The Eagle Grove Eagles wrestling team opened action for the 2023-24 season on Thursday night, as they welcomed in the Forest City Indians and Central Springs Panthers to Eagle Grove Elementary School for a tri-dual.
Eagle Grove opened the night taking on the Top of Iowa West rivals, beginning at 132 lbs with a Cooper Thacker pin to put the Eagles up 6-0. Forest City answered with a Gavin Grunhovd tech fall of Leelan Spencer at 138, before Eagle Grove picked up wins at 144 and 150 with a Connor Christopher decision (10-7) and a Hayden Schafer pin. Forest City got forfeit for Nathan Merideth, followed by a double forfeit at 165, before Jayden Kreitlow pinned Brody Cooper at 175. Forest City got back-to-back wins at 190 and 215 with a Brock Good pin and a Peyton Klein forfeit win, before Jesus Baez won a 3-0 decision at 285 to make the score 24-23 Eagle Grove. A double forfeit at 106 was followed by back-to-back Forest City pins from Deegan Moore at 113 and Andrew Hofman at 120, before Mack Morgan ended the dual with a pin at 126, but Forest City held on for a 35-30 win.
Central Springs would end the evening for the Eagles, beginning with a Connor Christopher fall at 144, followed by a Hayden Schafer fall at 150 to put Eagle Grove up 12-0. Central Springs would get 3 straight wins after that, 2 via forfeit and a Dillon Blickenderfer pin over Jayden Kreitlow at 175 to make it 18-12. Reece Demuth picked up a forfeit at 190 to knot the score, but Cordell Hoeft would pick up a fall for the Panthers to make it 24-18, before Jesus Baez knotted the dual back up at 24-24 with a pin over Josh Young. 106 was a double forfeit, before Dylan Terwilliger picked up a forfeit win at 113. Central Springs then reeled off 4 wins in a row, including a Liam Stockberger upset of Mack Morgan at 126 in an 8-4 decision, and a Jack Pruin pin of Cooper Thacker at 138 to give Central Springs a 45-30 win.
Eagle Grove returns to action on Saturday when they compete at the Gilbert Duals Tournament at Gilbert High School.