Ignacio High School wrestling head coach Cody Haga has preached hard work all season; it paid off for the Bobcats during Saturday’s Dogfights in Dove Creek.
IHS finished first out of 14 teams in the team competition after all eight of its wrestlers placed in the top three for their divisions.
Dove Creek came in second, Farmington third, Norwood fourth and Dolores fifth.
Christian Knoll, Blaine Mickey and Isaac Peña came in first place in the 182-pound, 170-pound and 145-pound divisions, respectively, with spotless 4-0 records.
Ethan Appenzeller (126 pounds), Josh Gallegos (220 pounds) and Miguel Perez (152 pounds) came in second place in their weight classes at 3-1.
Lorenzo Peña and Stocker Robbins took third place in the 138-pound and 106-pound divisions, respectively.
“They all had really tough matches all day,” Haga said. “They showed up ready to wrestle (Saturday). All the boys did.”
Bayfield High School finished with three of its eight wrestlers in the top four of their weight classes.
Colter McMenimen finished in first place in the 138-pound division, going 4-0, and was voted the outstanding wrestler for the lower weights.
Clay Crawford went 3-1 to take third place in the 125-pound weight class.
Taylor Winch came in fourth at 132 pounds by going 3-2 in the tournament.
As for the Wolverines’ wrestlers that didn’t place, Wyatt Freier went 2-2 at 160 pounds, Kayley Hodnett 0-2 at 170 pounds, Gus Roberts 2-1 at 138 pounds, Cash Snooks 2-2 at 145 pounds and Cody Speece 0-3 at 113 pounds.
“We made big steps in the right direction,” BHS head coach Todd McMenimen said. “The fight that I talked about and the attitude that I wasn’t sure that we understood, it really clicked (Saturday).
“Even in our losses we wrestled with the attitude and that fight.”
The Wolverines didn’t place in the top-five, and McMenimen wasn’t positive about their final finish.
The tournament was a round-robin tournament followed by elimination rounds.
Colter McMenimen defeated Lorenzo Peña 8-1 in the semifinals, Crawford was pinned by Ignacio’s Appenzeller, and Cash Snooks lost 12-1 to Isaac Peña.
“He put up as good a fight as anyone we had,” coach McMenimen said. “He wouldn’t let himself get pinned.”
BHS will continue tournament competition Saturday in Moon Valley, Ariz., at the Moon Valley Invitational.
“As young as we are, I feel pretty good with where we’re at right now,” McMenimen said. “The steps we made (Saturday) were huge steps in the right direction.”
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