Manual’s wrestling team was defeated at home by the rival team Male 17-60 on Wednesday, Feb. 1st on Manual’s senior night during the Annual Keg of Nails Event.
The event ended with four wins from Manual and three from Male. A problem that the Crimsons encountered was the lack of wrestlers, this resulted in six forfeits for Manual.
Chancellor Caldwell (12, MST) pinned Male’s Xavier Hunter to win his match.
“I always feel good beating someone from Male, it was a good match,” Caldwell said.
Connor Ridenour (10, HSU) won points for Manual against Male’s Justin Hoskins.
“I definitely feel like I had a few flaws in there but for the most part I did pretty well,” Ridenour said, ” but I feel like we wrestled harder because it is our rival, and we decided to show out more than usual and put forth our best effort.”
“I think we did good as a team, if you just look at the matches we wrestled without the forfeits, we did pretty well overall,” Caldwell said.
Head wrestling coach Jon Wolfe said, “For the numbers we had we did fine, we won more than we lost.”
As a Senior, Caldwell reflects back on his high-school career.
“It feels like it’s coming to an end the four years, but this is the peak of my career after four years of wrestling I’m finally good,” Caldwell said.
The wrestling team is getting ready for regional’s on Feb. 11 at Male High School.
“We gotta be in the top four of a weight class to be eligible for state, but we have always aimed for that,” Wolfe said.
“Well it should be good at region, I expect to go to state this year, several other kids should place at regions and go on to sate,” Caldwell said, “Hopefully the whole team qualifies for state, I don’t see any reason they wouldn’t.”
“I’m looking forward to regional’s and seeing everyone meet their goals and hopefully have a few more wrestlers come out next year once they see how successful we have been,” Ridenour said.
“These guys here, I’m proud of them,” Wolfe said.
