Not all improvement shows up in the stat sheets. While wins and pins may not be piling up very fast, Matt Coufal knows his young Malcolm wrestling squad is learning and growing.
The Malcolm boys rounded out the first semester with a short trip to Crete to compete in a triangular with the Cardinals and Raymond Central in which the coaches saw plenty of improvement.
“I was talking to the Crete coach at the end of the night,” Coufal said. “He said to me, ‘your kids are fighters.’ It meant a lot to hear that.”
In a dual the Clippers lost 71-12, Austin Sykes fought and fought until he was unable to withstand Crete’s Wyatt Clarke in the first round of the 120-pound match.
“I hope our kids are seeing progress,” Coufal said. “Austin was just one or two moves away from extending that match. They just need to keep battling and learning from these matches.”
Malcolm’s lone win against Crete came in the 113-pound match when Cody Barton pinned Liam Clarke in the third period.
Raymond Central bested the Clippers 63-16 as Cooper Vetick and Bricen Wilkie earned Malcolm’s only mat wins. Vetick had a 37-second pin over Brody Barr in the 126-pound match before Wilkie picked up an 11-2 decision over Phillip Karpov at 157 pounds.
“Our grapplers are juts now starting to learn how to really practice and get better,” Coufal said. “There’s so much they have to learn. But, it’s starting to click.”
Malcolm will travel to Johnson County Central on Friday, Dec. 29, for a triangular with the Thunderbirds and Lincoln Christian.
