Photo by Will Cornelius
Sophomore Ava Vigil during a duel against Loveland High School on Dec. 13.

By Will Cornelius
The Surveyor

Yelling and screaming, Berthoud High School’s varsity girls wrestling team cheered on sophomore Ava Vigil in the final bout during a Dec. 13 dual against Loveland High School.

Wrestling in the 110-lbs weight class, Vigil faced Loveland freshman Abby Herrera in a back-and-forth match that went all three rounds. Late in the final round Berthoud coaches and wrestlers were out of their seats shouting in excitement as it looked like Vigil might be able to win by pinfall. But Herrera managed to hold out for the win by decision.

Even though Loveland handily won the duel, it was clear that this Spartan wrestling team is only getting better with each passing day. “I feel like we’ve improved a lot, I mean not just having a really good coach, but also being closer as a team has helped a lot,” said returning senior Bella Priddy about the change in team culture this season. New Head Wrestling Coach, Jim Sanchez, has laid down a foundation that the team is quickly building upon. “He knows what he’s doing,” said Priddy about Sanchez.

Week by week the improvement is noticeable, Priddy stated. “It’s changed a lot. Even the new girls—it’s their first year—they’ve gotten at least a couple wins against some girls in their second or third year.” She said that even though they might not expect to win every bout, match, dual or tournament, “we’re going to go out there and fight our hardest and have fun.”

Last weekend the team competed in the Northern Colorado Christmas Tournament in Greeley where they finished 35th out of 62 teams, a substantial improvement from last year’s 47th place finish among 54 teams. Sophomore Lexie Griffin won all three of her matches on the first day before a medical forfeit forced her out of the quarterfinals.

The girls will head to Denver South High School on Jan. 6 for the Raven Rumble tournament.