Humboldt High School senior Cole Mathes added another accolade to his farewell tour with his selection as Allen County Area Athlete of the Month.
Hot off standing on the state wrestling tournament medal podium in Hays, Mathes turns his attention to contributing to the baseball team.
The nomination “means a great deal to me. I’m glad I could have an impact on the community,” Mathes said. “I didn’t come to Humboldt until my freshman year. I was always an Iola guy. A lot of the Humboldt community backed everything. They supported it all.”
Wrapping up the month of February, Mathes (42-5) took third place in the 190-pound weight class. Mathes opened the tournament with a 4-2 decision over Wakeeney senior Kaiden Bliss (24-10) but fell to eventual state champion Sam Watkins (42-1) a senior from Hoxie via 17-0 tech-fall.
“Obviously, you want to win it all, but that Sammy Watkins kid is pretty dang good,” Mathes said. “I got what I got, and it took a lot of time to fight back. I just laid it all on the line and didn’t give up.”
Mathes bounced back with a 15-0 tech-fall of Douglass senior Gavin Bowman (19-23), then advanced on a second-period pin of Caney Valley sophomore Rayden Martin (31-10). Mathes edged Kingman-Norman senior Collin Schreiner (38-8) in a 4-2 decision then defeated Effingham-Atchison County Community sophomore Elijah Webb (30-12) in a 5-3 decision for third place.
Although wrapping up his senior year, Mathes’ wrestling career is not done. He was recently selected as a participant in the statewide wrestling Shriner’s Bowl, which serves as the Kansas wrestling equivalent of an all-star game.
Mathes said he intends to keep up with the HHS wrestling program.
“They’ve grown wrestling. They’ve started to love it. I hope the sport continues to grow and the community keeps on giving support,” Mathes said.
After high school, Mathes is on a football scholarship to attend Tabor College in Hillsboro.
