Chickasaws advance five

New Hampton/Turkey Valley coach Matt Paulus couldn’t help but laugh when asked about Jacob Reicks after Saturday’s Class 2A sectional meet.
“Nicest guy in the world,” Paulus said of the 195-pound senior who was on the mat for all of 2 minutes and 1 second Saturday, “but I think the most amazing thing about him is that he just can flip a switch. He’s a nice guy until he steps on the mat, and then he flips the switch and just imposes his will on people. He’s a special talent, no doubt about it.”
And although Saturday’s sectional meet came with its usual ups-and-downs, Paulus and his wrestlers have plenty to look forward to this week. The Chickasaws, despite a fourth- place finish in the team standings, qualified five wrestlers for the district meet and also, thanks to a relatively strong dual season, earned a trip to tonight’s regional duals that will be held Tuesday in Cresco.

“I’m like every other wrestling coach in the state,” Paulus said, “in that you always want more [to advance] but I thought we wrestled really well at a lot of weights. We get to keep the guys together for duals and then we’ll focus on seeing what we can do with these five guys. Our hammers, they, for the most part, hammered.”
More on the story may be found in the Feb. 9 Tribune.