Superior's Milender awarded wrestling scholarship
CHUCK BANDEL | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 6 months AGO
Superior High School senior Decker Milender signs a wrestling scholarship offer last week to attend Colorado State University-Pueblo. He is shown with his dad, Richard, and his mom, Kami. (Chuck Bandel/VP-MI)
Decker Milender, Superior High School’s 2023 Montana state wrestling champion, is eager to get back to work.
That’s no surprise to his teammates and coaches as the hard work he put in during his time at Superior was rewarded this past week with a wrestling scholarship to Colorado State University-Pueblo.
Milender capped off a successful high school wrestling career this winter with a state title at 126 pounds. He and teammate Chandon Vulles, who also was a state champion in the Heavyweight classification, were key factors in the Bobcats’ Class C Team Championship as well.
“It is a really small campus and I got to meet a lot of my new teammates,” Milender said during a signing ceremony in the school’s gym. “I really liked them and the way they are. It’s a good way for me to wrap up a good year and go in and try to do something good there also.”
Milender said he will major in construction management while at CSU-Pueblo, a satellite school of the main university in Fort Collins. Pueblo is a city of 111,000 people in the south-central part of Colorado.
He said the coaching staff at the school also impressed him, although he will miss Superior wrestling coach Charlie Crabb and his Bobcats teammates.
“It’s good to get the recruiting process over with and get it set in stone so I can show up and get to work,” Milender said.
Crabb, who is also a coach for the Bobcats football and track teams, said Milender’s work ethic will serve him and CSU-Pueblo well.
“He’s a good kid and a good worker,” Crabb said recently. “He was a big part in our success this year. He has a good work ethic”.
Those sentiments were echoed by Principal Allan Labbe, who told the gathering of Milender’s classmates, friends and relatives “Decker is a good example of what hard work can do”.
Milender has also been an outstanding member of the Bobcats’ track and football programs, excelling in the pole vault and sprints in track and wide receiver for the football team.
“I’ll miss everyone but I’ll be back in the Spring and Winter to wrestle with the guys,” he said.
