The 2025-2026 Jag wrestling kicked off their new season at Panora participating in a quad with the host school Panorama Panthers, Coon Rapids-Bayard Crusaders, and Twin Lakes Conference foe Manson Northwest Cougars. The young Jags showed their youth as half of the wrestlers in the Varsity line up stepped on the mat in their first ever High school competition. The squad opened the night with Manson NW dropping the dual 54-30, in the second round the Crusaders of CR-B beat the Jags 66-16 and in the final dual of the night, the Jags lost a nail biter to Panora 43-34. 

“Many of our new freshman in the line up just got overpowered by experience in strength. Newcomers Chris Andrews at 144, Drake Nitch at 165, and Brock Norine @ 175 are wrestling at tough weight classes competing against experienced upperclassmen. Also, Eli Rude stepped in the Varsity lineup when Varsity member Josiah Hefley was unable to participate at 120.” 

“Our guys started strong against the Cougars jumping out to an early lead but couldn’t sustain the momentum as the Cougars had too much experience at the top of the lineup. CR-B had strong upperclassmen in their lineup as they were very physical in our matches. We were in the dual up until the last match until we got caught in the third period on our back. It may have been a different story if we could have had 150 pounder Colin Johnson wrestle but he tweaked his ribs earlier in the night, so we had to forfeit the match.”

Freshman 106 Kasen Loeffler started his High School career going 3-0 for the night and Sophomore 132 Keelan Wellman went 3-0. Sophomore 126 Wyatt Blair finished 2-1, sophomore 157 Colton Haug, freshman 165 Drake Nitch, Junior 215 Kyle Eastman, and newcomer sophomore Heavyweight Korbin Spangler finished 1-2. Freshman 120 Eli Rude, freshman 144 Chris Andrews, freshman 175 Brock Norine finished 0-3. In JV action, 126 Evan Kuhn finished 1-1 and sophomore 157 Blaise Echeverria lost a couple of hard fought matches and freshman Heavyweight Shelton Devries dropped a match. 

The Jags have to bounce back for the Gilbert Duals on Saturday. 

Gilbert Duals

On Saturday, December 6th, in a short turn around, the Jags traveled to Gilbert to participate in the Gilbert Duals. The young Jags appeared to be a bit more comfortable on the mat going 1-3 on the day losing to Gilbert 48-32, Iowa Falls-Alden 54-18, beating Southeast Polk JV 55-18, and narrowly losing to Johnston JV 42-35. Kasen Loeffler continues to shine going 4-0 as well as sophomore 132 Keelan Wellman; both wrestlers are 7-0 for the season. Senior 150 Colin Johnson bounced back from Thursday night also going 4-0. Sophomore 126 Wyatt Blair in the featured match up of the day lost a tough match to his 2nd ranked Iowa Falls opponent 9-4, going 3-1 for the day. Freshman 120 Josiah Hefley got his first taste of Varsity action going 2-2 as well as sophomore 157 Colton Haug and Junior 215 Kyle Eastman. Freshmen 165 Drake Nitch and 175 Brock Norine both picked up their first Varsity wins in exciting matches both coming from behind in high scoring matches. Freshman 144 Chris Andrews continues to battle at 144, while freshman Eli Rude stepped into the Varsity lineup gathering a couple forfeit wins.