Niwot wrestling still searching for identity in early-going

While the Niwot boys wrestling team hasn’t found much success yet, there are still plenty of opportunities ahead.

The Cougars currently have only two seniors in Charlie Kidd and Vithal Arya, three juniors and 21 underclassmen. Early struggles are to be expected, and Niwot indeed scuffled on Dec. 3 at the Fort Lupton Invitational, placing last out of the eight teams competing.

Sophomore Ryder Evans was the bright spot for Niwot as he nearly took the 126-pound championship match.

“He was actually up 14-1 and made a mistake,” Matthews said. “Trying to be aggressive and go big, he just got off-balance and got pinned.”

A similar type of downfall occurred for junior Gavin Burrage in the 175-pound championship match. Matthews, however, said he was glad to see his wrestlers taking chances on the mat just a couple of weeks into the season.

“I'd much rather see them wrestling like that early in the year than being timid, so that was encouraging,” he said.

Now in his final high school season, Kidd has made the leap from the 152-pound division to 190. It may take some time for Kidd to make the adjustments, but Matthews believes his senior is in the right place.

“He really got in the weight room and he's strong,” Matthews said. “I think that upper weight suits him better athletically. He beat a state qualifier and then ended up losing to that same state qualifier later in the tournament in the third and fourth-place match.”

While those three have impressed, the Cougars are still searching for some leadership up top, Matthews admitted. Surprisingly, though, it has been the freshmen who’ve taken some charge this year.

“That's (leadership) something that we need to find,” Matthews said. “I don't necessarily know that a pure leader has emerged. I'm happy with some of our freshmen and they're showing some leadership, which you usually don't get from a freshman. They're definitely showing their leadership and encouraging their teammates to keep going. So that's great for the future, but we're still trying to find our leaders.”

Niwot has three meets/duals in four days coming up, which presents an opportunity for the Cougars to continue finding themselves. On Dec. 7, they’ll head north to face a revitalized Timnath High School program that will be hosting its first dual meet in over 60 years. Matthews, of course, would like Niwot to play spoiler.

The Cougars will then welcome Silver Creek High School for a dual meet on Dec. 9 before competing in a tournament at Wheat Ridge High School the following day.

“We're just focusing on the process and trying to build to regionals,” Matthews said. “Wrestling is unlike a lot of other sports in that you can have zero wins going into regionals and win three times in a row and you're going to state as a regional runner-up. It's all about the process and we have to inject a little caffeine into the program.”