City High (8-22 last year)

VS: Cedar Rapids Kennedy

@ Cedar Rapids Kennedy

When: Thursday, December 4, 6:00 pm

Where: Cedar Rapids Kennedy High School

The Rundown:

Coming off of an 8-22 record from last season, the team is looking to improve as they prepare to face off against Cedar Rapids Kennedy in the first meet of the season.

City High has beaten Kennedy for the past two years and with Kennedy’s lineup expected to stay virtually the same, the Little Hawks seem to have the advantage.

With Colton Chalupa ‘15 as the only returning senior, City High has a very young team. With this is mind, Head Coach Cory Connell has one goal: improvement.

“We need to keep building,” Connell said. “We’ll have some juniors that have never wrestled varsity before and some freshman too. We just need to focus on getting better every single day we come in here.”

Returning starters include Chalupa, Daniel Kelly ‘16, Dillon Africa ‘17, Ali Omar ‘16, and headliner Nic Jarvis ‘16. Jarvis leads the team with a 24-19 record from last season and is a hopeful for the state tournament in February.

Many of the wrestlers have been preparing for this season since the early spring and today’s meet will be the team’s first opportunity to see if their hard work pays off.

“They just have to do what we’ve been working on, give it their best,” Connell said. “Get the first match jitters out of the way and wrestle like they know they can.”