Return of the Mat Men

Sportswriter, Whitney Butler

Calhoun wrestling has long dominated the record books, cranking out several state champions. But it should come as no surprise to anyone that in recent years we’ve seen a decline in almost every athletic program at various times, at various levels, especially wrestling. Covid and economic hardship definitely play a part in the decline. We are thankfully seeing those effects start to dwindle.

This year the mat men of Calhoun are prepared to put in the work and make their presence known. 

This weekend both High School and Middle School wrestling teams took the mat. CHS Wrestlers traveled Lewis County High School on Friday, December 15^th to compete in the Hardwood Duals. The Hardwood Duals is an annual tournament consisting of a duals style tournament on Friday and returning on Saturday to compete in a bracketed tournament. 

With a few open spots in their weight classes, Calhoun finished the weekend 4^th place as a team, with 2 champions, one 2^nd place finisher, one 3^rd, three 4^th, one 5th and one 6th place finish individually. 

Congratulations to Reese Schoolcraft on a big win over a 4th ranked opponent and Wyatt Nichols on beating a 7th ranked opponent. Also, congratulations to Reese Schoolcraft and Haiden Staton on pinning their way through their respective brackets.

Calhoun Middle School Wrestling traveled to Wirt County High School to compete in the JR LKC Championships. Out of 16 weight classes, Calhoun only has enough wrestlers to fill eight spots. Making them one of the smaller teams competing in the tournament. Out of twelve teams competing, Calhoun Middle finished in eighth place overall with a score of 79 points. 

Four of the 8 wrestlers secured themselves a spot wrestling in the finals. Nic Butler started the day as the underdog, unseeded, and finished in 1^st place over the 2 seed, Ezra Anderson and Keegan Sampson both battled hard in their finals match against their opponents and ended in 2^nd place, and Tucker Sampson finished his day in a hard fought battle for 4^th place. 

JR LKC’s had all twelve coaches vote on Most Outstanding Wrestlers of the tournament. Breaking the weight classes into two groups, lightweight and heavyweight. The lightweight Most Outstanding Wrestler Award went to an athlete from Ravenswood Middle School and the heavyweight Most Outstanding Wrestler was awarded to Calhoun Middle School Wrestler, Nic Butler. We all want to brag on our kids for whatever they are doing, it’s our job, but seeing your child be awarded something that they earned completely on their own is beyond humbling. Congratulations Nic! Your sportsmanship, attitude, drive or whatever they voted on is clearly paying off! 

All the CMHS Mat Men will return to action in the New Year! Congratulations boys for a strong finish this weekend, rest up and get ready to get back in the mat room and back to work next week!