Strong as he proved to be during Ignacio’s Butch Melton Memorial Invitational, Lincoln deKay sensed he needed to be even stronger if he was to advance from the Class 2A Boys’ Region II Championships – also to be held inside IHS Gymnasium.
“Going to need a few more morning practices with (assistant) coach Cody Haga; he runs a mean morning practice,” deKay said. “A couple more of those, I think, and I’ll be in tiptop shape.”
Opponents at the Friday-Saturday regional certainly couldn’t tell if he wasn’t.
Capturing the event’s title at 165 pounds, deKay won all four of his bouts – starting with a 69-second pin of Mancos’ Angel Phillips, followed by a 16-0 technical-fall victory over Cedaredge’s Scott Maxfield in the weight’s quarterfinals. Matched up against San Juan Basin League familiar Coulter Shumway of Norwood in one semifinal, deKay’s run continued with a pin 1:21 into the second period – setting him up for a first-place test against Monte Vista’s Jacob Pacheco.
The challenge was every bit as difficult as when the two met during the football season. Only this time, the Bobcat bested the Pirate as deKay pulled out a 7-5 decision and improved to 41-5 overall before departing for the 2025 state championships inside Denver’s Ball Arena on Thursday-Saturday.
Joining him will be fellow junior Zane Pontine. Improving to 36-5 this winter, he followed up his first-round ‘bye’ at 157 pounds by defeating River Wickstrom of Dolores by 20-4 technical fall. Pontine then outlasted Kremmling West Grand’s Joe Probst 11-4 and locked up his regional title by defeating MHS’ Brandon Vannest via 12-9 sudden victory.
“They’re hungry in the (practice) room and working on little things so that we can get to those big matches and compete,” head coach Jordan Larsen said. “They’re in a good spot, have good mindsets … and they went out there and did what they should have done.”
With only four Bobcats in the mix, Ignacio finished the two-day event with 68.5 points – good for ninth place out of 16 represented schools. Coming as little surprise to anyone who’d seen them at the Melton back on Jan. 25, Cedaredge’s Bruins, guided by head coach Cutter Garrison, racked up 251 points and captured first place by 86 points over runner-up Monte Vista.
Breaking even for the ’24-25 season at 22-22 overall, Ignacio’s Joshua Kerrigan placed sixth at 126 pounds and ended up 2-3 for the event after losing to Cael Beanland (by a 7-4 margin) of Dove Creek and Tegan Mestas (an 8-3 outcome) of Mancos during Saturday’s action.
BOBCATS GIRLS WRESTLING GET GROUP RATE: Amassing 67.5 points, IHS girls wrestling finished a solid sixth at the 4A Girls Wrestling Region I Championships all the way out in La Junta. Though the squad didn’t qualify for State as a team, all four entered grapplers are still Denver-bound.
Earning herself a return to the state championships, Larissa Espinosa (11-9 overall) placed second at 190 pounds after going 1-1 and losing the first-place bout to Lamar’s Jaxi Mireles. Marlene Martinez-Perez (10-10) went 3-1 with three pins at 140, and clinched third place by sticking Calhan’s Ashlynn Davis.
Krysten Neil (14-14) took third at 135 after also going 3-1, pinning two opponents and finishing with a 15-0 technical-fall win over CHS’ Alyshia Thomas. At 100, Madison Egger (13-8) went 3-1 with one pin, and earned third place by edging CHS’ Kayleigh Reese 8-7.
Pueblo Central posted a winning score of 244.5 points, and Lamar (190.5) settled for second.
