Two wrestlers from La Plata County reached the podium at the state wrestling championships in Denver on Saturday while two others finished just one win away.
Ryan Dugan of Durango placed fifth at 113 pounds in the 4A championship while Keaton Pickering of Bayfield finished sixth at 120 in the 3A championship to lead the county’s contingent.
Dugan got a first-period fall in his first match against Cade Liniger of Roosevelt, but lost in sudden victory, 3-1, to the eventual third-place finisher Robert Kendall of Windsor in the quarterfinals. After the loss, Dugan had to win his next two matches to place, and he was up to the challenge. He won 16-1 against Ian Bacon of Vista Peak, then secured his spot on the podium with a 7-2 win over Nicholas Penfold of Broomfield. Dugan got pinned in the consolation semifinals by Skyline’s Calvin Mendez, but Dugan finished the tournament strong by beating Liniger again, 12-3, in the fifth-place match.
Pickering reached the 120-pounds semifinals after picking up a 10-2 major decision over Grant Sklinkard of Resurrection Christian and a 12-0 major decision over Talon Kibler of Gunnison. A 2-0 loss to Centauri’s Riley Valdez dropped him to the consolation bracket. After falling 8-0 to Teagan Jacobs of Grand Valley, Pickering took on Valley’s Brandon Hansen in the fifth-place match. Hansen, however, prevailed 12-7.
Senior Deegan Barnes of BHS and freshman Hana Maletich of DHS, meanwhile, both reached the blood round on Saturday, but lost to finish one win away from placing.
Barnes pinned his first opponent, Isaac Valencia of Rifle, but fell 5-0 in the quarterfinals to Paxton Daggett of University. Barnes responded by beating Joe Trygstad of Severance 8-6. His next match was even closer, but he ended up losing 3-2 to Ritchie Bruno of Brush to finish just off the podium.
Maletich, meanwhile, was winning her first match 8-0 in the third period against Elisha Allen of Arvada, but went for a head-and-arms and got pinned. She came back and won 13-3 against La Junta’s Haley Scofield and then pinned Nic Honing of Mountain Vista.
Mia Thorn of Discovery Canyon, however, pinned Maletich in the blood round. Also in the bracket, Morgan Johnson of Loveland reached the finals and was attempting to be the first girl in Colorado to be a four-time state champion. Sarah De La Cerda of Alamosa was also a state champion and finished third in the weight.
“It was a stacked bracket this year, but it was a great bracket to develop,” said DHS head girls coach Kyle Hanson. “She put in the time and doesn’t have to force things. She’s also crazy flexible and is doing the splits and crazy stuff in every match,”
Eight other wrestlers from the county also competed at state and almost all of them won at least one match.
DHS junior Riley Belt pinned one opponent and finished 1-2 at 132 pounds.
Ignacio freshman Aven Bourriague also got a pin at 106 where he finished 1-2 in the 2A championships. IHS freshman Lincoln deKay also won one match, 10-8, in sudden victory for the Bobcats at 138 pounds.
IHS senior Faye Hackett won her first match at 130 pounds by fall, but was eliminated in a wild match were both wrestlers were trying to headlock the other.
Bayfield junior Jordan Cundiff scored a 2-1 win over Mullen’s Caleb Van Meter, but was eliminated in a 6-2 loss.
BHS freshman Zayden Cundiff (138), IHS freshman Larissa Espinosa (190) and BHS senior Gracie Patton (190) all finished 0-2.
