Bayfield High School wrestling put a fantastic four into the CHSAA Class 3A Region 4 semifinals Friday in Montrose.
Colter McMenimen, Ryan Nava, Jake Sandrey and Sam Westbrook will wrestle for a shot at the regional finals and potentially the regional championship Saturday.
Five other Wolverines still are battling in the consolation brackets and could still wrestle their way to the state tournament.
“Some of us wrestled pretty well, some of us wrestled the way we practiced last week, unfortunately,” BHS head coach Todd McMenimen said. “The ones that are on the front side I expected to be there.”
The meet will begin its next rounds at 9 a.m. Saturday.
Garrett Beebe lost a major decision 16-3 to Olathe’s Andrew Godfrey in the quarterfinals at 106 pounds then pinned Gunnison’s Bryson VanHee with 11 seconds left in the first period.
Sandrey pinned John Peroulis of Moffat County with 58 seconds left in the second period to advance to the semifinals at 113 pounds.
Cody Speece advanced to the 120-pound quarterfinals by pinning Rifle’s Carlos Esparaza 1:13 into the match. Steamboat Springs’ Dakota Thvedt then beat Speece 6-3 in the quarterfinals, sending him to the consolation bracket. Speece pinned Basalt’s Daniel Barnes 18 seconds into the second period of their consolation bracket match to stay alive.
At 126 pounds, Nava beat Eagle Valley’s Raul Lopez 3-1 in the quarterfinals after a first-round bye.
Jake Jensen lost his first-round match at 138 pounds to RJ Wilhelm of Steamboat Springs via pin 44 seconds in. He received a bye in the consolation first round before losing to Delta’s Shaun Staats 15-0 in a technical fall, ending his season.
McMenimen clinched his semifinal spot at 145 pounds with two first-period pins. He got Moffat County’s Elias Peroulis with nine seconds left in the first period and took down Tony Valdez of Eagle Valley with 51 seconds remaining in the first.
Cash Snooks was pinned by Coal Ridge’s Eddy Baez 52 seconds into their first-round match then received a bye in the consolation first round. Pagosa Springs’ Nick Reynolds pinned him 48 seconds into the second period to end Snooks’ year in the consolation second round.
“He pretty much had his way with us (Friday),” coach McMenimen said of Reynolds.
At 160 pounds, Austin Baughman was pinned by Delta’s Derek Horn 45 seconds into their quarterfinal match and received a bye in the second consolation round.
Blane Barnes followed a similar path at 220 pounds. He was pinned with 20 seconds left in the third period by Olathe’s Felix Penña before getting a consolation second-round bye.
“He just completely ran out of gas,” coach McMenimen said. “We were pretty well controlling the kid from Olathe all the way through the match.”
Westbrook pinned his way into the heavyweight quarterfinals by taking down Rudy Devora of Coal Ridge 35 seconds into the second period after a first-round bye.
The top four placers in each weight class will earn a spot in next week’s Class 3A State Championships at the Pepsi Center in Denver. Those wrestlers will be placed into a 16-man bracket.
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
