The Manitou Springs wrestling team looked well-rested when they returned to the mat on Jan. 8 for the Ravens Rumble wrestling tournament at Denver South.
Six Mustangs walked away with medals at an invite that featured a lot of tough competition. The wins certainly indicate a step forward for the wrestlers, but getting them at Denver South indicates that this team might just have some wrestlers than can make some noise over the next month.
“It was definitely what I was hoping for and kind of what I expected,” coach Paul Bonner said. “It’s nice to see a lot of the younger, less experienced guys make some headway.”
Terry Lindh and Bradyn Dowling notched the best overall finishes as they made it to the championship match of their respective brackets.
Lindh took second in the 285-pound bracket. He got there by pinning Pomona’s Maxwell Clifford in the second period. But he couldn’t quite hold on to that momentum and was pinned by Highland Ranch’s Roman Schwab.
Dowling matched that second-place finish as he got to the championship match of the 220-pound bracket and looked impressive with a fall win over Rampart’s Stuart Shafeik in the first period.
Reaching a championship match in the first tournament back from break was exactly the push that they needed as they set their sights on getting to the Feb. 17-19 state tournament at Ball Arena, even if they weren’t necessarily happy with the overall result.
“I wish I had performed better,” Lindh said. “I finally got to wrestle two matches and in my opinion, I didn’t perform very well.”
Grayer Whipkey, Jake Hull, Seth Mitchell and Luke Donegan all reached fifth-place matches at the tournament. Donegan and Whipkey each won, while Mitchell and Hull suffered defeats. But with all of them coming away with medals, it was a very successful day for the Mustangs.
“It was a confidence booster,” Bonner said. “Everyone said they could improve. Everyone was satisfied with the results but if I were to ask everyone, they’d all tell me they could’ve done better.”