Official Winter sports practices begin on Monday, November 13 around Iowa, including for the Greene County Rams. The Rams field wrestling and basketball teams in the Winter months for boys, and those who want to swim go to Boone through an athletic sharing agreement.

Chris Nelson, a Jefferson-Scranton High School graduate, enters year number two heading the Greene County boys’ basketball program. The Rams went 14-8 last season and finished second in the Heart of Iowa Activities Conference, which had nine teams in it in 2016-17. There are eight HOIAC schools this season and the Rams return a number of players with varsity experience. That list includes junior Trey Hinote, a first team all-conference performer last season, Wade Adcock, a senior who was on the second all-conference team as a junior, and junior Lance Hughes, an honorable mention all-conference choice a season ago. In addition, senior Joe Towers transferred from Paton-Churdan, where he twice had all-conference recognition in the Rolling Hills Activities Conference. Other Rams returning that lettered last season are seniors Jordan Patterson, Ben Bravard, and Ben Wilkins.

The Greene County wrestling team graduated just two seniors from the 2016-17 team, so quite a bit of experience returns, and the numbers are expected to be up a bit. Two seasons ago the Rams never put more than seven varsity wrestlers on the mat for a meet. Last season, they were able to fill most of the 14 weight classes, and Head Coach Mark Sawhill is expecting to do so again. The Rams placed fourth in the HOIAC last season in both dual meets and in the conference tournament. Coach Sawhill could have as many as 12 letter winners back from last season.