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Moneypenny wins 100th career wrestling match at Northern Colorado Christmas Tournament

By: Will Cornelius | The Surveyor | December 23, 2022 | Sports

Last weekend, 77 high school wrestling teams from across Colorado, Wyoming and Kansas descended on the Island Grove Event Center in Greeley for the 2022 Jimmy John’s Northern Colorado Christmas Tournament.

Berthoud High School (BHS) sent both their boys and girls wrestling teams to the tournament. The boys wrestling team finished with 76 team points, putting them in the top third of teams with a 21st-place finish. Meanwhile, the girls wrestling squad scored 15 team points, finishing in the bottom fifth of the teams.

On the boys side, senior Spartan Wil Moneypenny entered the tournament four wins away from 100 career high school wrestling wins. Competing in the 150-lbs weight class, Moneypenny captured two wins on Friday while progressing through the championship bracket. He began Saturday with another win to advance to the semi-finals.

Photo by Will Cornelius – Wil Moneypenny smiles shortly after his 100th career high school wrestling win for the Spartans.

In the semi-finals, he faced nearby Poudre Valley High School rival, Banks Norby. A tense and close-fought match went all three rounds before Norby won 6-4 by decision. Despite the tough loss, Moneypenny bounced back with a win against Fort Collins High School’s Sam McManus in the consolation round.

The win gave Moneypenny his 100th career win in high school wrestling. Family, friends and teammates erupted in applause at Moneypenny’s win. His fans even unfurled a small banner that read ‘100th win! Wil Moneypenny.’ The nonchalant Moneypenny brushed off the milestone as just another match. For him, the real goal is capturing first in February at the state wrestling tournament.

Finishing fourth in the 150-lbs weight division, Moneypenny was the standout of the BHS wrestlers at the tournament. But all the Spartans put on a good showing and have shown significant improvement with each match now.

“You know for a young team, guys did really well. They all fought well, they went a lot deeper than most of them thought,” said BHS boys wrestling coach Josh Galindo towards the end of the tournament. Wrestling in large tournaments helps expose the team to tougher competition and build experience. “The big thing is they were gaining confidence here; they gained a lot of confidence being in a big tournament like this. We got another tournament coming up here soon,” he said.

Photo by Will Cornelius – The Island Grove Event Center in Greeley was packed with wrestlers and fans for the two-day 2022 Jimmy John’s Northern Colorado Christmas Tournament.

Adjustments with wrestlers and weight classes had some Spartans competing out of their weight class. “They wrestled a lot lighter here, than what they should be. So, you know they were giving up 4 pounds to some of these kids and it showed. But you know they settled in and battled. Proud of the guys, tough tournament,” said Galindo.

Evan Torres was another BHS senior who left his mark on the tournament. “Evan, Wil as our seniors they shined today, they shined yesterday,” said Galindo. Torres began the tournament with two commanding wins before losing in the round of 16. He fought back with three tough matches in the consolation bracket, winning two of them by pin and losing the final by decision.

Galindo said he had plenty of kids who showed up and amazed him. “Donovan [Mann] — oh man — that kid, strong, strong kid, he’s starting to pick it up and learning how to use his body.” Junior Donovan Mann competing in the 285-lbs weight class rebounded from an opening loss with three consecutive wins.

At the lighter end of the weight divisions, Galindo had even more praise for his wrestlers. “Once again, our freshmen, Dax [Diffendaffer]— holy mackerel — he even impressed Wil [Moneypenny] a little bit. Jacob [Montoya] too. Jacob is usually our 126-pounder, he covered 132. He gave up a ton of weight to be there and he performed really well, giving up as much weight as he did. I mean our younger guys are starting to get it.”

Galindo said he is still tweaking and adjusting the team but the improvements are showing. Conditioning is one area that was a focus heading into the tournament. “We stepped up our conditioning a lot more. Which we are going to do over the break, so a lot more conditioning again.”

“There are little things that we are starting to clean up, starting to work on. Cleaning up our technique,” Galindo said. “We’ve exposed some of our weaknesses that — hey — we’re going to fix those and use those to our advantage,” he added.

BHS’s girls wrestling squad continued to improve in its inaugural season. Bella Priddy, Brooke Nelsen, Elexia Griffin and Addie Davidson all gained team points for the Spartans in the tournament. Priddy advanced to the round of 16 in the 120-lbs weight class.

Christmas break will give the wrestlers a break from competing, but not training. On Jan. 7, the Spartans will travel to Bennett High School for an invitational wrestling match. They then host University High School (Greeley) on Jan. 12 for a dual meet, before heading to Florence, Colo. for the Mel Smith Invitational on Jan. 13 and 14.

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