Wiggins’ Ibrahim secures third win
DENVER >> Excellence has become par for the course for the Ibrahim family.
On Saturday night at Ball Arena, in the final hour of the Class 2A state wrestling championships, another stellar athletic career came to a close for the surname that’s become synonymous with athletic success at Wiggins over the past few years.
Senior Laith Ibrahim secured his third straight state title in the 285-pound weight class with a no- doubter over Meeker’s Tanner Musser. Ibrahim, who dominated from the second the match began, was well on his way to a technical fall — when a match ends abruptly due to a 15-point lead — before dispelling the suspense with a pin 52 seconds into the second period.
He ended his career nearly untouchable, falling to just one opponent out of 48 this season. That lone blemish was a 5-4 decision at the hands of Brighton’s Dylan BravoPacker, who won his own state crown on Saturday night in 5A, at the Northern Colorado Christmas Tournament in December.
Just pure dominance.
“I got some tough matches this year, but those tough matches really made me into what I am,” Ibrahim said.
Laith’s triple crown, the first such occurrence in Wiggins wrestling history, came just a few months after his older brother, Mohamed, earned his second consecutive shot put title at the state track and field championships — and set the 2A record, to boot.
The elder Ibrahim, now at Yale, couldn’t be there for Laith’s final rise to the top of the wrestling world thanks to a midterm, but he was there from the moment his career began. He just didn’t know it at the time.
“I first started wrestling my freshman year but really, I first started wrestling when me and Mohamed could walk,” Laith said. “I was always just messing around and then I finally took it seriously as a senior. We always just push each other to be great, pushing each other to a high standard.”
By this point, the standard has become the expectation.