Phillip Miller hopes a rough season for senior Dustin Calvert can turn into a rewarding postseason.
Calvert and five Polk County teammates will begin competition Friday in the 2A West Regional wrestling tournament at West Lincoln. Wrestlers will weigh in Friday at 4 and begin competition at 5:30 p.m.
Two championship rounds will be held Friday, with championship and consolation rounds beginning at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
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Calvert enters as the fourth seed in the 152-pound weight class. The senior missed much of the season with a leg injury, but returned to action last week and placed third at the Western Highlands Conference tournament.
The top four in each weight class advance to the state 2A tournament, and Miller, Polk County’s head coach, thinks Calvert could be one of those.
“I think Dustin’s got a good shot at making it,” Miller said. “In the past two weeks he has worked as hard as you possibly can work. Hopefully we’ll see the results on Saturday night.”
Miller also has high hopes for the five other regional qualifiers. That includes Triston Watkins, seeded 10th at 106 pounds; Chase Underwood, seeded 12th at 138; Braden Miller, seeded 16th at 170; Devin Panchyshyn, seeded 6th at 220 and Marquise Lipscomb, seeded 12th at heavyweight.
