There’s a lot of learning going on right now in the new Columbia High multi-purpose fieldhouse, the newfound home of the growing Bruin wrestling team.
“We have a big team; we’ve had bigger, but not recently. A lot of them are new to the sport,” first-year coach Michael Muehlbauer said of his 28-member boys and girls squad, which includes six seniors. “We have a lot of green wrestlers.”
COVID canceled the 2021 winter wrestling season. That, and a large number of first-time high school wrestlers, have Muehlbauer and his coaching staff teaching the basics of the sport right now.
“We’ve been working on just getting them some technique; there’s a lot of learning going on,” Muehlbauer said of the Bruin practices. “Right now, the first two weeks, we are just learning the basics.”
Muehlbauer has been a part of the middle school wrestling program and has worked with most of the athletes on the Bruin team when they were younger. “They’re working hard; they’re coming along,” he said.
Two of the Bruins’ most experienced wrestlers are junior Calvin Andrews and senior Josiah Nelson. Nelson wrestled at the Washington Mat Classic as a 182-pound freshman in 2019. Muehlbauer said Nelson will be wrestling at 195 this season. Of Andrews, Muehlbauer said, “He will be pretty competitive; he’s one to watch.”
Columbia will be competing for spots in the regional tournament Feb. 12, 2022. Top placers at regionals qualify for Mat Classic XXXIII, Feb. 18-19 at the Tacoma Dome.
Columbia finished as high as 16th at the Mat Classic in 2018, when the Bruins had four state placers. Columbia was 39th in 2019 and 20th in 2020.
Columbia opens the season at a jamboree in Goldendale on Dec. 1. The Bruins host a double dual Dec. 16 against Stevenson and Rainier, and head to a large tournament at Highland High in Cowiche, Wash., on Dec. 18.
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