Manhattan High boys wrestling opened their season with a 47-25 win in a dual against Great Bend on Thursday and sixth place in the Gardner-Edgerton Invitational on Saturday, while the girls fell in their first competition to Great Bend 18-54.

“I’m really pleased with how things are going,” head coach Shawn Bammes said. “Last Thursday at Great Bend was probably one of the most exciting matches I’ve ever coached, between boys and girls. It was a lot of fun, so much so we about got a bench warning because the boys were up close to the edge of the mat cheering on the girls so much. So it was a great atmosphere and it was a lot of fun to be part of.”

At Great Bend, Manhattan boys held the lead after most of the matches and pulled away at the end to win by 22 points. The team wrestled several new varsity starters, including freshman Jason Lucas and Marcus Gordils, Logan Logerman, Landon Dobson and senior David Sosanya.

“We [have] some good young kids,” Bammes said. “We had a few younger kids that went in and battled, had some tough matches, but they battled hard and went out there and fought and on the boys side and then the girls side.”

They took six pins during the dual from #106 Lucus, #113 Gordils, #152 senior Tucker Brunner, #160 sophomore Isaac Sinks, #195 junior Jaxon Vikander and #285 Sosanya. 

“I think we did a really good job of capitalizing on the other team’s mistakes and getting into it and just wrestling smart,” Sinks said. “We didn’t make very many dumb mistakes, which is pretty common for the first match of the year. We also did a really good job at motivating each other, which was a big thing for momentum. Just one match to the next we were cheering for our teammates being really positive, which really helped.”

The girls faced tough competition against Great Bend for their first matchup of the season and of MHS history, this being the first all-girls MHS team. They got three pins: senior #115 Bailey Wright #120 Mia Minus and  #155 Naaly Banda. 

The boys team traveled to Gardner Edgerton for the first full meet of the season this year on Saturday while the girls wrestled at the Riley County Dual Tournament. They took eighth as a team and had six wrestlers place. Gordills, senior Jantzen Borge, senior Blaisen Bammes and senior Talique Houston placed sixth. Senior Easton Taylor took fifth and Sosanya took fourth. 

The teams at Gardner were some of the best teams from Kansas and some outside of the state, meaning some wrestlers used to taking first finished below their usual standing. 

“You’re talking losing to returning State champs from Oklahoma, returning State champs from Iowa, from Texas,” Bammes said. “So, we took some losses but they were not what we consider bad losses. They were good quality opponents [that]  will hopefully make us better in the long run.”

Next week, both the boys and girls teams will compete in a dual in Bonner Springs on Thursday, and on Saturday MHS boys will host their annual dual meet while the girls travel to Onega. 

Manhattan High boys wrestling opened their season with a 47-25 win in a dual against Great Bend on Thursday and sixth place in the Gardner-Edgerton Invitational on Saturday, while the girls fell in their first competition to Great Bend 18-54.

“I’m really pleased with how things are going,” head coach Shawn Bammes said. “Last Thursday at Great Bend was probably one of the most exciting matches I’ve ever coached, between boys and girls. It was a lot of fun, so much so we almost got a bench warning because the boys were up close to the edge of the mat cheering on the girls so much. So it was a great atmosphere and it was a lot of fun to be part of.”

At Great Bend, Manhattan boys held the lead after most of the matches and pulled away at the end to win by 22 points. The team wrestled several new varsity starters, including freshmen Jason Lucas, Logan Lagerman and Landon Dobson; junior Marcus Gordils; and senior David Sosanya.

“We [have] some good young kids,” Bammes said. “We had a few younger kids that went in and battled, had some tough matches, but they battled hard and went out there and fought on the boys side and then the girls side.”

They took six pins during the dual from #106 Lucus, #113 Gordils, #152 senior Tucker Brunner, #160 sophomore Isaac Sinks, #195 junior Jaxon Vikander and #285 Sosanya. 

“I think we did a really good job of capitalizing on the other team’s mistakes and getting into it and just wrestling smart,” Sinks said. “We didn’t make very many dumb mistakes, which is pretty common for the first match of the year. We also did a really good job at motivating each other, which was a big thing for momentum. Just one match to the next we were cheering for our teammates being really positive, which really helped.”

The girls faced tough competition against Great Bend for their first matchup of the season and of MHS history, this being the first all-girls MHS team. They got three pins: senior #115 Bailey Wright #120 Mia Minus and  #155 Naaly Banda. 

The boys team traveled to Gardner Edgerton for the first full meet of the season this year on Saturday while the girls wrestled at the Riley County Dual Tournament. They took eighth as a team and six senior wrestlers placed. Gordills, Jantzen Borge, Blaisen Bammes and Talique Houston placed sixth, Easton Taylor took fifth and Sosanya took fourth.

The teams at Gardner were some of the best teams from Kansas and some outside of the state, meaning some wrestlers used to taking first finishes below their usual standing. 

“You’re talking about losing to returning State champs from Oklahoma, returning State champs from Iowa, from Texas,” Bammes said. “So, we took some losses but they were not what we consider bad losses. They were good quality opponents [that]  will hopefully make us better in the long run.”

Next week, both the boys and girls teams will compete in a dual in Bonner Springs on Thursday, and on Saturday MHS boys will host their annual dual meet while the girls travel to Onega.