Golden Eagles Wrestling Club hosted and competed in the inaugural Mile High Sand Nationals on August 11, 2018. This new tournament was held at The Island, an indoor sand volleyball arena, in Denver, CO. 

We had 24 Golden Eagles take part in this fun and spirited wrestling tournament and as a club, we did very well. We came up short by 2 pts from winning the team championship. Colorado Bad Boys from Lajunta, CO took 1st place. There were 126 wrestlers from six states; Texas, Wyoming, Iowa, Kansas, New Mexico, and Colorado that participated. 

There were three Golden Eagles competing for Gold. Henry McDoniel was the sole Golden Eagle claiming 1st posting a 4-0 record on the day. Noah Gottberg and Taylor Miess came up short claiming Silver. "I am proud of our wrestlers and team," said, Scott McDoniel; Head Coach. They competed well given this is the first time for the team to compete on sand vs. a traditional wrestling mat. Sand wrestling is an official wrestling style by the United World Wrestling organization and is recognized by USA Wrestling. This was a fun event and one that bridges the seasons between Greco & Freestyle and traditional Folkstyle wrestling. Scoring is similar to Greco & Freestyle but there are no pins/falls in sand wrestling. We had three practices before competing to help prepare our athletes. Next year we will hold a few of these in the sand to give the athletes a little more experience with the surface" said Coach McDoniel. There were some issues with eating sand if wrestlers were not penetrating through their takedowns with their heads up. It was a good learning experience for some of our wrestlers, "laughed, McDoniel. 

Golden Eagle Individual Results