La Plata County’s three high school wrestling teams finally put together a tri-meet, and it was the perfect way for the athletes to return from holiday break and begin the month-long sprint to the Pepsi Center for the Colorado High School Activities Association state tournament in Denver.
Durango hosted the event for visitors Bayfield and Ignacio. It was the Wolverines of BHS who claimed two victories to be declared La Plata County champions, though some of that was because of the Wolverines’ nearly full roster of 11 wrestlers combined to only seven for Durango and eight for Ignacio.
In the final dual of the day, Bayfield faced Durango. Both teams had already defeated Ignacio, so it would decide the victor. Though Durango took a 35-33 after the last match wrestled, a 15-0 technical fall victory for Alex Finneseth against Kobe Prior, a Durango forfeit at 170 pounds to Bayfield’s Shane Moore gave the Wolverines six points to take a 39-35 win.
Durango forfeited six matches to only two by the Wolverines to give BHS an advantage of 24 points, primarily at some of the Wolverines’ strongest weight classes at 195, 220 and heavyweight.
Bayfield was without two boys who were out of town and has only one opening on a 14-man roster to fill, and that’s at 138 pounds.
“It’s been a long time since Bayfield could say we have a full roster,” BHS head coach Todd McMenimen said. “That’s exciting, and we’re proud of it.”
Bayfield’s lone win against Durango came when Colby Baker earned a 12-5 decision win against Ben Finneseth. Baker went 2-0 on the day, as he also beat Ignacio’s Shawn Campbell with a pin in the first period.
“We were ready to go,” said Baker. “It feels amazing to win this meet. I can’t even describe it. Our team really pushed hard and came out on top. We need all the practice and mat time we can get right now, so this was great.”
Bayfield rolled through Ignacio 55-3 in the opening dual. The match of the day came at 170 pounds, as Ignacio’s Dustin Sanchez moved up from 170 pounds to meet Bayfield’s Moore. Sanchez, ranked seventh by On the Mat in the 160-pound division in Class 2A and a state placer from a year ago, earned a 3-2 decision victory. At one point in the second period, it appeared Sanchez started early from the bottom position, and Moore backed off of him. No whistle came, and Sanchez was able to escape, and that point proved pivotal.
“It’s do or die,” Sanchez said of the close match. “That kid is hella strong. I’m normally the strong one in tie-ups, and that wasn’t the case. I had to rely on something else, and it was not fun at all.”
McMenimen said he talked to Moore about wresting to the whistle and called it a learning lesson.
“The match we lost with Shane was a heck of a match,” McMenimen said. “Shane’s an incredibly strong young man. You grab onto him and he locks in on ya and you can’t move. I’m really glad they bumped Dustin up a weight to wrestle him. For Shane to wrestle a state placer, the experience you get out of that goes a long way come February. Both guys got a lot more out of it than forfeits.”
Sanchez was one of several wrestlers for Ignacio who moved around weight classes to get a match. Sanchez also earned a pin in the first period against Durango’s Alex Finneseth at 160.
“It’s better for our guys on the mental side of things than physically,” IHS head coach Jordan Larsen said of the lineup shuffles. “They’re getting used to wrestling people, moving up and down weights. It’s teaching the boys they can wrestle with the best no matter where.”
Larsen is looking forward to getting two or three boys back when schools resumes as the Bobcats push toward the regional and state tournaments.
“It’s a young crew, and we’re battling being sluggish off a two-week break,” Larsen said. “It’s to be expected, and we’re looking forward to improving the next few weeks. Our goal is definitely in February.”
Durango beat Ignacio 32-18. Durango’s 106-pound Owen Eicher had a big day, as he beat Bayfield’s Avery Metzlaff with a pin early in the second period after he had beat Ignacio’s Isaac Welker with a pin only 41 seconds into their match.
“Our thing with (Eicher) since the beginning is getting aggressive,” DHS head coach Leo Garand said. “He’s a jiu-jitsu kid, and he’s turned the corner now in his fourth year with me with his aggressiveness. At 113 pounds, he was outsized. Now that he’s down to 106, he’s gonna be a terror, and there’s no reason he shouldn’t be at the state tournament at that weight.”
Ben Finneseth picked up a 4-2 win against Hunter Robbins of Ignacio at 132 pounds. Durango’s Paul Smagacz wrestled one match and won with a pin in 1:34 against Ignacio’s Campbell. Durango’s Austin Albrecht won at 182 pounds against Ignacio’s Clay Campbell with a first-period pin and then pinned Bayfield’s Paden Williamson in the first period.
Durango freshman Tyler Woodworth also had another big day at 145 pounds with a 17-0 tech fall will against Ignacio’s Tyler Barnes and a second-period pin of Bayfield’s Trey McKee.
[image;1]“This was the first of these tri-meets, and, as a freshman, this was one of the big things for me,” Woodworth said. “I got to see who was around and the competition. I had been sick over break, and it was harder for me to get back conditioning, but coach has been working us really hard in practice to get us up to that next level.”
Though DHS didn’t beat Bayfield on the scoreboard, the four wins in five matches gave the Demons confidence.
“We really thought coming into the season that we’d have more guys,” Woodworth said. “Having such a small team, we’re getting better one on one with each other. The we is bigger than me. As each person gets better, the whole team gets better.”
Bayfield’s big men, John Foutz (195) and Daniel Westbrook (220) wrestled once each against Ignacio. Westbrook defeated Cesar Pedragon, a 195-pounder who came up to see him at 220, with a 12-0 major decision. Foutz wrestled Jeremy Roderick and won with a late first-period pin. Bayfield heavyweight Connor Krug won two forfeits.
Bayfield and Ignacio will go to a big bracket-format tournament at Pagosa Springs next weekend. Durango will dual Thursday at Buena Vista and then compete for two days at the Arvada West tournament Friday and Saturday.
The next big tournament in La Plata County is Ignacio’s Butch Melton Invitational the first Saturday of February. The teams are committed to keeping the county tri-meet going in years to come to add another marquee event to the local calendar.
“We had full stands in here, and it was all La Plata County,” Garand said. “It brings the wrestling community together. Though we’re individual schools, we are a wrestling community, and this brings the sport up in our community. We’re gonna start doing it every year.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
