High school wrestling coaches will sometimes be concerned about whether their wrestlers are seeing enough high level competition. Greene County head coach Kirk Davis doesn’t have those concerns, especially when it comes to junior Brent Dennhardt. The Rams’ 165 lbs. wrestler is ranked fourth in Class 2A after finish eighth at the 2023 State Tournament at 145 lbs.

Dennhardt is 24-3 prior to Thursday’s triangular in Jewell vs. South Hamilton and PCM (Monroe). Last Saturday at the Rollin Dyer Invitational in Atlantic, Dennhardt may have had the most difficult run of consecutive opponents in one day that any Ram wrestler has ever had– EVER! He began the day with a technical fall vs. an opponent with a record below the .500 mark, then the competition stiffened considerably. The quarterfinals saw him win by fall again, this time against Iowa’s fifth ranked individual at 165 lbs. in Class 3A. That meant a semifinals match against Nebraska’s number one ranked Class B wrestler, and regulation wasn’t enough to break a 7-7 tie. In sudden victory, the Omaha Scutt Catholic wrestler won 9-7. In the consolation semifinals, Dennhardt met Iowa’s number one ranked individual in 2A from Humboldt, and again the match went to sudden victory in OT, with Dennhardt winning 3-1. His fifth and final match of the day was against Iowa’s number one ranked Class 1A wrestler from Underwood. Tied 5-5 late in the third period, the Underwood wrestler won 7-5 on a late takedown.

Five matches, four in a row against top five ranked individuals, and the last three against a trio of number one ranked individuals. And, if that’s not enough stiff competition, Dnnhardt’s first loss of the season on Dec. 2 was by a 6-5 score to a 2023 Wisconsin State Champion. He also has other victories this season vs. past State place winners and qualifiers, so there’s been no shortage of top-notch competition for Brent Dennhardt.