The Durango High School wrestling team is ready for the Colorado High School Activity Association’s Class 4A Region 2 tournament with a thin roster but is hopeful for strong performances Friday and Saturday at Discovery Canyon High School in Colorado Springs. A finish in the top four of the region will give an individual wrestler a spot in next week’s state tournament at the Pepsi Center in Denver.
The Demons will send seven members of the squad to the regional and will face fierce competition in a region that includes 41 ranked wrestlers at various weight classes and two top-10 teams in No. 2 Pueblo East and No. 10 Pueblo West.
DHS head coach Leo Garand said that, while this weekend will be a test, his team has been building up for this for the entire season.
“We are definitely on an upswing, and you can see it in our wrestling,” Garand said. “I’ve really felt good about our third periods, which is where we have won a lot of our matches, and we’ve been stronger and have been better conditioned late in matches. Obviously, you hope to get pins early on, but if it’s a grind-it-out type of match, our conditioning could play a big role. We could be peaking at the right time, and I think the guys saw it (last weekend) against tough 5A schools.”
Durango’s seven wrestlers will be Owen Eicher at the 106-pound weight class, Jacob Rowe (126), Ben Belt (132), Paul Smagacz (138), Tyler Woodworth (145), Alex Finneseth (152) and Austin Albrecht (182). The Demons will hope to qualify more boys than last year when the Demons had one state qualifier in senior Rashaad Liggins.
Smagacz is this year’s senior captain and will head into the tournament with a record of 17-15.
Woodworth, a freshman and Durango’s lone-ranked wrestler throughout much of the season, will get a shot to qualify for state after he won a middle school state title last season. Woodworth will enter Friday with a 23-10 record and unranked despite winning five out of his last seven matches. If Woodworth is to make his first state tournament appearance, he could face up to three ranked wrestlers, which includes Dylan Ruane from Discovery Canyon, who comes in ranked No. 7 in the latest On the Mat rankings.
Eicher was one match away from qualifying last year and hopes to finish the job. Meanwhile, Belt also has state experience as he qualified for three middle school tournaments. The other big chance the Demons could get in qualifying is from Albrecht, who currently sits at 21-13 on the year. His bracket features four ranked opponents, including No. 8 Michael Cornelius of Liberty and No. 9 Michael Bird of Falcon.
One Demon who will look to get back to wrestling at the right time is Finneseth, who was pulled during last week’s Southwestern League tri-meet between Fruita Monument and Grand Junction because of an injury.
“I pulled Finneseth out of the lineups because he had some reoccurring shoulder issues,” Garand said. “Nor was it worth it wrestling into regionals. He’s been wrestling extremely well, and he’ll be ready come this weekend. He just needed some rest, and given the time to recover, I think he’s got the ability to make a deep run.”
Garand’s message of peaking at regionals has been drilled into the team the past few weeks of the regular season. He said Durango is up for the challenge.
“We’re all young, and Paul is the only one graduating this year. But, despite our youth, they know what this has been leading up to,” Garand said. “This is what we’ve been training for, and as I like to say, every match is practice until you get to regionals. They are looking at it that way; each practice has been more intense and we’re just focused and ready to go.”
The road to the Pepsi Center begins 4 p.m. Friday, which will be followed by a 9 a.m. start Saturday.
bploen@durangoherald.com
