By GRACIE LEAVITT
The Progress
The Moapa Valley High School Wrestling Team held fundraiser on Saturday, Oct. 30 that was heavy on the “fun.”
Starting at about 9 am that morning, those MVHS Wrestling fans gathered on the school’s football field for the team’s first annual Cornhole Tournament fundraiser.
Attendees found tables laden with homemade sweets for bake sale. And cornhole equipment was set up on the field ready to play.
Coach Steve Katich and Coach Ryan Anderson decided that a cornhole tournament would be a good fundraiser. “We thought it would be something different than the typical fundraisers we do all the time in our valley,” said Anderson.
The object of Cornhole is to throw 16 ounce beanbag pouches into the hole of a small, raised board from about 30 feet away. With the amount of participants, teams were chosen by the combined first names of the two players. The first team to reach 21 points won.
Members of MVHS Wrestling team helped out at the event, too. Wrestlers Jackson Burt and Jameson “Pirate” Garcia sat at the bake sale area selling the items there. Parents of team members made their own baked goods including pumpkin bread, brownies, kettle corn, sugar cookies, Rice Krispy treats and more.
Tenley Jensen was one of the participants supporting her brothers in wrestling. “It’s been fun, “ she said. “We’ve won one game!”
Kyle Waite was also one of the participants, he was highly involved in wrestling when he attended MVHS. “I wrestled in high school,” he said. “I just want to support the team, I have two kids none of them are wrestling age, but I’m going to encourage them. Kids want to learn discipline and hardwork, this is a great place to do it.”
The winners out of everyone ended with Ammon and Aidee Peacock in first place, Steve and Amber Katich in second, and third place as a multiple team tie.
Anderson said he was happy with the turnout. “Everybody is happy and has a smile on their face,” he said.
Coach Katich talked about what they are raising the money for. “We’ve been planning this for two months,” he said. “We are hoping to use it to fund our travel schedule, they cost anything from 300 to 400 dollars to where we travel almost every week. And we’d like to replace some of our uniforms.”
Both coaches have high hopes for the coming winter sports season. “It looks like we had a lot of interest this year,” Katich said. “It’s been a few years since we’ve been able to compete (as a team). So far we’ve had twenty-two participants including our first female from Moapa Valley High School. We’re hoping to break that stereotype.”
The coaches gave a thank you to those who supported by participating and bringing baked goods.
Though it was their first Wrestling fundraiser of its kind, they hope to continue it and have more people come each year.
