The ADM wrestling Tigers have a long weeknight road trip this evening to Grinnell for a pair of duals with the host Tigers of Grinnell and Pella.

ADM continues to take it easy in practice this week with no more than two days in between competition since Saturday. The Tigers split a pair of duals at the Perry Sports Pavilion Tuesday night, and after this evening’s duals, have their fifth set of matches in eight days at the Raccoon River Conference meet Saturday morning in Carroll.

Tonight’s duals mark the highly-anticipated returns of ADM’s highest-ranked wrestlers by the predicament.com in junior Zach Johnston and senior Trevor Harsh, both of whom have missed the Tigers’ last three events due to injury.

Johnston is ranked 3rd in Class 2A at 160 pounds, and has lost just once this season, while Harsh, ranked fourth at 138 pounds, is 25-3.

ADM has performed admirably while the two upperclassmen have been out. In particular, sophomore Cole Bennett, juniors Kyle Wilkerson, Hunter Gibson and Nathan Heath, and senior Zach Ostendorf have all carried their share of the load. But as Tigers head coach Justin Schmauss said, the absence of Johnston and Harsh is nonetheless glaring.

“We were able to fill all the spots, but when you lose those two caliber of kids, it’s hard to replace that in any kind of sports whether it’s an individual tournament or a dual. Those guys are some of the best wrestlers in the state, so no matter how good your JV guys or backup guys are, it’s a pretty big hit for the team.”