Both Manitou Springs wrestling teams came out of the Colorado Springs Metros tournaments with hardware as they head to the final stretch of the regular season.
Grayer Whipkey had one of his best tournament performances of the year as he battled to a seventh-place finish in the 120-pound bracket. He lost his first match in the championship round but rattled off three straight fall victories in the consolation bracket.
Whipkey’s run came to an end at the hands of Pine Creek’s Axel Hildenbrandt. But he rebounded to beat Vista Ridge’s Gabriel Manore to take seventh.
Terry Lindh was hoping for a bit more success than he saw as he was ousted in the fourth round of the 285-pound consolation bracket.
The Metros tournament has been a staple of wrestling in Colorado Springs and the team felt energized to be back at Doherty High School; last year’s tournament was called off because of COVID-19.
The girls also came away with some notable hardware as well. This was the first time that the girls had been included at Metros — last season was the first official year of sanctioned girls wrestling, but the tournament wasn’t held.
Abby Reeves advanced to the semifinals of the 127-pound bracket before losing to eventual champion Sarah Savidge of Doherty. She rebounded with a win in the consolation semis before falling to Discovery Canyon’s Hermione Zeisler in the third-place match.
Hannah Hollick-Mitchell wanted to build on her sixth-place finish at Vista Ridge from a few weeks ago and put together an overall solid performance. She won two of three matches in the round-robin bracket to finish second.
It turned out to be one of the most successful weekends for both teams, but perhaps more historic for the girls.
Next up for both teams is the Tri-Peaks league tournament in Buena Vista on Saturday, Feb. 5.