Photo by Marcus Hill
Mustang Terry Lindh, shown at the Jan. 22 Metros tournament, took second at the Tri-Peaks tournament.
The Tri-Peaks wrestling tournament on Saturday, Feb. 5, turned out to be a historic day for the Manitou Springs Mustangs. While each competitor battled through their respective brackets for bragging rights, Hannah Hollick-Mitchell secured two fall victories to give the Mustangs their first Tri-Peaks girls wrestling champion.
“It’s pretty cool,” she said. “I want to do everything first so I can have all those accolades and just be the best.”
That means turning an eye to regionals, where a similar performance would put her in next week’s state tournament.
But there’s nothing wrong with taking a few minutes to appreciate Hollick-Mitchell’s win and think about what it can do for the future of girls wrestling at Manitou.
“She has a great attitude,” coach Paul Bonner said. “I don’t know if she realized at the time that she made history at Manitou. We need to celebrate and make a big deal about it so that future girls can see the potential that’s out there.”
The boys had themselves a good tournament as well. Terry Lindh took second at 220 pounds, dropping a weight class for the tournament. Bradyn Dowling did the same thing and ended up finishing third, although he started the tournament realizing that he had forgotten his shoes, so he had to use his dad’s, which were out of the 1980s.
“It kind of took my mind off it,” Dowling said. “It took my mind off which opponent had which record.
“When I got on the mat, I realized I was fine and took (Salida’s Simon Bertolino) and slammed him as hard as I could. He was out of it.”
Camden Johnson had a solid performance and finished fourth, Luke Donegan added a fifth-place finish and Cole Sinclair and Seth Mitchell finished sixth in their brackets.
Now the team as a whole turns their eyes to regionals as each wrestler looks to qualify for state.
“I feel ready,” Dowling said. “I’ve already wrestled three of my opponents for regionals and the only kid I’ve lost to, I was just going too aggressive.”
The boys will compete at regionals at Sierra High School while the girls head to Discovery Canyon.