Bayfield High School boys wrestling fans couldn’t have asked for a better La Plata County Tri as the Wolverines went 2-0 on Thursday night against Durango and Ignacio.
After traveling up to the Front Range and down into New Mexico so far this season, the Wolverines hosted the La Plata Country Tri in front of their home fans.
Bayfield boys head coach Adam Mars’ group wasn’t the only winner as the Durango girls went 2-0 to continue to build positive momentum with state less than a month away.
“The boys came out and brought their A-game today,” Mars said. “They wrestled hard. In a couple of matches, they kind of got into a bad position, kept fighting through and came out on top. That’s all ask for is to keep going hard. They wrestled tough, and I was very pleased with their effort today.
Bayfield’s boys wrestling squad beat Ignacio, 40-30, and beat Durango, 45-18. Durango was without three of its top wrestlers, Ryder Martyn, Jacob Belt, Cash Silva, who were up in Denver to compete in the Top of the Rockies tournament.
Against Ignacio, Bayfield’s Connor Martindale beat Joshua Kerrigan at 126 pounds, 9-1. Mason Valencia pinned Stephen Romero at 138 pounds for six points for the Wolverines and Bayfield’s Daemon Christner pinned Norman Hackett at 150 pounds. Noah Westrbook pinned his Ignacio counterpart at 175 pounds, Moise Grognard, in less than a minute.
Mars was proud of how Martindale handled a tough opponent in Kerrigan. He stuck with his game plan, got a takedown and two neutral starts resulted in two more takedowns for Martindale. He’s one of the reasons Mars is optimistic about his squad’s chances at regionals and state.
Bayfield’s Diego Cuddie started things off against Durango with a great 13-11 win over Durango’s Blaze Aguilar at 113 pounds. The freshman’s victory was even more impressive because he moved up from 106 pounds to face Aguilar.
“He’s a really explosive and athletic wrestler,” Mars said about Cuddie. “He keeps good position and does well. I’m really looking forward to having him in the future.”
Bayfield’s Lyle Blouin pinned Durango’s Wesley Megorden at 120 pounds. Martindale also pinned Durango’s Isiah Aguilar at 126 pounds. Bayfield’s Max Johnson pinned Durango’s Ghram Webb at 132 pounds. Valencia pinned Durango’s Sheridan Morris at 138 pounds, and Christner pinned Durango’s Dylan Begay at 150 pounds.
The Durango boys went 1-1, bouncing back from their Bayfield loss to beat Ignacio, 34-27.
Morris pinned Romero at 138 pounds for the Demons. Asher Thiessen pinned Ignacio’s Dillon Brann at 144 pounds. Asher was the lone Durango male to go 2-0 after he also pinned Bayfield’s Tyler Berry.
Durango’s Judah Thiessen pinned Hackett at 150 pounds, and Durango’s McKennon Ingle beat Grognard, 11-1.
Ignacio went 0-2, but had some bright spots with Aven Bourriague pinning both of his opponents at 113 pounds. Zane Pontine also won his lone match at 157 pounds in only 24 seconds via pin (he won via forfeit against Bayfield).
“It would have been nice to win a couple of duels, but the boys wrestled hard,” Ignacio boys wrestling head coach Jordan Larsen said. “We’ve got a crew of seniors, but we’ve also got a crew of young guys. They all went out and battled; I was really pleased with their efforts.”
Larsen was especially pleased with Josh Kerrigan, who lost to Isiah Aguilar in Pagosa last weekend, but bounced back to beat him on Thursday, 9-7. Larsen said Kerrigan has turned a lot of corners this year with his cautious and position-based style, although Larsen does want him to be more aggressive.
Ignacio was without its top wrestler in senior Lincoln deKay. A state runner-up last season, deKay is nursing an elbow injury, and Larsen expects him to be back soon.
On the girls side, Durango beat Bayfield, 30-18, and the Demons beat Ignacio, 36-12.
“Here in the Southwest corner, we do have to travel,” Durango girls head coach Ryan McGrath said. “The fact that there are other teams here that we can compete against and the families can come see their girls, because again, families can't go to Denver, Albuquerque, all these places all the time. It means a lot for the girls, for the families and for morale this time of the season.”
Durango’s Keelyn Reynolds pinned Bayfield’s Elly Coey at 120 pounds. Haidyn Albrecht also pinned her Bayfield opponent, Delilah Zink, at 135 pounds. Durango’s Lillian Fenberg pinned Bayfield’s Ashlynn Bravo at 140 pounds.
Against Ignacio, Reynolds pinned the Bobcats’ Jada Davis at 120 pounds. Durango’s Aleia Fenburg pinned Kodi Rima at 130 pounds. Lillian pinned Krysten Neil at 140 pounds, and Durango’s Timber Zink pinned Ireland Cates at 155 pounds.
McGrath was happy to see how Reynolds wrestled. She had some injuries at the beginning of the season, but McGrath said she’s got a great skill set and has built up great momentum.
The first-year Durango girls head coach was also happy with how Lillian matched up with Neil, since they have faced off a few times already. McGrath said she did a good job problem-solving against Neil.
“When I heard I was wrestling, the Neil girl, I actually was more scared,” Lillian said. “I kind of psyched myself out, and when I was on the bottom, I kind of accepted that I was going to stay on the bottom. It’s definitely always better to take the harder match to learn.”
Lillian really enjoyed wrestling close to home so that her grandparents could see her improvement. She also enjoyed wrestling against girls she’s competed against since middle school.
Although Aleia only wrestled one match, she enjoyed working on her technique against Rima, despite not feeling like she was in the best head space.
The Ignacio girls went 1-1 with a 24-22 win over Bayfield. Ignacio’s Rima pinned Bayfield’s Zink at 130 pounds. Eliska Prokopova pinned Bayfield’s Bravo at 140 pounds.
A bright spot for the Bayfield girls was Jade Kehoe, who wrestled up 15 pounds at 155 pounds and beat Durango’s Timber Zink. She also competed at 145 pounds and beat Ignacio’s Ireland Cates, 10-2.
“She listens, and she learns really well,” Bayfield girls head coach Roy Westbrook said. “She's not your typical freshman who’s constantly making those mistakes … just how she listens to us. She looks over at us. We're saying, ‘Hey, you need to roll the wrist.’ She does it. She's just a very coachable kid.”
All of the teams will be at the Clash at the Coliseum in Aztec on Friday.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
