Kimball wrestling program makes progress

The future of the Kimball High Wrestling program is looking brighter and coach Wade Brashear is optimistic about the direction the program is going. I asked him to comment on the past season and where the program is headed.

“As the season comes to a close, there was excellent progress made by the team. Even though we only finished with one state qualifier, the future for Kimball wrestling looks bright. We had no seniors on the team this year, so we will be returning all of our wrestlers. I look forward to adding several freshmen to the team next year, some with a good amount of experience. With a mixed group of upper classmen and new freshmen, we look to build a solid practice room that exhibits the signs of a quality wrestling program. This spring and summer we will be attending several wrestling camps and tournaments, some individual and some team activities. Overall, I am pleased with the progress the team is showing. We will keep grinding, and continue to improve the high school wrestling program here in Kimball,” he said.

Damian Rutledge, a junior this year, was the lone state qualifier at 220 pounds, quite a feat considering this was his first year in the sport. He wound up with a record of 19-7 and scored 95 team points.

Colt Lewis, also a junior this season, had the top win-loss record with 28 wins and 14 losses while wrestling at 138 pounds. He also led the team in points scored with 116. Rowdy Keller, a junior wrestling at 113 pounds wound up 22-10 scoring 103.5 team points. Garrett Ryan, a junior at 120 had a record of 19-12 scoring 69.5 points. Logan Stahla, in his freshman year, wrestling at 126-132, went 18-6 and scored 66 points. Justin Mohr, a junior who also wrestled 126-132, was 16-7 with 65 points. Ruger Lewis, a freshman at 145, was 14-8 with 53 points. Eric Escajeda, a freshman heavyweight, scored 40 points in a very tough weight class for a freshman. Javier Figueroa, a junior at 152 was 4-3 with 25 points. Anthony Scott, a freshman at 106 was 3-2 scoring 14 points, and Kyle Spicer, a freshman at 145, who battled injuries, wound up 2-1 with 6 team points.

With a good number of seniors back next year for leadership, and with the experience they gained this past season, no wonder coach Brashear is looking forward to getting back on the mats in 2014-15.