The Garden Plain High School’s wrestling team has had a promising start to its 2025 season completing eight of the total eleven meets before Regionals and State. With only four weeks until Regionals, they are hoping to reach the peak of their season soon. The Garden Plain Owls are coached by Travis Daerr and Travis Nickelson. Daerr has coached for the past three seasons, and had previously been head coach for wrestling from 2000 to 2008.
In total, there are eight competing wrestlers on the team, majority of which are freshmen. Kaiden Fisher stated, “It’s more fun with more boys doing it so at practice there are more people to go against.”
A typical day in practice consists of checking their weight, then warm-ups and practicing drills before doing live wrestling matches against each other to end out practice. Daerr shared, “Their overall conditioning and ability to compete has improved dramatically and most of the guys have drastically improved their knowledge of wrestling moves and their own abilities.”
Garden Plain has reached the podium in several recent meets and duals. Freshman Nate Eck made it to the finals and took second place in the 106 weight class at the recent Halstead meet. At the Hesston wrestling meet, the Owls went home with two medals for Nate Eck in the 106 weight class and Trevor Catlin in the 120 weight class. At the Rose Hill JV meet on December 21, sophomores Kaiden Fisher and Xander Grow both left with medals.
The Owls are led by two seniors, including Devin Rau who is known for his leadership and impressive talent on the wrestling mat. His current record is 11-9 and poses a real threat in the 175 weight class. Rau shared his thoughts about the 2025 season, “This year has been a lot better than last year because I only got to wrestle five matches before getting hurt.” During one of his matches during the 2024 season, he fractured the left side of his pelvis where his hamstring attaches and at another match the same thing happened to the other side of his pelvis. He says having a quick recovery and getting back to the mat has made his senior season great.
The future for Garden Plain and their wrestling team looks promising. Daerr says, “I would love to see more athletes in wrestling, both boys and girls. We currently have a handful of underclassmen and a senior with extensive wrestling experience and several freshmen eager to learn, which looks great for the future of wrestling at GP.” There are 14 starting positions between 106 and 285 for boys, so there is an opportunity for athletes of all sizes to contribute to the varsity team.
