The trip to Salida on Dec. 10 was well worth it for the Manitou Springs wrestling teams. The Mustangs put together solid performances on both sides, getting a total of three first-place finishes at the Rob Mickal Tournament. That led to solid team standings as the boys took sixth out of 17 teams and the girls took third out five teams.
The girls were powered by a pair of first-place finishes as Alex Traenkle claimed the 115-pound title while Abbie Reeves won at 130. Maggie Ganser took second in the 105 bracket and Kara Donegan (135) and Emily Davis (155) each finished third.
“It was a lot of fun,” Traenkle said. “It was good to start the season off strong and watching Abbie wrestle was fun. I’ve been her (practice) partner so it was good to see her succeed.”
Abbie wasn’t the only member of the Reeves family to walk away with gold — her older brother, Westley, took the 190-pound title on the boys side. He pinned each of his two opponents in less than 30 seconds to take the top podium spot with ease.
He’s trying not to get carried away with those results and insists on using each experience as part of the process to improve as the Mustangs get deeper into the season.
“I’m trying to stay humble and not get an ego about it,” Reeves said. “It’s easy to be content because everything is so easy in these matches. You can always think that you’re the best, but that’s not what my mindset is. I want to continue to get better.”
That seems to be the entire team’s mindset after two tournaments. The Mustang have seen a good amount of success already this season, but the important thing to keep improving and not settling for success now. They’d rather achieve success later.
“Last weekend was a big stepping stone for us,” coach Paul Bonner said. “That was good for a lot of kids who had maybe never gotten on a podium or gotten a medal before. It was a good reward for all the hard work.”
For the boys, Connor Crossen took third at 132 and Cam Jacobson took fourth at 144. They head to the Sheridan Invite for another tournament on Saturday, Dec. 17.