Sam Westbrook will go into the state wrestling tournament undefeated. Ryan Nava will not.
The two Bafield High School seniors captured a state-wide audience throughout the course of the wrestling season. Undefeated going into the 3A Region 1 meet in Buena Vista with state qualifying spots going to the top four wrestlers in each weight class, Nava and Westbrook both cruised to the championship matches in their respective weight classes, along with teammate Garrett Beebe.
Wrestling in the final match of the two-day tournament, Westbrook (38-0) earned two takedowns and one escape to earn a 5-3 decision win against Delta’s Logan Church Jr.
Westbrook only had to wrestle two matches. He won his semifinal with a second-period pin of Centauri’s Casey Fringer.
Nava wasn’t as fortunate in a star-studded 145-pound championship match against Centauri’s Brandon Buhr, who scored three takedowns to beat Nava in an 8-6 decision. The loss was the first of the year for Nava, who now stands at 35-1 this season.
Earlier in the meet, Nava earned a 9-4 decision against Grand Valley’s Nathaniel Chapman and a second-period pin of Pagosa Springs’ Trevor Bryant.
Garrett Beebe also reached the 3A Region 1 championship match at 126 pounds. After a 10-0 major decision against Rifle’s Carlos Esparza and a 6-5 decision in the semifinals against Centauri’s Zach Martin, Beebe wrestled Olathe’s Andrew Godfrey for the championship.
Beebe and Martin were tied at 4 through two periods, but Martin scored an escape and a takedown in the third to take a 7-4 victory. Beebe will look to get on the podium at state beginning Thursday.
Two more Wolverines punched tickets to state. 170-pounder Macoy Michaeli won his third-place match with a first-period pin of Delta’s Aiden Barrios. He lost in the semifinals via second-period pin to Moffat Country’s Mikinzie Klimper. He bounced back in the consolation semifinals to defeat Centauri’s Weston Huffaker with a third-period pin to reach the third-place match.
Jake Sandrey also wrestled tough for Bayfield at 132 pounds and placed fourth to get into state. He was pinned in the first period of the third-place match by Rifle’s Colt Rohrig and was also pinned in the second period of the semifinals against Buena Vista’s Anthony Quintana. But each loss was answered with a win from Sandrey, as he beat Centauri’s Kord Howsman with a first-period pin in the consolation semifinals. A quarterfinal win against Ethan Powers of Moffat County ensured his fourth-place win, as the two were paired up in the fourth-place match. By rule, the final place at state went to Sandrey.
With five Wolverines at the Pepsi Center next week, BHS will look to rack up some points and claw to the podium.
Three familiar names are going back to the state wrestling tournament for the Ignacio Bobcats.
Ethan Appenzeller (145), Lorenzo “Woody” Peña (160) and Stocker Robbins (132) all wrestled their way back to the Pepsi Center in Denver.
Appenzeller won his weight class at the 2A Region 1 tournament in Grand Junction at the Colorado Mesa University Maverick Center. He did it in style, too, with three pin victories. He beat Meeker’s Ty Gibson in 3:36 and Cedaredge’s Colton Hoerr in 4:54 to reach the championship match. he then beat Soroco’s Lane Martindale in 3:41 to claim the championship.
A four-time state qualifier and a runner-up a year ago, Appenzeller hopes to climb the top step of the podium this year.
“He’s in good shape,” IHS head coach Jordan Larsen said of Appenzeller. “He’s happy with this, but he’s hungry for next weekend. We’re looking for a rematch if we can get one.”
Peña and Robbins both took second place in the region. Peña pinned Paonia’s Jesse Burns in 5:15 and earned a 5-4 decision against Aidan Dabal of Norwood/Nucla in the semifinals. In the championship match, he dropped a brutally close 8-7 decision to Hotchkiss’ Wade Katzdorn.
Peña is a three-time state qualifier and placed third last year.
“He wrestled well but got caught by a top kid from Hotchkiss,” Larsen said. “None of our guys will be happy with placing at state. They all want the title.”
Robbins, who has battled injuries much of the last two seasons, worked his way back to state with a pair of pin victories against James Franklin of Norwood/Nucla andGarrett Frants of Meeker. In the regional championship, he also was beat by only one point in a 5-4 decision loss to top-ranked Colton Hall of Hotchkiss.
Robbins was second in state as a freshman and fourth as a sophomore. He missed last year’s tournament because of injury. Now he’s hungry to get back to where he belongs, the state podium.
“Despite the injuries, his work-ethic has been excellent this year,” Larsen said. “He’ll have a lot of fire coming into the next week.”
Those three will work their way toward the podium beginning Thursday in Denver.
The Demons won’t be represented at this year’s state tournament.
Wrestling back through the consolation bracket, Jordan Belt and Tristan Martinez were the lone Durango boys with a shot of qualifying, but both fell in the fourth-place match to finish one spot away from Denver.
Belt (138) didn’t get a chance to wrestle for fourth. He had already lost to Air Academy’s Corbyn Berg in the quarterfinals. When the two were paired up in the fourth-place match, the rules awarded Berg fourth and Belt fifth.
Belt won three matches at the 4A Region 1 tournament in Monument, and he won the fifth-place match in an 8-4 decision against Carlos Vigil of Pueblo Centennial.
Martinez (126) fell in the quarterfinals but won a pair of consolation round matches before losing in sudden victory, 8-6, to Sam Blackmon of Lewis Palmer in the consolation semifinals. In the fifth-place match, Martinez lost a 3-0 decision to Rodney Atencio of Pueblo West.
DHS sent eight out of a possible 14 boys to regionals.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
