Chaparral’s Geoffrey Freeman started wrestling three years ago and at first he wasn’t attracted to the sport.

“I got into wrestling just to be good at football,” said Freeman, who was a defensive end on the Wolverines’ football team. “I started when I was a freshman and then I was like `this sport is actually fun.’

“I fell in love with it. I just like the competition, it’s just one versus one. It’s not your team, it’s just you and another guy.”

Freeman, who was third at the state tournament last season at 220 pounds, is Colorado’s top-ranked Class 5A 195 pound wrestler this season, according to the OnTheMat ratings.

He improved his record to 24-3 on Jan. 11 with a pin 37 seconds into the first period over Nathan Sandy in the Jan. 11 dual meet against Legend. Chap won the meet, 51-27, in the completion which saw 11 matches end with pins.

“My season has been going real good,” said Freeman. “I’ve beaten some really good kids. I beat a kid that had been undefeated in two years. I’ve lost three times this year. We went to Kansas and then I lost to the 4A No. 1 kid (Cheyenne Mountain’s Nicco Gagliardi) here. I beat him the week before and then he beat me. It was a hard match.

“It’s been a good season, the team is looking good and I’m having fun too.”

Freeman is nicknamed Maui, which also goes back three years.

“I got that back when I was a freshman,” he explained. “I’ve got the hair and everybody would say there’s Maui. I just said OK.”

Chaparral is fifth among Class 5A teams in the Jan. 13 OnTheMat rankings but Wolverines wrestling coach Alex Joseph claims it will take a little more time before Chap is ready to compete with teams like top-ranked Pomona and No. 2 Ponderosa.

“I don’t know if it’s realistic to compete with them at the state tournament this year,” said Joseph. “It’s all about where kids go to school. They go to schools based on their program. For us to have three state champions, then people would see us if we did that.

“Programs win and it attracts wrestlers. I expect to beat both those teams in the coming years. That’s my goal. This team is about three or four years away. We’re building it up before we can really compete with the Pomonas.”

Joseph believes the foundation is solid and a national schedule will help.

“We have one of the biggest youth programs in the state so we just need more personnel, more guys that can compete at a higher level. The biggest thing is coaching and the strength of your schedule. So we’ve made our schedule as strong as it’s ever been. The reason that’s so important is there are only 9.9 scholarships per team for wrestling and colleges only recruit from specific tournaments. You really have to go to national showcase tournaments.

“We have a lot of good youth wrestlers in Parker. In order for us to attract those kids to come to Chaparral, we need to have a national schedule.”