(Greenfield) A new wave of talent will be tasked with carrying on the upward trajectory of Nodaway Valley/O-M wrestling.
Gone is multi-time state place winner Elliot Cooney along with some other key veterans from last year, but the Wolverines and coach Brad Honnold have some youngsters ready to step up. “We’ve got some good, young kids returning. We have high expectations. That’s the thing that we’ve really instilled the last two years, my second year with coach Kolby Baier, is just raising the standard and raising those expectations. I don’t think we expect anything less than we did last year. Come in and compete and improve throughout the season and the ultimate goal is in February with the district tournament and the state tournament.”
Coach Honnold identifies some of the wrestlers that the team will lean on to lead the way. “Key returners would be district qualifier Eli Harris. He’ll probably be at the 120 range for us. Also Bradley Gebbie who was a district qualifier. He’ll probably be at 132. Trent Warner was also a district qualifier at heavy weight and just one match shy of qualifying for state.”
Zackery Gebbie is another returner who can make an impact if he can stay healthy and return to his early season form last year. The freshman class has a lot of promise. “At 106 or 113 we have Keyin Stueve. Those lower weights are often times an opportunity for young kids to step in and make an impact. He had a good camp this summer, so we expect some good things out of him. Slade Gettler is fairly new to the sport, but he’s strong and he’s a go getter, he’s worked hard. Matt Nelson will be in the middle weights. He might be a little undersized for where he’ll wrestle this year, but he has wrestling experience and has put in time. I have my son, Ashton Honnold will be anywhere from 182-220 for us and he’s had a fairly successful youth career.”
A strong offseason has set the the table to have a solid season. “We took 17 kids to a the Iron Sharpens Iron camp in Cedar Falls. Just to have that commitment from those kids to go and work during the offseason was key.” Honnold says, “We’ve done a lot of open mats and some conditioning practices that have been run by volunteers and these kids are getting after it. They are ready to work.”
Coach Honnold says an early season goal is to finish in the top two at the Pride of Iowa Tournament.
Nodaway Valley/O-M coach Brad Honnold:
