Durango’s Ryan Dugan continues to show why he’s one of the top wrestlers in the area at 120 pounds. In the biggest tournament with the best competition the Demons have seen so far, Dugan finished first at 120 pounds at the Doc Wright Invitational on Saturday at Winslow High School in Winslow, Arizona.

Dugan was the No. 1 seed in the 120-pound bracket and made it to the championship round against Zemira Wilhelm of Show Low, Arizona but got into a 3-1 deficit before he made a spectacular throw with 10 seconds left in the match to score five points and win the match, according to Durango head coach Jason Silva.

Senior Riley Belt was the other Demon wrestler who placed at the Doc Wright Invitational. Belt finished fifth in the 138-pound weight division which Silva said was the toughest bracket in the tournament. Belt lost to the No. 1 overall seed.

Silva also commended the efforts of freshman Isaiah Aguilar who didn’t place at 113 pounds but showed a lot of grit in his matches.

“They're peaking at the right time,” Silva said about his team. “They're performing well, they're wrestling well. We're in good shape and it's starting to pay dividends with how the kids are competing right now.”

Durango finished 23rd out of 38 schools from numerous states. Silva said he only took a few kids to the event with the heightened competition level.

The Demons are back on the mat on Wednesday at Ignacio High School for the La Plata Tri.

Girls wrestling:

Durango’s girls wrestling squad also competed in the Doc Wright Invitational this past weekend.

Although the girls’ side of the event isn’t as old as the boys, Demons girls wrestling head coach Kyle Hanson said the competition was still great with schools from multiple states.

Durango finished 11th out of 28 schools.

“They all wrestled really hard through Friday and Saturday,” Hanson said about his team. “We didn't have any individual champions, but I felt like the reason we went there was to be able to see some great competition. It did a nice job of helping us as a team and as individuals to realize the weaknesses that we have and the things that we need to work on over the next three weeks before regionals.”

Brooke Fenberg led the Demons with a third-place finish in the 120-pound division. She lost to Andee Anderson from Basha High School in Chandler, Arizona in the semifinals. Anderson ended up winning the division.

Hanson loved how Fenberg went out as a senior captain and showed how no matter how much experience the opponent has, they need to be wrestled tough.

Hana Maletich finished fourth in the 114-pound division for the Demons and Marie Baker finished fourth in the 126-pound division for Durango as well.

“There's something magical about the way that they've been able to maintain a team and take care of one another,” Hanson said about his squad. “Even though none of them have any more than three years of wrestling experience they're winning big matches. They're taking really good wrestlers, other lady wrestlers the distance that really they shouldn't even be able to wrestle with.”

The Durango girls wrestling team is back in action at the Sand Devil Invitational in Page, Arizona on Friday and Saturday.

Ice Hockey:

On Friday and Saturday, the Durango ice hockey team faced one of the best teams in the state twice and came up short both times.

Glenwood Springs beat Durango 3-1 on Friday and then 2-1 on Saturday. The losses drop Durango to 2-5 overall and 1-5 in the 4A Mountain League. Glenwood Springs improved to 8-0-1 overall and 3-0 in the 4A Mountain League after beating the Demons twice.

“They take a lot of time and space away from the opponent,” Durango head coach Brian Ensign said about Glenwood Springs. “They have good depth up and down the lineup and definitely good older-classman goalies they have. You have to come with your best game and they’re always consistently a hard team to play against.”

On Friday, sophomore Leyton Holbrook assisted senior Brady Holbrook for the Demons’ only goal of the game. On Saturday, junior Bryson Quimby scored Durango’s lone goal in the first period which was assisted by sophomore Wynn Daniels and senior Loudon Doemland.

Ensign said his team put in a good effort but didn’t execute on the offensive end like they wanted to but had good possession of the puck.

The Demons are back in action at home against Liberty on Friday.

bkelly@durangoherald.com