place at ADM, and the top two teams will qualify for the regional duals this coming Tuesday at a site to be determined.
The Knoxville Wrestling and Bowling Squads will both be in Osceola tonight to battle Clarke. The wrestlers are coming off a 9th place finish at the Centerville Invitational. The Panthers will take on a Clarke Squad who is 6-6 in dual meets this season. Knoxville Coach Doug Hatch tells KNIA/KRLS Sports he feels good about his team knowing that his coaching staff has been keeping an eye on everyone.
Hatch:
“We’ve got Coach Westfall, Coach Ryder, both Spaurs, Cody Ray Smith in there helping and there’s a lot of eyes with my assistant coaches and that helps a ton.”
The Knoxville Wrestling Squad will hit the mats tonight as close to full strength as it has been since early December as Knoxville hosts a South Central Conference Quad against Albia, Chariton, and Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont. It has been a roller coaster season for the Panthers, as they started with two losses to Pella and Nevada, then had to shut down the program for two weeks due to COVID-19 concerns. One other concern for Coach Doug Hatch is the young Panthers and their lack of experience on the mats, but he has been very pleased with their progress and hopes to showcase that talent tonight.
It has been a slow start for the Knoxville Wrestling Squad on and off the mat this season. The young Panthers are currently 0-2 in dual meets and had to pause activities for COVID-19 concerns that wiped out three events on the schedule that would have been valuable experience for Knoxville. Coach Doug Hatch does see progress with his guys. He tells KNIA/KRLS Sports Luke Spaur has made a lot of progress on the mental part of wrestling and points to a match early on that might have gone a different way last year.
Hatch:
“Last year in a really tough match he may have not been able to recover. The points were not going his way, he would score and go out of bounds or the period came to an end and the referee didn’t see it that way, but in the third period he came back and dominated his guy. He’s wrestling way smarter and better than he was last year.”