To say the result of the 2025 state wrestling tournament was a mixed bag for the Manitou Springs girls might be underselling it.
The program itself soared to new heights when the matches were all said and done, yet an emotional toll had been taken on the two girls going into Ball Arena with the highest of expectations.
Abbie Reeves finished her tournament as the highest-placing Manitou girl of all-time taking second after losing the 145-pound championship match in heartbreaking fashion.
Kara Donegan advanced to the 140-pound semifinals before falling to eventual state champion Vivenne Gitke from Strasburg. Donegan finished fourth in the bracket.
It was the best result that the girls wrestling program has ever seen and could be the foundation for future Manitou wrestlers.
“It’s definitely an honor,” Donegan said. “It’s just weird. The goal wasn’t necessarily to appease anyone, just to have fun and work hard.”
But with success comes future ambition. It might be next year, it might be years down the road, but there will be a time that a girl will walk into the wrestling room, see what Donegan and Reeves and have done and want to either match – or hopefully better – those marks.
“I’ve been talking with middle schoolers and a dad told me that [his daughter] was really inspired by me and Abbie,” Donegan said. “It warmed my heart a little bit.”
They’re trailblazers, whether they realize it or not. – Coach Paul Bonner
A few days removed from the initial result, Reeves and Donegan were able to appreciate the outcome, but even more so, the journey. For Reeves, that meant losing the championship match, which only happened because of a Lillianna Lopez takedown in the final minute of the match.
After the loss, she embraced her brother, Manitou Springs assistant coach Wes Reeves. Like Abbie, Wes advanced to the championship match his senior year and lost. When the initial shock of the loss subsided, he was there for her to coach her through the emotions and reinforce the pride that he and everyone at Manitou felt toward her.
“He said it would suck and it would hurt for a while,” she said. “But he said I shouldn’t feel like I let anyone down. I worked as hard as I could have; I put in all the extra work. He let me know that everything happens for a reason.”
There is no reason that Reeves and Donegan shouldn’t be praised for what they accomplished. As freshmen, they both ended the year with losing records. Fast-forward three years and they’re both sitting in top four spots on the podium.
They were hoping to come away from the state tournament with better finishes, but they’ll both be served well in life by the work, effort and result they earned at state.
And the Manitou Springs girls wrestling program will be better in the future because of it.
“They’re trailblazers, whether they realize it or not,” coach Paul Bonner said. “When you look at all the dedication and hard work they’ve put into the program, at some point they didn’t realize how good they could be. Their success kind of surprised them and those two young ladies have always been humble about their abilities and success.”
And now other wrestlers will have their success to use as a benchmark. That may start next with Alex Traenkle. The junior scored a pair of wins at state but came one win shy of placing in the 120-pound bracket. She’ll return as a senior looking to get on the podium next February. Freshman Hannah Rickert lost her two matches but showed a lot of potential in her state debut. And if Bonner is right in his assessment, she can be a force in this program over the next three years.
Manitou girls basketball will have to fight for a playoff spot
If the Manitou Springs girls basketball is going to solidify itself as a playoff team, the girls are going to have to fight for it in the final week of the season.
Losses to Salida and Lamar have given the Mustangs three losses in the last four games. As of Monday, they sat at No. 30 in the Class 4A CHSAA Selection and Seeding Index. It’s the top 32 that advance into the playoff field.
Although they’re sitting on the edge, there’s no reason to panic quite yet.
“We’re seeing success right now, maybe not in wins, but in the level of basketball we’re playing against teams like Salida and Lamar,” coach Gabby Santos said. “It’s making these girls realize that they’re capable and with that feeling going into these last games, they see it as an opportunity.”
At first glance, the 48-29 loss to Salida and the 43-28 loss to Lamar don’t scream competitive. But the first and fourth quarters of both games were more problematic for the Spartans and Thunder than they were the Mustangs. Starting strong and finishing strong aren’t the problems. The Mustangs (9-9 overall, 6-4 Tri-Peaks) just have moments in the middle 16 minutes of the game where good teams are able to create distance in the score.
We have to play the kind of basketball we know we can play. – Nolan Barrett
But Manitou knows that it has done enough good things that they can solidify themselves as a playoff team in the coming week.
“We’re playing good defense and keeping our opponents at a lower score than they’re used to,” freshman Nolan Barrett said. “We have to keep that up and we have to generate more points on offense.”
Barrett tied for a team-high eight points in the Salida loss, matching the effort of Brooklynn Sheffield. She was limited to two points against Lamar while Kate Jorstad led with nine and Aylin Gomez had eight.
“You saw it in the Salida and Lamar games,” Santos said. “I don’t think either team expected us to come out the way we did. We’re getting to the point where we’re playing three solid quarters, three and a half solid quarters. We can still find that fourth quarter and run with it to be able to fight with these teams.”
The Mustangs sit in the middle of the pack in the Tri-Peaks standings right in the mix with Ellicott and Vanguard, the final two teams they face to close out the regular season. A win against either would go a long way to getting into the playoffs.
But a win won’t just come to them. This is something that the girls will have to go out and fight for if they want to keep playing basketball beyond March 1.
“We have to want it,” Barrett said. “We have to keep fighting for it and if we want to be there, we have to play the kind of basketball we know we can play.”
The Mustangs will honor senior Annika Kuzbek when they host Ellicott on Friday. They close out the regular season on Monday against Vanguard. They’ll then compete in a two-day Tri-Peaks crossover tournament in Florence before the playoff brackets are released next weekend.
Mustangs use lesson from Salida loss to beat Lamar
The Manitou Springs boys basketball team has gone a while since feeling a high level of disappointment coming off the basketball court. That stretch ended with a 62-44 loss at Salida on Feb. 13.
A six-game winning streak came to a screeching halt thanks to an overall poor shooting performance. The Mustangs were 29% from the floor and scored just nine points in the second quarter as the Spartans built a big lead and ran away with the game.
But that loss may have planted a seed for Saturday’s 55-49 win against Lamar. This was a win that, due to several metrics, a lot of people had penciled in as a loss for the Mustangs. But the Salida loss shook the team, and they came into Saturday’s game with a renewed focus, much like they had after a Jan. 10 loss to St. Mary’s.
“They understood that shooting 29% like they did against Salida wasn’t going to get it done,” coach Nick Nunley said. “They took the defensive end of the floor even more seriously than they have been and it showed. Lamar had 17 points against us at halftime.”
The Thunder have shown offensive dominance at certain points of the year, scoring 72 in a win over La Junta and 82 to beat James Irwin.
But scoring against the Mustangs (13-5 overall, 7-3 Tri-Peaks) was a tough task. And what also helped for the Mustangs was a better shooting performance. They were 40% from the field and nearly 39% from 3-point range.
Cohen Barrett scored a team-high 16 points while Preston Rhodes had 15 and Ashur Lavigne had 10. Lavigne also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
This is a win that gave the Mustangs a bit of a bump in the Class 4A Selection and Seeding Index. As of Monday, they sat at 18, comfortably inside the 32-team field that is constructed by the index. And they still have a few games left to potentially work their way into the top 16.
“We can use [the Lamar win] to carry on our momentum,” Rhodes said. “We built some confidence for these last few games coming out of that one and we’re showing that we can really play with anyone.”
The Mustangs close out the regular season with two home games. Ellicott comes to town on Friday and Manitou will honor its five seniors: Jarrin Hall, Lavigne, Jon Polizzi, Rhodes and Thomas Spraggins.
The regular season will come to an end for Manitou on Feb. 24 in a home game against Vanguard. Then begins the first leg of the postseason quest as the Mustangs head to Florence for the Tri-Peaks crossover tournament. Before the playoff brackets get released, there is still work to get done.
“We just have to win the games we’re supposed to win,” Nunley said. “Then maybe we dig deep in those games where people think we’re an underdog and just go from there.”
SPORTS CALENDAR
Friday Feb. 21
Girls basketball: Ellicott at Manitou 5:30 p.m.
Boys basketball: Ellicott at Manitou 7 p.m.
Monday Feb. 24
Girls basketball: Vanguard at Manitou 5:30 p.m.
Boys basketball: Vanguard at Manitou 7 p.m.
Friday Feb. 28
Girls basketball: Tri-Peaks Crossover tournament at Florence High School (Time and Opponent TBA)
Boys basketball: Tri-Peaks Crossover tournament at Florence High School (Time and Opponent TBA)
Friday March 1
Girls basketball: Tri-Peaks Crossover tournament at Florence High School (Time and Opponent TBA)
Boys basketball: Tri-Peaks Crossover tournament at Florence High School (Time and Opponent TBA)
STANDOUT MUSTANGS
Kara Donegan (girls wrestling): Placed fourth at the CHSAA state wrestling tournament to close out her high school career.
Tommy Reed (boys basketball): Hit two clutch free throws late in the game to help Manitou Springs beat Lamar.
Abbie Reeves (girls wrestling): Got the best finish in school history for girls wrestling as she took second at 145 pounds.
