Anastasia Manchester, Butler girls wrestling’s dominant middleweight, inspiring younger siblings
Anastasia Manchester remembers sitting in the bleachers, cheering on her older brother, Byron, on the wrestling mat.
Her connection was far more than secondary, however, and she wanted to try the sport for herself.
“I liked the competitiveness I saw when watching Byron, and I joined (Butler’s) elementary program the next year,” said Anastasia, now a sophomore on the Golden Tornado varsity girls team.
Her wrestling career began when she was 10 years old, and Anastasia has developed a unique mindset as she prepares to compete.
“I look at my opponents, a lot of them are bigger and stronger than me, and I think, ‘How am I going to win?’“ she said. ”But then I go from wondering how I’m going to do it to just doing it. I put everything I have out there.”
“You’d think she was freaking out because she has a way of convincing herself that she’s an underdog every time,” Butler girls coach Nathan Bottiger said. “But when she steps on that mat, she flips the switch, is all in and gets after it. She’s willing to do whatever it takes to win. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s crazy, but I admire her ability to do that.”
Whatever works ... and Anastasia, a middleweight wrestling at 136 pounds, has used it to go 41-15 in her varsity career, which is still brimming with potential.
Anastasia’s ability and determination have inspired two of her younger siblings, sister Heidi and brother Michael, to follow in her footsteps.
Heidi is a sixth-grader on Butler’s elementary team and Michael a seventh-grader on the junior high team. To scratch their competitive itch, the two have taken on each other at home, prompting Michael to say of Heidi: “She’s a demon.”
Heidi fractured her wrist during recent sparring session between the two. The injury did not keep her from winning two subsequent bouts, though she is now sporting a cast and is not currently on the Tornado’s active roster.
“We’re hoping she is back for the postseason in mid-February,” her mother, Christine, said.
Though a novice on the mat, Heidi has already made quite an impression.
“We don't keep track of (won-loss) records, put the emphasis on getting on the mat and improving,” Heidi’s coach, Paul Roth, said. “But I can tell you this: I have not seen her lose a match, and elementary wrestling is boys and girls together.
“She's very athletic, is very strong and physically imposing, but that's not surprising. She's a Manchester.”
Heidi would’ve joined the elementary program sooner, but “this was the first year that the practice hours allowed it with my work schedule,” Christine said.
A lot of wrestlers new to the sport may be timid and unsure of themselves. Not so with Heidi.
“I go right after them,” she said. “I like throwing other kids down and beating them.”
Michael, who wrestled at the elementary level before taking several years off, has a similar mentality.
“I like body-slamming people,” he said. “Watching (Anastasia) wrestle, it’s definitely what got me back into it.”
Had she grown up in a later time, it seems Christine would be on the mat herself.
“I’ve always been a very competitive person,” she said. “My dad never let me compete in organized sports because he said there were too many boys on the teams and didn’t want me to get hurt. But I loved playing football in the backyard as a kid.”
Anastasia helps her younger sister by “showing me moves to get out of certain holds,” said Heidi, who has a calmer approach to competitions.
“She is such a competitor, but treats it like a job, just goes out and does her thing,” Roth said. “I've seen kids throw up in a garbage can before a match, that's how nervous they are. But it's like Heidi is oblivious to the stress.”
Wrestling remains on Heidi’s mind, long before and after matches and practices.
“She’s always showing off her wrestling moves in the kitchen,” Christine said. “Coach Roth thinks that’s great, but I said: ‘Not when I’m carrying a pot of boiling noodles!’”
Michael Manchester said he is thinking about focusing on track and field in high school. That would be the same path followed by Byron, a 2021 graduate who holds Butler’s school record in the 110-meter hurdles at 14.82 seconds.
Whatever sport he settles on, Michael is sure to tackle it head on.
After all, he’s a Manchester.
