Several heartwarming stories come out of the Iowa State Wrestling tournament each year, and one from the Raccoon Valley Radio listening area came from the Panorama Panthers program. Senior Trevor Carey (182) came into the postseason as an unranked wrestler in the 182-pound weight division. He found his way into the state tournament by placing second overall back-to-back weekends at Panorama’s sectional and district tournaments. His initial match at Wells Fargo Arena was among the biggest day one upsets of the Class 1A tournament, defeating previous unbeaten Hunter Connors of Louisa Muscatine by a 13-5 major decision.

After the match, he shared with Raccoon Valley Radio about his motivating factor in making it to the state wrestling tournament. “I lost my uncle the weekend of district my sophomore year; he passed away on the day of districts.” Carey said, “One day we were sitting on the couch, and he would give me speeches all the time when I would get upset and wouldn’t want to do wrestling. He wanted me to make to state; he wanted that to be my goal when you wrestle.”

Carey continued his success in the championship quarterfinal, winning by 17-7 major decision over Akron-Westfield Christian Wolthuizen. He was bounced from the tournament’s championship bracket in the semifinal round, losing by the first-period pinfall to the state runner-up Garet Sims of Iowa Valley. Carey finished the tournament with five total matches, winning three, for fourth place in the Class 1A 182 pound weight class.