When Page, Arizona, canceled its big wrestling tournament, teams from across Colorado scrambled to find a replacement tournament. They found it at Paonia’s Screaming Eagle meet.
Saturday’s tournament was won by Hotchkiss with 202.5 points. Meeker was third with 187, and Paonia took third with 182.5 points.
Bayfield placed sixth with 145 points, and Ignacio High School was eighth with 73. Mancos claimed ninth with 64 points in the 20-team tournament. Durango High School did not attend the meet.
The Bayfield High School Wolverines had three first-place finishers, as Garrett Beebe, Ryan Nava and Sam Westbrook all wrestled in top form. Ignacio had one champion in Lorenzo Peña.
Beebe went 4-0 at 126 pounds to improve his season record to 20-4. He earned two pins and two major decisions, including an 11-3 win against Tannen Kennedy of Meeker High School in the first-place match.
Nava remained undefeated by winning five matches at 145 pounds, improving his season record to 23-0. He saw strong competition after a major decision in the first round and a pin in the second. He then earned three consecutive decision wins, including a 4-3 victory against Austin Bernal of Palisade in the final.
Westbrook also remained undefeated and pushed his record to 28-0 with four wins at heavyweight. After two pints and a major decision, he was pushed to an overtime period in the final against Tyler Ilgen of Meeker. He won 5-3 for a sudden victory.
Jake Sandrey finished in second place at 132 pounds, improving his season record to 28-5. He earned two pins to open the meet, and a 6-2 decision against Erik Perez of Center sent him into the final. But Sandrey was pinned in the second period of the first-place match by Colton Hall of Hotchkiss.
BHS earned a pair of fifth-place finishes with Macoy Michaeli at 170 pounds and Cody Speece at 120 pounds. Speece won his fifth-place match by default because of an injury to his opponent. He finished 4-2 on the day.
Michaeli improved his record to 28-6 with a 3-2 day. He won his fifth-place match with a first-period pin of Cameron Fury of Montrose.
Peña led the Bobcats with a 4-0 day at 160 pounds, moving his second record to 27-3. He earned three pins, including a first-period win against Wade Katzdorn of Hotchkiss in the final.
IHS had one other placer in Ethan Appenzeller at 145 pounds. He claimed third with a third-period pin of Lane Martindale of Soroco in the third-place match. He lost a narrow 4-3 decision to Palisade’s Austin Bernal in the semifinals but won his next to to secure third. He improved his season record to 29-3 with four wins and the one loss.
Both teams have league dual-meets coming up this week, and the big Butch Melton Invitational is scheduled for next Saturday at Ignacio High School.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
