The long awaited debut of girls wrestling at Knoxville will come to fruition today as the Panthers will compete in their first ever meet under the Knoxville banner in Eldon at the Cardinal Meet. The last few seasons… Knoxville has been in a sharing agreement with Pella and after last season, many of the girls wanted to start a program. Coach Doug Hatch tells KNIA/KRLS Sports, the schedule is tough, but he likes it that way to give him a barometer of where his wrestlers are at.

Hatch: “Our schedule is tough, it’s a lot of bigger schools. We duel with Dallas Center-Grimes and Pella, they’re both top notch programs so we’ll see where we’re at after those meets. We need tough matches for some of our girls who look to be successful and we need those matches for our younger girls to see where they are, so it’s a good thing all around.”

Tonight’s meet starts at 4:30 the Panthers will then wrestle at Nevada this Saturday in their first Saturday meet.