Nobody wrestles with a bigger smile on their face than Ignacio High School’s Lorenzo “Woody” Peña.
The Bobcats senior was all smiles Saturday at the final home meet of his high school career. Peña, who comes from a long legacy of great Ignacio wrestlers, capped off his final Butch Melton Invitational with a championship win at 160 pounds to improve his season record to 32-3 overall. He beat Monticello’s Paul DeAnda in a 4-2 decision in the final.
“I love wrestling,” he said. “I’ve been doing it since I was about 5, and I never get over it. This feels good to get first at my hometown meet my senior year. I couldn’t be any happier than that.”
Ignacio had plenty of reason to smile Saturday. A record turnout showed up to the Bobcats’ gymnasium with 18 teams competing in the Butch Melton.
Cedaredge claimed first place as a team with 164.5 points. Aztec finished second with 131 points, and Bayfield came in third with 129 points.
Ignacio finished seventh with 66.5 points with Peña the lone champion. Durango finished in the middle of the pack with 44 points for ninth place.
“It’s always dangerous when Woody smiles,” IHS head coach Jordan Larsen said of his 160-pound star. “It means his blood pressure is up. He doesn’t really get that angry face like he wants to punch somebody. When he smiles, you can tell he’s ready to get after it and wrestle.”
All of the teams in attendance were ready Saturday, as regional tournaments are only two weeks away and state set for Feb. 16-18 at the Pepsi Center in Denver.
It’s the best time of the year, and wrestlers were ready to grind out tough matches in preparation for what’s ahead.
Bayfield led the La Plata County charge with three individual champions and several more placers.
Ryan Nava (35-0) remained unbeaten this year at 145 pounds with five more wins and a 6-2 decision against rival Ethan Appenzeller of Ignacio in the final.
Macoy Michaeli had one of the most thrilling championship matches of the day at 170 pounds. He was in deep trouble and nearly pinned in the first period by Cedaredge’s Brandon O’Hern, but Michaeli quickly reversed position and locked in a pin of his own to win the title.
“He had me in a tight cradle,” Michaeli said. “I had to kick out of it. I flipped right over and stuck him, and I knew I had it sunk in tight.”
Heavyweight Sam Westbrook (41-0) also remained undefeated for the Wolverines. He went down 2-0 early to Mancos’ Casey Orange, but that only served to motivate Westbrook, as he earned a first-period pin in 1 minute, 33 seconds.
Garrett Beebe also had a strong day at 126 pounds. He placed second to Aztec’s Cody Candelaria, who is now 38-1 this year. Beebe improved to 29-9 overall with a 4-1 day.
Jake Sandrey claimed third at 132 pounds for the Wolverines. He won his third-place match 13-2 against Kayden Draper of Monticello. His only loss on the day was to Matthew Broughton of Montezuma-Cortez, the eventual champion of the weight class.
Broughton defeated Ignacio’s Stocker Robbins in the final match. Robbins, who has battled injuries, including a neck injury suffered last week, had a strong performance and lost to Broughton in the match of the day. Robbins went down 7-4 after one period and 8-4 early in the second, but he rallied to tie the match at 8-8 to force sudden victory. He nearly had the win as time expired in the third, and the two boys went back-and-forth looking for a takedown in sudden victory, but it was Broughton who was able to secure the two points for a 10-8 win.
“Stocker missed a few weeks in there, but he never missed a practice and kept grinding,” Larsen said. “His work ethic in the room this year from last year is visibly different. Something clicked, and it’s great to see him come back along with all of our seniors right now around regional time.”
Appenzeller had another great meet with a 4-1 day, and Dalton Mickey placed fifth for the Bobcats. Mickey lost in the second round of the tournament but responded with three consecutive wins and took fifth with a second-period pin of Mancos’ Kaleb Hargraves.
Durango’s top performance came from Kaleb McMunn, who placed third at 152 pounds. He went 4-1 with his only loss coming to Aztec’s Austin Littlefield, the eventual champion of the bracket. He won his third-place match with a 5-4 decision against Jered Hulteen of Cedaredge.
Devon Pound also went 4-1 for the Demons and placed fourth with a 13-0 major decision against Tyler Ramsted of Piedra Vista’s junior varsity team in his final match. Paul Smogacz placed fourth at 106 pounds for DHS after a 3-2 day.
Cameron Jacobs finished sixth at 132 pounds with a 3-2 day, and Jordan Belt was also 3-2 to place sixth at 138 pounds.
Teams will compete in their respective league championships this week before heading to regionals and state.
“We couldn’t ask for better battles two weeks before regionals,” Larsen said. “We haven’t seen a turnout like this with 18 teams at the Butch for awhile, and we’re excited about that and about how we wrestled.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
