Middle school matmen win title

The Abbotsford/Colby middle school wrestling co-op achieved something on Friday, Feb. 4, that no other team has done before. The co-op took home its first ever conference crown at the Cloverbelt Championships in Cadott.

“I’m not sure this has ever happened before,” middle school head coach Michael Jakel said after the match. “This is also possibly one of the largest, or maybe the largest teams our program has had.” The Abby/Colby wrestling co-op had four wrestlers finish as conference champions, and another six wrestlers recorded runner-up results.

Even more impressive, this year’s squad had 22 wrestlers go out for the sport. Of tat number, 14 wrestlers competed, and all 14 finished inside the top four of their weight classes and age group.

“For many of these kids they had not seen a wrestling match, let alone wrestled a match before this season,” Jakel said. “Some of these guys played basketball and joined the wrestling team late this season. A few have only been around for a couple weeks.”

Matt Jakel, Ayden Michlig, Tristen Smazal and Jesus Reyes won titles. Jaxon Ploeckelman, Ezryn Lieders, Christian Fuentes, Hunter Murphy, Zane Severson and Irvin Aguilera were runner-ups.

In third place was Angel Tzintzun and Josh Sarkkinen, and taking fourth was Aiden Burt and Luis Tzintzun.

“With so many new kids to the sport there has been a lot of ups and downs for these kids, but most importantly they are always there for one another and are creating a special team bond,” Jakel said when the tournament was over.

“That was evident tonight for sure. I could not be more proud of a group of young men. I’m excited for their futures.”