The Manhattan High School Varsity Boys Wrestling team has been hard at work this season going for the repeat in State Championship titles.
“It’s been a lot of learning,” junior Cameron Coonrod said. “There are a lot of new kids on the team this year, not a lot of seniors, so it’s been more of a learning path for everyone. We’re all just trying to get back what we had last year, another title.”
The current State champions have had another successful season so far after their start during the first semester, capped off by their annual tournament in Grand Island, Nebraska.
“It’s a really big tournament,” senior Ben Uher said. “There are a lot of good teams and good competition from Nebraska, and it’s just good for us to get some different competition.”
After a return from a long Winter Break, the boys started off strong at their two-day Dodge City tournament on Jan. 10 and 11, taking home the familiar gold medals.
“The team has been doing good, staying active and doing what we need to do,” Coonrod said. “We struggle in the first couple of days usually, but then we usually find our rhythm in the second day and we can bounce back.”
Not backing down from tough tournaments, the squad went to the Dodge City Tournament, picking up a first place finish and a 100th career win for junior Caeleb Hutchinson. The following week, senior Landon Dobson snagged his 100th career win at the Tournament of Champions in Newton before another team win in Hays on the weekend of Jan. 24.
“We were in Hays this weekend,” Coonrod said. “We had seven guys in the finals and all seven of them came out with the win.”
The guys now prepare for their Centennial League tournament on Feb. 8 at Topeka High, facing off against Emporia, Washburn-Rural and more.
“We just had a pretty long month of January, we’re just now wrapping it up with tournaments at Dodge City, Newton and Hays this past weekend,” Uher said.
For the seniors on the team, this last stretch of their final season is bittersweet.
“It’s a weird feeling, I’ve been doing it for so long, but we are just ready to dial in for the last stretch here and finish the season out strong,” Uher said. “I’m really close with a lot of those guys. We build some good friendships doing that and it’s just a great culture on the team.”
