Of those four state qualifiers, three were seniors (Logan Baccam, Brian Trowbridge and Decker Mann) but one sophomore returns to the program for his junior season in Zach Bitker.

Along with the state experience Bitker brings to the squad this year, fellow junior Jordan Anderson has been ranked in the preseason top-10 as a Class 3A heavyweight by IAWrestle.com, showing that MHS wrestling is on the track to make some noise in the upcoming season.

Bobcat head coach Mike Mann isn’t quite ready to crown anyone on the team as a title contender, but he said there is some excitement in the locker room heading into the team’s first dual against Des Moines Roosevelt tonight.

“I think the guys that did well last year are still trying to get grips with it and where they are at and what that implies,” he said. “We are still trying to put a lineup together, there are always different kind of situations that come up so it’s not totally solidified yet on what the lineup is and it will probably even change on Saturday from the first dual.”

Zach Bitker

Bitker has put in the work to remain a threat in the 126-pound division, and Mann said he’s seen that work so far in the early practices.

“Hopefully he is going to take what he accomplished last year and build on that for this year,” Mann said of the returning state qualifier.

Anderson was a win away from reaching the state tournament himself in the heavyweight division, and in the past year Mann said he’s bulked up from around 260 pounds to 280.

“Anderson is definitely jacked up, he’s been doing a little rehab and it’s a little tough for him because he is the only heavyweight we have in the room after we had five last year,” Mann said. “He is working out with the coaches and that’s not always the same as working out with some other heavyweight kids.”

Other than Bitker and Anderson, there are multiple returners from a season ago that experienced quite a lot of success. Like Anderson, Bennett Hageman was a win away from qualifying for state at 106 pounds. Hageman has gained some mass from his sophomore to his junior campaign, however, putting him in a similar class to Bitker.

“It’s kind of tough, they are both at the same weight so we are working through some of that right now,” Mann said. “We have John Loney who went to districts, Carson Williams who went to districts, Jay Drummer, Colton Grimm, Saul Pantoja is back, those guys are all going to fit in there. We are kind of bunched up now trying to fill in all the weights, we will just have to see how it all shakes out.”

Nearly all of the athletes were involved in some kind of sport in the fall, and Mann said that coupled with their work in the offseason has his guys ready to push matches the distance even early on in the season.

“They’ve been working out this summer, that’s been good, and most of the kids played either football or cross country,” Mann said. “We’ve been running them hard for sprints and conditioning, I would really be surprised if we don’t out-condition our opponents. I’m hoping that’s going to come true, we will just have to wait and see.”

Marshalltown will get lots of opportunity to wrestle in front of the home crowd early in the season, as all of its home duals take place before the Christmas break.

“It’ll be good up here early, three home dual meets and we have senior night before Christmas. That doesn’t usually happen but there were a couple of schedule changes that were beyond my control,” Mann said. “We are traveling to Fort Dodge and Mason City in late January and early February so it’s kind of heavy-loaded to start out with.”

When the Bobcats hit the mat for the first time against Des Moines Roosevelt tonight in the Roundhouse, with varsity matches starting around 7:30 p.m., Mann said he mainly wants to see his guys go out and wrestle with grit.

“I really want to see some aggressiveness and some heart and no matter what the score is I am fighting until the end,” he said. “Also sometimes you have to see if kids will step up when they are being challenged. Maybe things aren’t going the way that they would hope in a match, but are they going to keep fighting or are they going to turn away?”

Even more than the physical side, Mann said he wants to see how well his Bobcats handle the mental side of the match.

“You can feel it sometimes when you can break your opponent and that’s really what you try to do in wrestling,” he said. “Let’s say the score is even and you get an escape and takedown, then the guy knows he’s out of the match and you see him be deflated. If I can see that out of our guys, trying to break people and get them deflated, that’s another key that you will be successful this year.”