CORTEZ – With the high school wrestling season in the rearview mirror, the area’s wrestling future is coming into full view with the youth season in full swing.
Plenty of proud parents, family, and friends took to The Jungle to root on their Montezuma-Cortez Wrestling Club competitors on Feb. 22 for the club’s lone home invitational of the season.
The program boasted over 60 M-CWC wrestlers joining more than 300 athletes from across the Four Corners region in the meet.
It was a joy to see for head coach Casey Spitzer, who joins more than a dozen volunteer coaches and strong board of directors in continuing a club tradition that is over four decades strong.
“Our numbers for the whole tournament grew from last year,” said Spitzer. “Its something that we’re wanting to expand each year.”
While some of the wrestlers have been competing for several months, particularly those involved in the middle school programs, for a significant portion of the M-CWC, Saturday’s action served as an introduction to competitive wrestling for the youth season.
“It’s not about winning or losing, it’s about having the courage and resilience to be out on the mat in the first place,” said Spitzer of his athletes’ courage to compete in front of large crowds.
The girls program continues to take off, as evidenced by the emergence of the Montezuma-Cortez High School program fielding their first ever team this past winter. Over 50 girls took to the mat as part of the tournament, including eight from M-CWC.
The club practices three days as week, and their collaboration with Montezuma-Cortez High School and the school district has been an integral part in developing the program.
“We’ve developed a partnership with the school district that we’re happy with – we’re able to use their facilities free of charge,” said Spitzer, “and that’s helped us toward one of our goals of being a feeder program for high school wrestling in the area.”
Not only has the club leaned on the volunteer support from its coaches, but the high school athletes have stepped up to help, as well. Spitzer recognized many athletes from Mancos, Dove Creek and Dolores, along with M-CHS, who came to provide guidance and help officiate at the M-CWC invitational.
With the season still in its early stages, M-CWC is still accepting new registrants for youths who are interested in trying their hand at the sport. Registration or questions can be directed to cortezwrestlingclub.com or can directed to the M-CWC Facebook page.
The club wants to focus on keeping the club affordable, so it leans on donations and sponsorships to help keep down their registration fees. Their “Boots and Brews” banquet at the Elks Lodge this past January also helps raise funds to defray costs, while also raising money to provide three $2,000 scholarships for local high school wrestlers.
“We want as many kids as possible exposed to the sport,” Spitzer added, “and we want kids of all ages and ability levels to feel welcomed.”
M-CWC continues their season with a tournament in Monticello this upcoming weekend, to be followed by action in Blanding a week later on March 8. Action continues through March, with regional qualifying tournaments leading to the elementary and middle school state championships at the end of March in Denver.
“We’re thankful that we live in a community that supports their local athletes,” said Spitzer, “and we want our kids to develop the love of the sport.”
