The break for the Holidays is nearing an end for Greene County High School Winter sports athletes, at least where practice is concerned. Competition begins late next week for the Rams in wrestling, girls’ basketball, and boys’ basketball.

First year head coach Zach Beekman’s wrestlers will be the first of the Rams to return to competition when they wrestle in a Jan. 3 quadrangular at Ogden. In addition to the Rams and host Bulldogs, the Audubon Wheelers and Southeast Valley (Gowrie) Jaguars will be in the field. The Rams will also go to Alleman for a tournament at North Polk on Friday, Jan. 4, so it will be back-go-back multiple team meets to open the January portion of the wrestling schedule.

The basketball teams will both start 2019 on Jan. 4 in Des Moines at Saydel High School for a girl/boy doubleheader in the Heart of Iowa Activities Conference. We’ll have both games on KG98 and streamed on www.raccoonvalleyradio.com. Coach Chris Nelson’s boys’ team has a 4-6 record, while first year head coach Tyler Westhoff’s girls’ squad is 0-9. The Saydel teams have also struggled to get victories with the Eagles 0-10 on the girls’ side, and the Saydel boys have two wins in non-conference play, both over Class 1A programs.