Photo by RVR's Nate Gonner.

Don’t forget, today marks the beginning of the 2019 State Wrestling Tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, and several area wrestlers are competing.

Perry and Adel-DeSoto-Minburn each have three wrestlers taking the mat today, including: freshman Cole Nelson at 106 pounds, junior Jacob Nelson at 132, and senior Kaleb Olejniczak at 138 for Perry; and seniors Andrew Flora at 126 pounds and Nolan Harsh at 182, and junior Kaden Sutton at 220 for ADM. Other Dallas County wrestlers to listen for include: Trevon Wells at 126 pounds, Brayden Broderick at 132, Bain Broderick at 152, and Luke Fistler at 160 for Dallas Center-Grimes; Zane Dodson at 113, Colby Wiederholt at 120, Quinn Corcoran at 145, Bryce Cole at 152, Caleb Swalla at 160, Sam Miller at 170, and Derrin Sesker at 285 for Van Meter-Earlam; and Cody Fischer at 220 and Ty Lawrenson at 285 for Woodward-Granger. Flora is the defending state champion for Class 2A at 113 pounds, while Olejniczak was the runner up last year for Class 3A at 126. Both are wrestling up a weight class this year in the 2A tournament. Fischer is a two-time state runner up at 195 pounds, also wrestling up this year.

Each wrestler will get at least one match today, and if they win they will advance to the winner’s bracket. Those that lose will head to the consolation bracket, where one more loss will end their tournament run. The matches will be held in two sessions today, the first beginning at 1 p.m. and the second at 6. Raccoon Valley Radio will have live coverage through Saturday of all of the 33 area wrestlers, as well as full results from the State Wrestling Tournament.