The 2024-2025 Manitou Springs High School wrestling season is about to begin. The first official day of practice will be held on Nov. 18, with the first boys dual at Sand Creek High School and the girls having their first scrimmage at Vista Ridge on Nov. 30. The team’s coaching staff this year is being led by Paul Bonner, an art teacher at MSHS, and the team is also being coached by three former wrestlers from Manitou: Wes Reeves from the class of 2023, Emmett Wolfe from the class of 2021 and Jacob McCarley from the class of 2019. Two of the three assistant coaches wrestled at the collegiate level.
Having former athletes who know the system and the process can help develop newer athletes while also helping them build up an experienced wrestler.
As far as coaching goes this year, Bonner is very excited to have three former wrestlers from Manitou come back. The coaching staff this year brings something a little different and unique though. “Two of those young men wrestled in college last year,” Bonner said. “I think that’s really a huge factor, and I think that is gonna just help us out having an exciting year.”
With the help of coaches at the next level, the experience they bring can help shine a new lens for upcoming wrestlers and returners.
Having multiple coaches can also help relieve some of the pressure of repeatedly showing a drill or managing a larger group of athletes. This allows for groups of people to be broken down into smaller groups to work together.
This year the team has two predominant senior captains Abbigail Reeves (12) and Kara Donegan (12). These returning wrestlers are state qualifiers and are highly decorated in their weight classes.
Reeves is not only excited about the potential of the new coaches but is ready to see how they can help her achieve her main goal this season. “I’m going for state champion,” Reeves said. “I just want to leave it all out on the mat, training harder than I ever have.” With the help of her brother, who is now on staff, and years of experience behind her, there is nothing to lose.
The team last year did take a hit on senior wrestlers. “We lost a lot of our really good seniors last year,” Reeves said. Although the team might have lost seniors, Reeves is excited about the future of the team. “This year, there’s a ton of new freshmen and a ton of people that are just so eager to learn wrestling for the first time,” Reeves said.
Donegan is also very excited to have this new young group of wrestlers. “I’m going to be a senior and it’s our turn to pass on what we’ve learned,” Donegan said. “We want to foster that great environment that we’ve always been a part of.” Both the girls and boys teams are seeing lots of new faces which excites both Reeves and Donegan.
The future of the team is very important to both of these captains, but having personal goals is on Donegan’s head. “I don’t want any regrets. I’ll work hard to get to state again and hopefully go further than I have in the past, and just lay it all out on the mat,” Donegan said.
With captains that are ready to lead by example and coaches that can break things down to the fundamentals, MSHS wrestling is looking very promising this season and years to follow. “It’s not a sport that a lot of people are familiar with, you don’t see it on prime time television or anything like that,” Bonner said. “It’s the fastest growing female sport in the country, so there’s a lot of new opportunities. I hope some people consider going out for the sport and I think it’ll change people’s lives.”
