The Pepsi Center’s enormous size staggered former Bayfield High School wrestling head coach Herb Stinson the first time he brought a group to Denver for the state tournament in 2000.
He sent his wrestlers down to the group of 10 mats to warm up, and they just stood in the middle and looked up.
“They were shocked,” Stinson said. “I had to go down and tell them: ‘It’s like the old movie ‘Hoosiers’ – this mat’s the same size as the mat we have at home; you only have to wrestle on one of them.’”
Competing in the Colorado High School Activities Association State Wrestling Championships still affects competitors and spectators – more than 30,000 of them last year inside the Denver arena – with that sense of awe.
Fourteen wrestlers from Bayfield High School, Durango High School and Ignacio High School will travel to Denver for the state tournament this year, which will run Thursday through Saturday at the Pepsi Center. Five will wrestle for a shot at a state title for the first time.
They’ll enter the Pepsi Center through back entrances by the light rail tracks and walk through the same tunnels as the Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon and Denver Nuggets’ Kenneth Faried.
“You feel like of high importance when you’re down in the tunnels waiting to go to the mat,” said former IHS wrestler Alex Peña, a 2012 alumnus. “You feel like a professional athlete.”
The tunnels will become their base of operations where they’ll listen to music on headphones, work on moves with teammates on small sections of mat near the floor entrances and, for most of them, cry when their championship dreams end.
None of them, however, thinks about that before it happens.
They’re focused on one match at a time and the four wins that raise their hands as champions.
All 16 competitors in every school-size classification (2A-5A) and weight class will wrestle once Thursday and continue until they lose twice or win the championship.
The schedule is displayed on the Pepsi Center’s world-record largest indoor video board, and wrestlers line up in the tunnels waiting for their opportunity.
Their mothers often work their way to the front row of seats when their sons strap on green and red anklets.
Winners advance to the quarterfinals, then semifinals, then finals.
Losers drop into the consolation bracket, where they can fight their way back to third place by winning out.
A second loss ends their season or, for seniors, their high school career.
Medals are awarded for first through sixth places, and reaching the semifinals guarantees a wrestler a spot on the podium even if they don’t win another match.
Saturday’s championship finals are a special event.
Nearly 17,000 people pack the Pepsi Center for the parade of champions where all of the wrestlers who qualified for the finals walk out to four mats, one for each classification, and individually are introduced.
CHSAA also shows a video tribute to its three- and four-time state champions, an illustrious list which includes Peña.
He’s one of the latest examples of La Plata County’s deep wrestling tradition.
Twenty-seven area wrestlers have won 33 state championships all-time.
Peña leads the pack with three, while Marshall Hahn – a former BHS football and wrestling coach – and Aaron Velasquez have two for BHS, and Ray Dekay – the brother of former IHS wrestling head coach Chris Dekay – and Austin Zufelt both won twice for IHS.
The Bobcats boast the most championships with 13, while DHS follows with 11 and BHS nine.
No DHS wrestler has won a state championship since 2000, while the Bobcats and Wolverines last topped the podium in 2012, compliments of Peña and Velasquez.
The culture of hard work in the area has contributed heavily to the area’s historical success on the mat.
“Southwest Colorado just is a people of extremely hard workers. Everybody has different challenges to face in every town and high school,” said DHS wrestling head coach John Gurule, and an IHS alumnus. “At the end of the day, they use that experience to translate into wrestling. It builds them as a wrestler.”
Success also comes easier with support.
La Plata County sends loads of family and friends to the Pepsi Center every February because of the area’s passion for the sport.
“I’ve always considered it a blue-collar class sport,” Stinson said. “It takes a lot of work and a lot of passion. You’re going to sweat a lot and hurt a lot. It’s the last sport that requires a tremendous amount of discipline. It is a monotonous, driving sport, and it takes a special kind of kid to put in the work.”
The ones who succeed embrace the discipline.
“You’re not relying on another person; you’re not relying on the team as far as winning your individual match. It’s you and your opponent out there. It’s one-on-one competition that really shows the kind of person you are,” Peña said. “It definitely is a character-building sport as well as, you know, you kind of feel like an independence for yourself. You feel like you’re becoming a better person, as you’re disciplining yourself. You see what you can accomplish.”
The sport produces more than solitary suffering, though. It creates a community of competitors who share an understanding that bonds them and their families, too.
“I’ll go to wrestling tournaments or meets today and people I don’t even know will come up and talk to me because they followed me in the paper or throughout my whole high school wrestling career. It’s like a family. It’s like a wrestling family,” said Peña, who narrowly missed becoming just the 17th wrestler all-time to go 4-for-4 in state crowns when he was beat in the championship match his senior season. “All the parents have to go sit all day long through tournaments all the time. They’re going to be there regardless of weather, regardless of how far it is. They’re going to be the same parents here cheering for their kids.
“I’ve met so many great people through wrestling that I’m still friends with today that I met a long time ago when I was in pee-wee wrestling. It’s really an amazing sport.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
The ABCs of wrestling
Wrestling coaches articulate their own language of concepts and moves.
Most of them sound nonsensical to an uninitiated spectator.
Here are some common wrestling terms that will be shouted all over the Pepsi Center in Denver for the state tournament and what they mean to the competitors on the mat:
Bridge: When a wrestler is fighting off a pin attempt from his backside, they push their hips up onto their heads to keep their back off the ground. The goal is to push your arms through and get back to your base.
Build your base: Get to your hands and knees from the ground after being taken down. Other moves can be worked from here.
Cradle: Similar to how one holds a baby. Grab their neck with one arm and wrap your elbow around the leg closest to you, which usually results in a pin if properly performed.
Cross face: Move your arm in front of your opponent’s face to their opposite arm. An attempt to get one’s hip away from an opponent to score and the closest you’ll see to a punch in the sport.
Peterson: A bottom position move to create a scramble when you have hand control. Possible to score five points – a very good sum – if performed correctly.
Stalling: Trying to avoid contact or wrestling as a way to preserve a lead. Referee gives a warning, then points to the opponent.
Tilt: A way to score points without pinning the opponent. Take an opponent down, control their wrist, get a knee in their hip, then drive and roll.
Wizzer: A takedown defensive move where a wrestler hooks his arm under the opponent’s armpit and pulls. That breaks the hold they have on your leg, and the momentum generally flips the opponent into points.
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
