BaldwinCity.com

A handful of Baldwin High School wrestlers have traveled around the country participating in a variety of meets this summer.

Some of the locations include Oklahoma City, Indianapolis and Fargo, N.D. Although no Bulldogs brought home any All-American status, BHS wrestling coach Kit Harris has enjoyed the effort by his wrestlers.

"It was a good summer for our program," Harris said. "We had a lot of kids compete, attend camps or just stay busy with wrestling as usual."

A quartet of Bulldogs traveled to Fargo to compete in the Cadet Nationals. They were Will Von Bargen, Greg Schiffelbein, Jesse Austin and Keenan Coffey.

None of the four had much success at the tournament, but a couple of matches were won by young Bulldogs at one of the top competitions in the nation.

"We had four kids go compete at Fargo and they did a great job," Harris said. "They went through a tough training session before they left and even trained hard up there. I was really proud of those guys and the work they put in this summer."

Another Bulldog who competed this summer at a tournament was Coltin Thomas. He went to the Schoolboy National Duals in Indianapolis, where he won three matches.

BHS's Alan Callahan also competed for Team Kansas at the Junior National Duals in Oklahoma City this summer.

Several other Bulldogs attended local and area camps this summer. Harris also said some of the wrestlers have been lifting weights or staying conditioned this summer also. As a former wrestler, he knows how much summer training can help an athlete improve.

"If you really get motivated to train during the summer, it can help a lot," Harris said. "It's hard, though, because they have to work, attend other team camps for other sports and they need time just to be a kid during the summer.

"I try to understand all of that, but I want to provide as many opportunities for them as possible," he said. "I hope they take advantage of them each year. We built our program by training during the off season, but now we need to continue to get better if we want to be one of the top teams in the state."