Raiders ready to send multiple grapplers to state meet

MAXWELL — Collins-Maxwell/Baxter’s wrestling team hasn’t had too tough of a time advancing a single wrestler to the state meet in the past handful of seasons.

The challenge though comes with being able to send multiple grapplers to state.

In his second season at the helm, CMB coach Mike Leslie feels like this year could be different.

Senior Charles Robertson went 24-10 last year and advanced to the Class 1A state meet at 220 pounds.

Two of Robertson’s teammates — senior Logan Mitchell and junior Archer McFadden — won 24 and 27 matches, respectively, last year but came up short of state.

Leslie believes those two veterans in the room have a legitimate chance to join Robertson at Wells Fargo Arena this February.

“They all want to get to that same level. They are all pushing each other in practice and working real hard,” Leslie said.

Robertson was a light 220-pounder last year but will likely wrestle at 195 this season. McFadden is the Raiders’ heavyweight and Mitchell will fall back to 182 after competing at 195 last year.

Sitting in the middle of those guys is senior Dylan Williams at 220.

“Charles, Logan and Dylan all went to basic training this summer and are in much better shape this season,” Leslie said. “That’s why they all could wrestle at lighter weighs.”

Outside of the heavier weights, the Raiders have a lot of unknowns.

Evan Bianchi went 18-19 last year, but Leslie, and the coaching staff hope he can take a step forward this year. He’ll likely hold down a varsity spot at 152 this season.

The Raiders will be open at 106 and 113. Four freshmen and a host of others will help the team fill in the rest of the varsity lineup.

That list includes sophomore Tate Ewing (120), sophomore Frank Sposeto (126), senior Lane Howes (132/138), Noah Rhoades (138/145), senior Lincoln Brown (138), freshman Caleb Fullerton (132), senior Ethan Cozad (145), freshman Austin Good (145/152), sophomore Cody Galbraith (182/195), junior Tristan Scarborough (145) and freshman Andrew Esqueda (145/152).

The only wrestler who finished last season but won’t be able to compete this year is junior Blake Coughenour. He went 18-18 a year ago but tore his ACL late in the football season and will likely miss the entire year.

“We have a pretty fit group in the middle weights,” Leslie said. “The competition alone should bring us a little bit. That will help. There’s a better tempo at practice, too.”

With a few open weights and uncertainty in some others, Leslie is unsure how well the squad will do as a team. Most of his goals are on the individual level.

“I am shooting a little more for individual stuff. We have some holes so it might be tough to compete from a team standpoint,” Leslie said. “We were close to .500 last year in duals. I’d like to see us be at least that good this year.”

The Raiders will move up to 2A for the postseason this year. That could be a good thing, according to Leslie.

“The competition won’t be any easier, but we wrestle a lot of those kind of schools throughout the year so we’ll know more about our competition than we did the last few years against 1A schools,” Leslie said.