He decided to skip the Football season to build his stock up in wrestling...

and that decision has paid off for Bismarck High senior Joe Latham.

That's because he has now verbally committed to compete at the Division One level next season with Northern Iowa.

Latham is the defending State Champion at 160 pounds, but wasn't on a lot of radars for recruiting.

He decided to concentrate on wrestling this Fall and just competed at a National Meet at Northern Iowa, where he won his weight class.

It only made sense for the Panther's to show interest.



"(Scott Knowlen:) They wanted him bad and they came after him hard this week and he verballed them and gave them that committment just yesterday Night.

(Joe Latham:) I just wanted to find a school with a good coaching staff and good competition in the room and somewhere where I could push my levels of wrestling to the highest that I could and preform as well as I could in the NCAA's

"


Latham still has a senior season to prepare for.

Practice begins for Bismarck High on Monday.

Their first dual is the 24th at home against Mandan. watch the video | save this article / add to your favorites list