Aplington-Parkersburg alum Cole Spree recently coached the Indian Hills Community College men’s wrestling program to its first team national title. On Saturday, March 8, the Warriors set a national record with 182 team points, the most points scored in an NJCAA national wrestling tournament. The team had two national champions, two runner-ups, and eight top five finishes.
Spree says it was the culmination of a dominant season.
“Our first dual meet was against the number one team in the country at that time,” Spree says. “And we put a pretty good exclamation point on it. So we knew that we were pretty good. But throughout the year, we beat multiple top five, top 10 teams pretty handily. We never really faced adversity, which is kind of weird. That does worry you a little bit. And we had some little hiccups, you know, like our 157 was seeded number one in the country and lost his very first match and had to win seven straight to get third. We had some things like that, but overall just a very dominant performance. But I think it’s a testament to who the kids are that we had in the program. Just a phenomenal group. They were committed.”
Spree arrived in Centerville in 2019 as the program’s first head coach after a stint as the head coach at Ellsworth Community College. Having spearheaded the men’s and women’s programs, he was the head coach of both teams through the 2023-2024 season. The women’s team won four national championships under Spree, and added its fifth consecutive this season.
At the national tournament, Spree was inducted into the NJCAA Wrestling Hall of Fame.
“I think the thing that’s neat is just to know that my peers view me in that way. I don’t work hard for anyone else except for myself. It’s just expectations that I have for myself, but to know that others have noticed just how hard I have worked, and how much junior college and junior college wrestling means to me is neat. I haven’t had a ton of time to kind of reflect on it. I’m getting older, but I don’t feel like I’m that old. And so to kind of get inducted at my age kind of shocked me, but definitely appreciative of it, definitely an honor. I’m proud of it now, but something that I’m sure when I have the opportunity post-career to really reflect, I’ll be even more proud of.”
