Wildcats attempt to take down CB Classic
Wildcats attend wrestling tournament in Iowa over the weekend
Ethan Valencia stand on the fourth place spot for his bracket, photo courtesy of Scott Townsley
December 20, 2019
This past Friday and Saturday, Millard West traveled to Council Bluffs, along with 20 other teams for the CB Classic. The Wildcats brought six wrestlers to the meet to compete against other schools from Nebraska and Iowa.
For some wrestlers this was their first meet outside of Nebraska, creating some excitement for the team. Millard West came into the meet very confident and ready to take on the other schools.
“I’ve only been wrestling for a few years and whenever there’s a big meet I feel more confident before my matches,” sophomore Charlie Nosal said. “All of us wrestlers were ready for whatever was coming at the CB Classic, we were just looking to place as high as we could.”
On Friday night, the matches started and Millard West stood out. Out of five Wildcats four of them were placed in the gold bracket for the next day. With four wrestlers in the gold bracket that would guarantee the Wildcats a top 16 finish in the meet.
“Friday we wrestled really well, it set us up great for the next day,” junior James Vawter said. “Saturday we were pretty determined to cause a lot of damage in the meet.”
Saturday was the real test, it was the final day of the tournament and Millard West wanted to perform well. After five matches four Wildcat wrestlers placed top 15 for the CB Classic, which helped the whole team move up in placement. Senior Ethan Valencia led the way and placed fourth in his bracket, overall Millard West placed 6th in the meet.
“I loved being able to help my team and raise our placement when I win matches like this,” senior Ethan Valencia said. “The CB Classic is a great meet every year, the past couple years we have done nothing but improve our team and we are very proud to say that.”
The Wildcats have another meet on Saturday, December 21st at Waukee High School. At 8:30 a.m. Millard West will travel to Waukee, NE along with a few other schools for another invitational meet. This will be the varsity teams 7th time wrestling in a meet this year, they have practiced all week and look to maybe bring home first place for the first time this year.
