COLORADO SPRINGS – Unexpected expectations are sometimes the ones most worth achieving. The Discovery Canyon girls wrestling team had no idea what to expect when it began its first season of competition this year.
Now well into the regular season, expectations are starting to emerge for a team looking to do something special for its school and for itself.
“I’m super excited for this team,” senior Anna Sukle said. “We’re pretty young, we have three seniors all of which are first-year wrestlers one way or the other and I think in the next few years we’ll be hunting for a state title.”
But that doesn’t mean that championship hardware is out of the question this season. Three wrestlers on the team have impressive win/loss records and are looking to build on that success this weekend at the Colorado Springs Metros tournament.
Mia Hargrove sits at 15-2 in the 105-pound class and Mia Thorne has amassed a 17-4 record at 111. Both are ranked No. 4 in the individual rankings as published by Tim Yount of On the Mat.
Perhaps the wrestler that fans should really keep an eye on is Victoria Guinard. She sits at No. 1 in the 147-pound division and has a 19-0 mark on the season.
She is setting the tone for a team that is improving every day and establishing lofty, but reachable goals for this season.
“The whole team is a very optimistic group,” Guinard said. “We just train with each other to make each other better. They push me to be better as well, especially mentally. They remind me to have a good time and not to worry about anything too much.”
Of all the wins that Guinard has this season, only three have not come by fall. She beat Palmer Ridge’s Aspen Barber at the 2021 Jimmy John’s NCCT Women’s tournament, grabbed another decision win when the team went to a tournament in Dodge City and knocked off Westminster’s Jayden Lange in a 12-10 sudden victory at the Poudre girls tournament.
As the wins keep coming, Guinard and her teammates are really feeling that individual and team success awaits them at next month’s state wrestling tournament at Ball Arena in Denver.
“I want to be state champ this year and I’ve been wanting it for a long time,” Guiard said. “This is going to be my year. For the team, I think we can do very well. We can place top-five, top-six for sure.”
That kind of finish would certainly establish a culture for a new program. Between a close knit group of girls battling together as a family and a high-level of success, Discovery Canyon is looking to become a to-tier program sooner rather than later. But it can’t just happen. The work that has been put in this season needs to be the standard from here on out.
“I just make sure that we’re working as hard as we can in practice,” Sukle said. “We have to control the things we can control. Something that is important is being held to a higher standard in practice, not missing practice and when we’re showing up, giving it all we have.”
The girls have shown up and they’ve given their all. Success has come largely for that reason. As the Thunder look to become a dominant wrestling team in the years to come, this year’s inaugural group will ensure that the message is passed down to future teams.
