Glenwood looking to winter sports

As with the changing of the seasons, our focus moves to winter sports at GCHS. Basketball players and wrestlers are in full swing at 6 a.m. to prepare for another competitive season in the Hawkeye 10. The girls’ basketball team opened their season prior to Thanksgiving break with a convincing win over Class 4A school Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson. Coach Portrey has three seniors leading this young group to the top half of the conference. Injuries have already plagued this team, but on the positive side, it will give the underclassmen a chance to show off their hard work for the Ram fans. The Wrestling team is hoping that experience pays off for them this year. Although they may have been young last year, Coach Dyer was able to take five wrestlers to state in Class 3A. Creston will again be a contender for the Conference title, but the Rams will be my choice for conference champion this year. Their first meet of the year will be at Carroll Kuemper in a double dual with a strong team from BCIGOA (Battle-Creek/Ida Grove/Odebolt-Arthur) on Dec. 4. The boy’s basketball team opened their season at Thomas Jefferson on Dec. 2. Coach Schulte will be starting his third year as the head coach and is hoping to continue to raise the bar for the boy’s basketball program. The conference title will be a tough challenge with Harlan and Atlantic being the early season favorites. Although they may be the favorites, you can expect some exciting basketball from a hungry group of boys. They are looking for the chance to improve on last years 12-10 record which was the best since 1960. This years boys swimming team has one familiar face, Tim Foster, to go along with five new freshmen: Connor Houser, Raleigh Spahn, Riley Townsend, Blake Beier and Lucas Bird. They have also been practicing hard to prepare for the upcoming season. They begin their season Thursday, Dec. 4 and would love to have you come out and support them at their meets. Glenwood has a Coop Agreement with Lewis Central but you can find their schedule on the same site as the other schedules at: www.highschoolsports.net or go to the school web page and click on the Activities/Athletics Calendar to find a game to attend. All programs will be looking forward to the move next school year, as we will be in our new state of the art high school. The new high school will allow teams to avoid the 6:00 A.M. practices and have the opportunity to host tournament games/matches in volleyball, wrestling and basketball. The gym will be the only one in the state of Iowa showcasing a scoreboard and video screen with the capabilities of: live video, video clips and pictures similar to the Qwest Center in Omaha. The gym capacities of 1,800 people will double the size currently being used for games. What does this size of gym actually mean? Hosting the Conference Wrestling tournament is one advantage that Glenwood will finally be able to enjoy. Along with the conference tournament, I hope to begin hosting our own wrestling invitational in mid-January that all of the wrestling community can be proud of. With the location of the new school, the current high school will be utilized for the overflow of teams and create opportunities for more optimal gym times and space for practices. Volleyball will have three practice courts which can be converted into tennis courts for those wet/cold spring practices. Look for more information when the date comes closer to moving into our new community high school.