Photo by Daniel Mohrmann
The floor of Ball Arena has a way of housing historic moments for high school athletes across the state. Whether a four-time state wrestling champion or a first-time placer, they’ll feel something special that comes with competing on that floor.
History touched the Manitou Springs wrestling team on Feb. 19 as Hannah Hollick-Mitchell became the first girl in school history to stand on the podium during the awards ceremony. She took fourth place in the 215-pound bracket in just the second year that girls wrestling was a sanctioned sport by the Colorado High School Activities Association.
“It’s no state championship,” she said. “But you can’t win them all.”
She said that with a huge smile on her face as she was fully aware what her weekend meant not just for her, but for Manitou Springs girls wrestling as a whole.
She lost the opening match of the tournament but bounced right back on the second day, pinning Eaglecrest’s Echo Tremeear in just 45 seconds to get herself in the win column.
Needing two more wins to officially place in the tournament, she scored two more pins and even took a third to work her way into the third-place match.
That’s where Alamosa’s Isabella Durgan got the better of her, but regardless of the result, Hollick-Mitchell understands that her tournament run will forever live in the Manitou history books.
Terry Lindh was the only boy to qualify for the Mustangs. He had qualified as a sophomore, hoping he would get several years to do something special at state. He missed the tournament in 2021 because of a reduced field, but returned this year.
Lindh notched a win in his first match, getting a 6-3 decision over Strasburg’s Jesse Burt. The one lesson he learned was that he couldn’t afford to be tentative at this stage of the season.
“That guy was pretty good and I was worried a bit going in there,” Lindh said. “He started the aggression in the match and got me in a bad mindset for a second.”
Lindh lost in the quarterfinals, then fell in his first consolation match, ending any hopes of getting to the podium. But as is the case with so many wrestlers who came before him, his journey to the state tournament will provide younger wrestlers motivation to reach the pinnacle event of high school wrestling.