Following the postponement of what was to have been a home quadrangular on Tuesday for the Greene County High School wrestling team, Coach Zach Beekman’s Rams will open the season later today in the Buchanan County seat town of Independence. It’s the Cliff Keen Independence Invitational starting at 5 p.m. today and continuing at 9 a.m. tomorrow.

It’s a challenging event to say the least, and this will open the season for the Rams. Coach Beekman told Raccoon Valley Radio, “Other than the State Tournament, this is the largest tournament we’ll go to with 32 teams from all over, including teams from Illinois, Wisconsin, and Missouri, in addition to Iowa. And, there are teams from all sizes of schools. It’s a tough tournament to open the season, especially when we had our first scheduled competition cancelled due to weather, so we’re going down there to see what we can do, how we compare to everybody else, and find out what we need to work on.”

The Rams are led by State Champion wrestlers and Division I recruits Kale Petersen and McKinley Robbins. The Dec. 1 Des Moines Register had Petersen ranked number 11 and Robbins 19th among all Iowa high school wresters regardless of weight class or size of school. Petersen is expected to compete at 126 lbs. and Robbins at 138 lbs.