Mike Mitchell plans to ratchet up the intensity during this week’s practice sessions. It’s not that he believes the Kimball High wrestling squad performed poorly in the season’s opening meets—quite the contrary.

At the Southeast invitational in Yoder, Wyoming, on Saturday, Lance Winters and Henry Heeg captured tournament titles in their weight classes and three Longhorns finished second in a field of 13 teams. Last Thursday at Morrill, Kimball toppled the hosts before falling to a strong Mitchell team. Still, Winters, Jonathon Withrow and Rowdy Keller won two matches each.

“I’m extremely pleased with the way things started,” Mitchell said. “I asked them to compete hard and be physical and they’ve done both.”

And so now that his young group has shown what they’re capable of after a few weeks of work and two match days, the coach knows he can pick up the pace in the gym this week.

At Southeast High School on Saturday, Winters swept through the 285 field while Heeg took top spot at 170.

“They wrestled pretty well,” the coach pointed out—though he expected as much from his most experienced grapplers.

“I had high expectations for both Lance and Henry,” he added. “They haven’t disappointed me at all.”

On Thursday in the triangular at Morrill, Winters pinned the Lions’ Matt Hessler and Mitchell’s Ben Snocker with alacrity. Heeg won by forfeit in the opener then fell after a back and forth bout with Garrett Sterkel—an opponent with state experience behind him.

“Mitchell has always been good,” Winters said. “We competed well—it was good for everyone to get a feel.”

Withrow took second place in his division at 132 in Yoder. Before that he pinned Morrill’s Woody Unrein and defeated Tony Canseco of Mitchell, 3-2. The big surprise on Thursday was 106-pounder Keller, who took C.J. Sidrow in a drawn out and difficult affair and followed up with another win.

“It was a little rough,” he said of the first contest. He credited practice and conditioning for some timely escapes.

On Saturday he did not fare as well, logging a fifth in his weight class.

“He was disappointed,” Mitchell acknowledged. “He wrestled well on Thursday, but I thought he wrestled well on Saturday, too.” The 106 bracket was loaded with some solid, experienced athletes and Keller entered the event with just two high school matches under his belt.

“Now we see the little things he needs to work on,” the coach said.

Young Damian Rutledge fell to sixth on Saturday after twisting an ankle. In the opener on Thursday the freshman showed tremendous promise, however, forging a brilliant escape and forcing his opponent into a near pin position before finally falling short.

A.J. Spicer revealed some potential, as well. Garrett Ryan took second in his division on Saturday, as did Justin Mohr. Tatum Morgan earned a third in his division of the 120 weight class.

The Longhorns hit the mats again on Saturday as they square off in the Banner County tournament.