As the winter sports season comes to a close, the Greeley West Spartans wrestling team is heading to state. A total of nine athletes placed at regionals and seven of them qualified for to state. State is being held at Ball Arena in Denver starting Thursday night and they’re excited about their prospects. 

Spartans coach JJ Behrens has high hopes for state this year. “I just want our guys to compete. Our motto this whole season has been to just go out there and score as many points as you can and whatever the outcome is the outcome,” Behrens said.

Behrens is optimistic about the team’s performance at state. “I think every guy has put themselves in a position to be successful at state. Obviously the competition is tough, but as I said before, I just want my boys to score as many points as they can. If we keep that in mind good things are going to happen.”

As the new school has been being built and simultaneously the old is being torn down, the school has had to adapt. The wrestling team has had to adapt majorly as they do not have a wrestling room. Instead, they have practiced in the middle of the commons each day.

Behrens commented, “We didn’t have a wrestling room this year. Rolling mats every day in the commons kind of gets monotonous. But our wrestlers grabbed the bull by the horns and they did it without complaining. We had one goal in mind, and that was to perform at the end of the season.”

Senior grappler Ethan Sincair has high expectations and hopes for state. “First and foremost our goal is to place as many guys as possible,” Sinclair said. “We have a couple of seniors going who are hopefully looking to place and some guys who are going for the first time. We are really looking for a good experience.” 

Senior Hunter Clark is ready to work hard for the title. “No matter win or lose, we are going out there and giving it our all, we have high hopes for placing but we are ready to have fun and kick some butt,” Clark said. 

Sinclair placed second at regionals and is hoping to place Top 6 at state and is hoping to get on the podium for his senior year. Clark is hoping for the same thing while giving it his all and hopefully getting on that podium. The team has had its fair share of challenges with athletes being out for grades or injuries. This season they have hardly wrestled with a whole team due to those factors.

“We have gotten the team to where all of our guys are dedicated and disciplined  whether it’s on or off the mat. We are doing a damn good job, we are looking to continue to focus on the grind,”  Sinclair said. 

Students competing at State for Greeley West:

Julian Chavez
William Roybal
Hunter Clark
Ethan Sinclair
Alex Somer
Ricardo Castillo
David Lopez