Cherry Creek senior Mitch Finesilver won the Class 5A state wrestling title at 120 pounds last season. Mitch is part of two sets of twin brothers competing for the Bruins.
Courtesy photos by Alan Yamamoto
If there's a name that is synonymous with the
Cherry Creek (Greenwood Village) wrestling program this year, it's Finesilver.
That's because the Finesilver family has two sets of twin brothers - seniors Zach (138 pounds) and Mitch (126) and sophomores Matt (113) and Josh (106) - make up more than 25 percent of the Bruins' roster. And they're a big reason why Cherry Creek is currently ranked fourth in Class 5A by On the Mat rankings and is expected to challenge for the team title at the quickly approaching state tournament.
"They are just incredibly hard-working," Bruins coach Mike Luhring said. "They are probably the four most driven student-athletes I've ever had the pleasure of being around."
Mitch has had the greatest amount of success, capturing the 120-pound state championship last season, edging Adrian Cordova of Coronado (Colorado Springs) 3-0 in the title match, to finish his junior year with a 47-2 record.
"It feels good to come out on top," Mitch said after winning the title. "It feels great."
After a loss in the state quarterfinals last season, Zach rebounded to reach the third-place match at 126 before falling to Payton Tawater of Arvada West 5-2. Matt also qualified for state last year at 113, but failed to place.
Zach also took third at state as a sophomore.
Zach Finesilver, Cherry Creek.
Mitch is on pace to make a run at another title this year, capturing the championship at the highly prestigious Top of the Rockies tournament last weekend. He also won the title at the Arvada West Invitational the week before.
Brother Zach reached the finals in both of those tournaments, but had to settle for second at each. Both also placed at the University of Northern Colorado Tournament before the holiday break. Mitch and Zach also excel off the mat, as both have signed to continue their careers at Duke.
"They're both making great strides toward accomplishing their goal of both being individual state champs," Luhring said of the older twins. "The amount of competition we've seen the last couple of weeks with the Arvada West tournament and the Top of the Rockies has just been fantastic.
"We've seen such high-caliber of kids from Wyoming, Nebraska and New Mexico, that the regional tournament is going to be (manageable). There's going to be good kids there, but the amount of talented wrestlers won't nearly be the same."
Matt also reached the finals at Top of the Rockies, but fell to Legacy's Ryan Deakin 7-0.
"It's great. I love it," Mitch said of having his siblings competing with him in the finals of the Top of the Rockies. "It's always awesome to see your family do well."
Luhring said all the brothers naturally drive one another and that their battles can become heated.
"A lot of times we'll have to separate them in the practice room because they get so competitive and they start hitting that brother switch," Luhring said. "It gets a little harried some times."
