Ben Metzger is an athletic Conifer High School (CHS) senior who has played football since middle school but has taken on the wrestling spotlight. “I love both the sports, but I love wrestling. I think I definitely like wrestling more than football,” Metzger said.
As it turns out, he hasn’t been wrestling for very long, starting only as a freshman in high school, a late start considering his accomplishments—taking 100 wins, making all state wrestling, and finishing 4th in state—and the long-length careers of most other wrestlers. Ben was introduced to the sport by Joshua Martinez, one of the school security guards. “Josh told me that I should, so I came in on one of the practices, and I kind of hated it for 2 weeks, but I stuck with it and after the first like… 3 months I really started falling in love with it,” Metzger said.
Ben had an interesting start to wrestling and had quite the story to tell about his first-ever wrestling tournament. “We went down to Pueblo Central because we had a tournament down there, and there I wrestled up to their heavyweight, which was also brand new,” Metzger said. “At that time, I was wrestling 225’s [lbs]…and I lost that match. But the next day I wrestled a first-ranked wrestler, and the first time going on the mat and going against one of those high-echelon wrestlers was different from anything I’ve ever experienced. It really just kind of taught me what that looks like.”
Ben has changed as a wrestler since he began in his freshman year, though. “I would say I grew a lot over the last 3 years because that first match I was a brand new wrestler, and now, going to the tournament, I’m a first seed,” Metzger said. “First seed gets to pick the last seed of the match first, for the most part. Being able to swap roles and being in the first seed is super nice.”
In the last four years, Ben has gone from the newest person on the team to the first seed wrestler. He garnered 100 wins, a huge accomplishment in the CHS community, with posters showcasing his accomplishments and people around the school recognizing how good of a wrestler he is. While many wins were forfeit matches, Ben Metzger has gone far with the Conifer wrestling team.
Interested in wrestling, Ben wants to continue it after high school. “I’m looking at colleges, I’ve been talking to coaches and stuff like that,” Metzger said. “Yeah, sports is probably what I’m going to do.”
