The Jefferson Fieldhouse was the site of the 2014-15 Media Day on Tuesday for the Greene County High School wrestling program. A veteran coaching staff led by head coach Mark Sawhill, and assisted by Chris Conner, Eric Challen, and Bill Frederick, should be able to give plenty of individual attention to wrestlers in grades 9-12 as there are only 16 out for the sport. The number is among the lowest in the nearly 50 year history of high school wrestling based in Jefferson.
Leading the way are a pair of two-time state tournament qualifiers in senior Jordan Challen and junior Tommy Bradshaw. Challen qualified at 132 lbs. for the Rams in both 2013 and ’14, while Bradshaw qualified at 145 lbs. in Missouri two seasons ago, then qualified for the Rams last season at 138 lbs. Both Challen and Bradshaw went 1-2 each time they qualified for state tournaments and finished in the top 12 in their respective weight classes.
The Rams will not be hosting a tournament in Jefferson for the first time since the 1970’s. A dual meet tourney was scheduled for Dec. 6 with four teams, but one decided to get out, and another made the decision not to travel a long distance to only wrestle two dual meets. As a result, the Greene County varsity will travel to Grimes on Dec. 6 for the 15-team Dallas Center-Grimes Invitational starting at 10 a.m. Not having a varsity tournament at home leaves the Rams with just three varsity home dates and two are in the first week of the season. Coach Sawhill’s team opens with non-conference teams Ogden and Van Meter at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 2 in the middle school gym in Jefferson. Winterset and Carroll visit the middle school gym in Jefferson on Thursday, Dec. 4 in another non-conference double-dual at 5:30 p.m. The only other home action for the varsity will be with Nevada and Woodward-Granger on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015 at 6 p.m.
Greene County travels north for the wrestling postseason with a Class 2A Sectional tournament in Humboldt on Feb. 7 and a District tournament on Feb. 14 in Webster City. The State tournament is Feb. 19-21 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.