Preparations continue for the Greene County Rams to open the high school wrestling season this Friday in Adel vs. ADM and Gilbert. Coach Zach Beekman’s team is coming off a 23-6 dual meet season in 2019-20 and filling most of the 14 weight classes was one of the keys to all those wins. Each forfeit a team collects is worth six team points.

The coach told Raccoon Valley Radio it’s likely the 2020-21 team will have more than one open weight. “One thing it does if we’re giving up six, 12, or 18 points because of forfeits is make us work just a little bit harder to make up for those forfeits.” Other teams often have open weights as well, so in today’s wrestling environment it’s not common to have 14 matches in a dual meet.

A number of letter winners return from last year’s team, but not everyone eligible to return did so. COVID-19 concerns have kept one or more of last season’s top wrestlers away from the mat.