2023 Greene County High School graduate Kale Petersen finished second among 18 wrestlers at 133 lbs. at the two-day Soldier Salute coed collegiate tournament in Coralville Dec. 29-30. The Iowa Hawkeyes redshirt freshman was up a weight from 125 lbs. where he’s been previously this season.

After a 13-4 major decision victory in the Round of 16 on Sunday vs. Wyoming’s Josh Kyle, the former three-time Iowa high school State Champion, pulled one of the bigger surprises on the men’s side on day one when he came back in the quarterfinals to win by fall in 6:17 over 2024 NCAA Tournament qualifier Max Leete of American University. Leete had a 9-2 record and Petersen trailed 7-0 early, and was still down 9-5 before an escape made it 9-6, then a throw and quick fall put him into Monday’s semifinals. In the semi’s, Petersen met freshman Logan Swenson of South Dakota State and the Hawkeye won 8-6 putting him into the finals vs. Iowa teammate Drake Ayala, the 125 lbs. 2024 NCAA Tournament National runner-up. Ayala, from Ft. Dodge, won by 20-5 technical fall over Petersen, who fell to 5-2 on the season.

The Greene County wrestling program had not one, but two former Rams in the Soldier Salute field. McKinley Robbins, a redshirt freshman at Oregon State U., went 0-2 on Sunday at 149 lbs. Robbins holds numerous Ram program records after going 164-6 in high school with two State Championships and two runner-up finishes.