Durango High School boys wrestling star Ryan Dugan left a big void in the Durango wrestling program when he graduated in the spring, and it looks like Durango girls wrestling junior Aleia Fenburg could be the next star Durango wrestler.
After winning at the Western Slope Showdown on Dec. 13, Aleia continued her winning ways at the Warrior Classic in Grand Junction on Saturday by winning the 125-pound bracket. She led a successful Durango girls wrestling team that had four wrestlers place.
“It’s midseason, so what we’re looking for on the competition side right now is, where are we,” Durango girls wrestling head coach Ryan McGrath said. “We’re far enough along that our conditioning, technique and match strategy should be lining up if the goal is to place at state. The Warrior is an excellent place to mix it up with like competition … what you see are your weaknesses and holes.”
Aleia was ranked third in the 125-pound bracket and had a 3-0 win in her first match before a tough 7-5 victory against Lyniah Richardson from Douglas County in the quarterfinals. She then won 8-4 in the semifinals against Chrissa Hawkes from Bear River. It was a Western Slope Showdown rematch in the final, with Aleia facing Ignacio’s Lainee Bradley. Aleia got the job done again, beating Bradley 7-0.
McGrath complimented Aleia on her skills and technique, being on point along, with adjusting during and after matches. McGrath said she’s been very coachable.
“An opponent you’ve beaten is always dangerous,” McGrath said. “They’ve already wrestled with you; they know where you’re strong and where you’re not. That match was close because Lainee is so good. It was an opportunity for Aleia to be a lot more strategic and patient.”
Aleia’s twin sister, Lillian, also had a good tournament and finished third at 140 pounds. She won her first match, 3-0 and then beat Ignacio’s Krysten Neil 8-3 in the quarterfinals. Lillian’s run ended in the semifinals with a 9-0 loss to Grand Junction Central’s Rya Burke. Lillian rebounded to beat Eagle Valley’s Julia Borejszo in the third-place match.
Durango girls wrestling’s Marie Baker also finished third. The five-seed in the 120-pound bracket, Baker won her first two matches by a combined score of 23-2 before losing to the top-seeded wrestler, Harleigh Prater from Grand Junction Central, 3-1 in the semifinals. Baker then won against Falcon’s Zoe Greer in the third-place match.
McGrath knows neither Lillian nor Baker likes to lose, but there can be something gained from the loss at the first practice after the tournaments. They just need to look back at certain situations and learn from them. McGrath thinks Lillian might drop down a weight class.
“It’s a lot more about tuning the skillsets,” McGrath said about Lillian and Baker. “Every year there are a couple of people who rise to the top; we’ve seen that in Lillian and Marie’s (Baker) weight classes. There are girls there who are just really pushing everybody … I’m really pleased with where we’re at.”
Sydney McAllister had one of her best tournaments as a Demon and finished sixth at 105 pounds. McAllister had a tough freshman season last year, and McGrath is proud of her resolve and how much she’s improved this season.
There were plenty of other successful wrestlers from Bayfield High School, Durango High School and Ignacio High School at the Warrior Classic.
The Durango boys had one wrestler place, with Jacob Belt finishing third at 175 pounds.
“We’re in a transition year with a bunch of new kids and a bunch of new kids on varsity,” Durango boys varsity head coach Jason Silva said. “All I keep telling them is focus on scoring points, having fun and being in a good position … and they did it.”
Belt was behind in a lot of his matches, and Silva was proud to see his no-quit attitude paid off. He won his first match 11-3. Belt was down 7-3 when he pinned Andy Weipert from Green River. Belt dominated Mason Fresquez from Grand Junction 18-1 in the quarterfinals before losing to Canon City’s Elias Koonce 18-3.
After losing, Belt didn’t give up and made it to the third-place match, coming from behind once again to beat Palisade’s Eric Snodgrass via pin when Belt was down 9-4.
“The bigger guys do have a different style,” Silva said. “There are a lot more of those power-type throws and moves to where they don’t typically get underneath the guy because they’re bigger … the type of offense we create for Jake (Belt) is a lot different from what we’re doing for Ryder (Martyn) and Cash (Silva).”
Martyn had an off day for the Demons and didn’t place. Silva knew it was important to remind him that success is not a vertical line; it ebbs and flows. Martyn needs to be ready to come back to the drawing board and get better.
Ignacio’s girls wrestling program had three second-place finishers with Bradley, Larissa Espinosa and Madison Egger in their respective weight classes.
Before Bradley lost to Aleia in the finals, she won her opening round matchup, 13-3 and beat Edi Linascum from Grand Junction Central in the quarterfinals in a close matchup. Bradley then beat Green River’s Raygen Bauers 17-1 in the semifinals.
Espinosa won 19-4 in her quarterfinal matchup before winning 3-0 against Dawn Tahy-Sloan from Farmington. Caylee Miller from Bloomfield beat Espinosa in the 235-pound final, 5-0.
Egger finished second in the 100-pound bracket beating her first two opponents by a combined score of 23-3, before pinning Addi Whaley from Soroco. Egger lost 19-3 in the final to Fort Lupton’s Yaida Rodriguez.
On the boys side, for Ignacio, top local wrestlers Aven Bourriague and Lincoln deKay both placed, with Bourriague finishing fifth at 120 pounds and deKay sixth at 165 pounds.
Bourriague lost in the semifinals, but bounced back to win his fifth-place match. deKay was the top seed at 165 pounds and made it to the semifinals before losing a close 5-4 match to Aztec’s Cory Douglas. deKay then lost his fifth-place match.
Bayfield High School girls wrestling’s Violet Christner finished fifth at 100 pounds.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
