The Mel Smith Invitational in Florence is traditionally one of the season’s toughest wrestling tournaments, and the results certainly showed it to still be the case. The Manitou Springs boys wrestling team did not have the same success it had at Denver South in the first tournament back from winter break.
Six Mustangs placed at South while just one, Terry Lindh, left Florence with a medal. He battled his way to a fourth-place finish in the 285-pound bracket.
Even if it’s not the results that the team as a whole wanted to see, this is the start of several tough tournaments that will lead into regionals early next month.
“It sets the bar and lets them know where they stand with the best kids in the state,” coach Paul Bonner said. “There were matches that were winnable that they lost. So they need to make sure this isn’t the highlight of their season.”
Lindh’s finish came mostly from winning on the consolation side of the bracket. He lost his second-round match to Platte Valley’s Lane Weimer and then rolled through the consolation matches, winning all four with pins.
He battled in the third-place match, but Weld Central’s Kane Fobare came away with a 9-4 decision win.
“Losing in a championship (bracket) match crushes my confidence a bit,” Lindh said. “I have people around me to help me and motivate me to go through the consolation matches and that really helps me.”
Bradyn Dowling won his first-round match before falling and also moving over to the consolation side of the 220-pound bracket. He won three matches in the consolation side but lost to Delta’s Gus Butler. That loss kept him from wrestling for a medal.
The girls team was also in action over the weekend, at the Vista Ridge Alpha Female Tournament. Hannah Hollick-Mitchell got to the semifinals before losing but won the consolation semifinal to advance to the third-place match. There, she pinned Mountain Vista’s Ozioma Ogu to come away with a third-place medal.
“It was really exciting to get to go on the podium,” she said. “I want to go all the way to state and hopefully make it past sixth place.”