History was made for the Manitou Springs girls wrestling team as four girls punched their tickets to the state tournament at Ball Arena.
This is the highest number of girls the Mustangs have sent to the state tournament since girls wrestling became a sanctioned sport in the 2020-21 year.
Abbie Reeves was the only one to come away with a regional championship as she claimed the 145-pound. It’s the second regional championship for Reeves in three years. She advanced to a regional title match last year but fell short.
As Reeves hunts for a state title, a regional championship is a key step along the way.
“The last time I was a regional champion [in 2023], I feel like I didn’t deserve it,” Reeves said. “I felt like I won by accident, and it wasn’t my best season.”
That’s not how she feels this year. Heading into state, she carries a 31-4 record and has consistently been ranked No. 2 in her weight class according to InsideCo Wrestling.
She and Kara Donegan now head to state as three-time qualifiers as Donegan took fourth in the 140-pound bracket. The experience that they have at state and the work they’ve shown it takes to get there is the standard that this team will be operation on for years to come.
“Looking at the stats of those two senior girls when they were freshmen, they had losing records,” coach Paul Bonner said. “Think about all the time they’ve put in since then, I think there was a direct correlation.”
Hannah Rickert took fourth in the 115-pound bracket and Alex Traenkle took third at 120 to round out the Manitou contingent headed to Ball Arena.
Another helpful advantage that Reeves and Donegan bring is the understanding of what it’s going to be like wrestling under the lights on the biggest stage of the year.
This isn’t their first go round and as much as they want to make a run through the state bracket, they’re excited to share the experience with the two newcomers.
“It’s intimidating,” Reeves said. “Especially the first time because of the bright lights in the arena and the crowd. But you can’t let that get to you. It’s just another match; it’s just another tournament and you just have to do your best.”
The Manitou girls will compete in the very first session at Ball Arena. Action begins at Noon as the Class 3A and 2A boys, along with the 4A girls will take to the mats and begin their quests for a state title.
Mustangs gaining confidence as boys basketball playoffs near
Dropping a rivalry game to St. Mary’s was an unacceptable loss for the Manitou Springs boys basketball team. That meant the game against Colorado Springs Christian was a must-win. And the team played with that kind of urgency as it got a 60-46 win, playing maybe its best complete game of the season.
“We just had great intensity,” coach Nick Nunley said. “We had five guys banging, hitting the boards, getting buckets and pass the rock. We were having a great time.”
Perhaps the biggest adjustment Nunley made with the Lions is he dropped his defense back into a 2-3 zone but told freshman Tommy Reed to pressure the ball in the full court.
Reed was so effective in disrupting the Lions that once they had the ball in the front court, their rhythm and timing was off. The Mustangs (12-4 overall, 6-2 Tri-Peaks) created turnovers and then started knocking down shots and generating offense. It was a completely different looking team than the one that fell to St. Mary’s less than a month prior.
“St. Mary’s is not a game we wanted to lose so we had to come back and better and win this one,” guard Cohen Barrett said. “Our confidence is up and we have to keep it up.”
Barrett led the Mustangs with 20 points while Preston Rhodes and Thomas Spraggins each had 15. When Spraggins is hitting his short bunny shots in the lane and Rhodes is knocking down 3-pointers, Manitou is becoming a very solid offensive team.
The Mustangs were sitting at No. 20 in the Class 4A Selection and Seeding Index headed into their Tuesday game against Woodland Park, a game they won 72-34, and are right now firmly in the playoff picture.
We were having a great time. – Coach Nick Nunley
The top 32 teams in the Index will make it to the postseason. To get there, Nunley knows that he’ll need a balance of the Mustangs’ best offensive and defensive efforts that he’s seen this season, and he believes those performances are coming.
“It’s going to come just by these guys continuing to play together,” Nunley said. “Our first couple games, the guys were still trying to figure each other out and I think they’re finally starting to get comfortable with each other.”
The Mustangs close out the regular season with four straight home games, beginning Saturday afternoon as they host Lamar. They’ll see Buena Vista and Ellicott next week and then close out the regular season against Vanguard on Feb. 24.
Manitou girls basketball finds lessons in loss to CSCS
Just looking at the score, Manitou Springs girls basketball’s loss to Colorado Springs Christian could’ve been a crushing blow.
In reality, the Mustangs did some good things in the 57-17 that they feel can help them make their way into the postseason. For starters, the. Lions didn’t completely pull away from the Mustangs (9-7 overall, 6-2 Tri-Peaks) until the second half and without Kate Jorstad and Brooklynn Sheffield for much of the first half, the team showed an incredible amount of grit and fight on the defensive side of the ball.
“This is a young team,” coach Gabby Santos said. “This season has really been about watching them put the pieces together and in that first half against CSCS, they came together in a way I don’t think they were even expecting out of themselves.”
The Lions are the defending Class 3A state champions and are expected to make another run to the title this year. Winning the game was always going to be a tough task, but this Manitou team just never let themselves be overly intimidated.
Madison Anderson and Nolan Barrett each knocked down a 3-pointer and three different players scored at least four points. Again, that may not sound like much but considering that none of those players were Jorstad and Sheffield, the usual offensive leaders, it was a good sign that other players are willing to step up and contribute.
“That really helps us,” Aylin Gomez said. “We know what we’re able to do if we’re not in a spot where we have to lean on them.”
Despite the loss, the Mustangs remain on the bubble in terms of the CHSAA Selection and Seeding Index. The top 32 teams in the metric advance to the postseason and Manitou currently sits at No. 29.
They have four league games remaining in the season and probably need to win at least two to get a genuine shot at making the postseason. In order to get those two wins, they need to see more contributions outside of the regulars. There was a hint of it against the Lions, but it needs to be a regular occurrence over the next two weeks.
“They’re really stepping into contributing in whatever way they can each night,” Santos said. “That’s what we need to be successful here at the end of the season.”
The Mustangs bounced back and got a 49-13 win over Woodland Park on Tuesday. That makes six wins in the last seven games for them as they look toward advancing to the postseason.
Swimmers get vital experience at state meet
Through the craziness that is the Class 3A girls swimming preliminary races, the Manitou Springs girls swim team learned a few things before the day was over.
They learned hard work generates good results, and they learned that for accomplishing the task of getting into a final – even if that meant being the last team getting into the B final – confidence can make all the difference in the world when it comes to what this young Manitou team can do in the pool next year.
“A lot of [talk this offseason] is going to be about teamwork and working hard throughout the season,” coach Whitney Nuci said. “Ultimately, I hope they learned that what I’m trying to get them to do in practice, other teams are doing and are seeing success with it.’
The Mustangs finished with 18 points at the meet, putting them at 24th of 27 teams. Not a great result to go home right away with, but with the majority of the team returning next year, this could be the foundation of what these girls realize they’re capable of when they return to the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center in 2026.
“It was unexpected to make finals,” Story Aldridge said. “For us, it was exciting to have that push and see that our work really paid off.”
The Mustangs made the consolation finals in the 200-yard medley relay along with the 400-freestyle relay. They finished 20th in the medley and 19th in the freestyle.
Aldridge made the consolation final in the 100 breaststroke and her tie of 1 minute, 14.26 seconds put her at 15th place.
[Rhys Parratt] absolutely killed it. – Coach Whitney Nuci
This was a young Manitou team that came into the VMAC with limited state meet experience, but they’ll certainly go home with some positives to draw on for next year.
That includes diving. Rhys Parratt became the first Manitou diver in in 13 years to finish in the top 15 at state. Kimi Tanabe finished fifth at the 2012 4A meet. The Mustangs watched during the day on Tuesday as Parratt scored 351.90 points to finish 15th in the event.
“She absolutely killed it,” Nuci said. “She works hard in the offseason, she works hard during the season and she has a lot of support.”
The Mustangs took a slight step back this year as they scored 41 points at last year’s state meet. But Selah Combs moved to a different state and the Mustangs took almost a brand-new roster to the VMAC. With a solid year of competition now behind them, the girls are going to make it their mission to power this program forward next winter.
