It is on to the #3 sports story of the 2022/2023 school year at Knoxville. Everyone knew what a special season it would be for the Knoxville Wrestling Squad with a lot of talent coming back and high goals for several of the individual wrestlers. The Panthers did not disappoint, winning the South Central Conference Tournament title, and sending five to the State Meet, the most since 1998. Wayne Johnston, Luke Spaur, Chaz Graves, Daniel Gorskikh and Trenton Kingery qualified with Spaur finishing 4th overall at 138 pounds. Spaur told KNIA/KRLS Sports after the state meet, he was for the most part relaxed and that helped his tournament run.

Spaur: “I felt great and I wrestled a lot of tough kids and won and was very proud of myself. I had some nerves at the first match, but once that was out of the way I was good.”

Spaur came in as the 2nd overall seed and got to the semi-finals before falling to Tate O’Shea of Keokuk. Spaur defeated Keegan Jenson of Winterset in the consolation semifinals before falling to Tate Slagle of Algona in the consolation finals. Wayne Johnston went 1-2 in the 182 pounds bracket, Chaz Graves at 152 pounds made it to the quarterfinals before falling and then losing in the consolation quarterfinals to end his tournament run at 2-2. Gorskikh also went 2-2 at 160 pounds, and Kingery at 220 pounds ended his state run with an 0-2 record.