Austin Close and Carson Williams

As always, 2020 has been unpredictable for Marshalltown High School sports teams. The Bobcats are just coming off of an enforced two-week absence due to a heightened level of COVID-19 cases at the school. On Monday, school activities returned and the Marshalltown athletics teams were allowed to practice. It was the first practice for Bobcat wrestling — just five days before their season begins Saturday at the Williamsburg Duals.

Head coach Mike Mann said it’s been a preseason unlike any he’s had as a coach.

“Sometimes you just gotta roll with the punches,” Mann said. “We gave the kids some workouts they could do on their own, and then we started practice this week and just went right after it, only having five days. Today will be day three, and we’re going hard right away.”

The Bobcats were on their third practice Wednesday at MHS, with one group led by assistant Kyle Miller working in the weight room and one in the wrestling room led by Mann.

In the room led by Miller was the Bobcats’ ranked duo of Austin Close and Carson Williams. Williams is ranked sixth in Class 3A at 220 pounds, one higher than he finished the 2019 season.

After finishing as a first-team all-state football player, Williams got four weeks off instead of the usual two weeks he gets before going into wrestling thanks to the move to virtual-only learning.

This, along with a difficult exit in districts last season, has given Williams more drive heading into his last year of wrestling.

“It took a while for me to let it soak in,” Williams said. “This year I’m anxious to get back on the mat.”

The other ranked member of the team returning is Austin Close, who missed the 2019 season due to injury but made state in 2018. Coming in at No. 9 in the rankings at 195 pounds, Close said he was surprised to see his name on the ranking list from The Predicament.

It’s going to take Close a little while to get up to speed, he said, after not wrestling since 2018 and having two fewer weeks to get reps in before the season gets underway.

He said it’ll help to wrestle against non-teammates.

“Without those first two weeks, it’s going to be a rough first couple of meets,” Close said. “I haven’t had a good match in such a long time, it’ll be nice to finally get on there.”

There are four other returners from Marshalltown’s 2019/20 district performances besides Williams. At 120, Luke Hageman is coming off of a fifth-place finish and 6.0 team points. Saul Pantoja returns at 126 after a 17-5 record in 2019/20 and a fourth-place finish in his weight class at districts. Sergio Zaragoza is back for his senior season at 182 points, and 195-pounder Julian Gomez returns after placing fifth at his eight in districts.

Apart from that, there are returners like Tristian King, and there is some uncertainty at weights too, Mann said. 23 wrestlers have gone out and the team is thin at some weight levels early on.

With the season starting so soon, he hasn’t been able to get a full picture of what his squad is capable of. That probably won’t be known right away, either, with the team still having to get up to speed and some wrestlers progressing quicker than others.

But come this weekend, despite everything going on, Mann said he’s going to be excited to see his team out on the mats.

“I think they’re ready to go too,” Mann said. “We’ve already had a meet or so canceled, junior varsity has been canceled for two weeks. It’ll be interesting to see who is mentally tough, who has done some of their own prep work and who is mentally and physically ready. It’s exciting to see who’s gonna bring something to the table.”