For the first time ever, girls wrestling teams from Durango, Bayfield and Ignacio competed for a chance to call themselves La Plata County champions on Friday.
With the girls competing on one mat and the boys scrapping for bragging rights on the other, fans filled the stands at Bayfield High School to watch the action go down.
“I think it’s awesome,” Ignacio head coach Jordan Larson said about the county’s triangular. “This is one of the biggest crowds I’ve seen at a tournament in a long time, and a good chunk of the stands were dedicated to Ignacio kids … anything that promotes wrestling is good.”
On the mat, Ignacio’s girls ended up winning the inaugural girls county championship by beating Durango and Bayfield by identical 24-18 scores. In the other dual, DHS beat Bayfield 24-12.
“I want to give (BHS head coach) Todd (McMenimen) credit for making it a championship event,” said DHS head girls coach Kyle Hanson. “I think it was a great event and a lot of fun.”
In the boys’ championship, Bayfield heavyweight Jordan Cundiff pinned Brett Franklin of Durango in the final match of the night to tie the dual, 42-42. DHS, however, won the title on criteria since the Demons forfeited one weight and BHS forfeited two.
DHS also beat Ignacio 73-6 while BHS beat the Bobcats 49-9.
The meet was also set up so the girls and boys from each school had a bye while their school’s boys and girls were wrestling so they could cheer each other on.
In the first matches of the night, the Durango girls squared off with Bayfield while the Wolverine boys took on Ignacio.
Hana Maletich of Durango got a takedown in the first, a reversal in the second and eventually pinned Bailey Blouin of BHS at 120 pounds. Amiah Hanson also pinned Kori Jenkins in an exhibition bout.
Ignacio’s boys spotted BHS 18 points with forfeits, but Bayfield still won five of the seven contested matches to take the dual. Hunter Mars of BHS scored a 10-2 major decision against Aven Bourriague at 106. Payton Montgomery won a tight match, 4-0, against Josh Kerrigan at 113. At 132, Cael Blount of BHS got several early takedowns, but Zane Pontine took Blount down to his back for five points to take the lead in the second. Blount, however, got two more takedowns in the third to win 15-14.
Lincoln deKay of Ignacio beat Zayden Cundiff 10-4 at 138, reversing Cundiff to his back for a five-point move.
At 144, Jason Michaeli of BHS gave up some late stalling points, but held on to beat Asher Gallegos 9-7.
In the 150-pound match, Keegan Johnston of Bayfield got deep in on a shot and lifted Keaton McCoy off the mat. McCoy, however, was able to throw his hips over Johnston to not only stop his shot, but put Johnston on his back in the process and eventually got the fall. At 165, Deegan Barnes of BHS got three quick takedowns against John Nossaman and pinned him in 1:04.
“We wrestled well all night,” McMenimen said.
In the second round, the Ignacio and Bayfield girls squared off while the Ignacio and Durango boys battled.
Blouin pinned Audrey Roderick in the first period for BHS at 120 and later Gracie Patton of BHS stuck Larissa Espinosa at 235. Jenkins also won an exhibition bout against Martinez-Perez, but Ignacio won four bouts by forfeit to take the dual.
In the DHS and IHS boys’ dual, Bourriague won by forfeit at 106 to start the action, but DHS won the rest of the matches. Ryan Dugan (113) and Riley Belt (132) both won by technical falls while Cole Pontine (144), Chris McGrath (150) and Jaylen Jeffries (165) all pinned their opponents. In the dual’s closest match, Wyatt Bartel jumped out to an early 3-0 lead against deKay. In the second, deKay got a takedown to cut the lead to 3-2 but Bartel prevailed 4-3.
“We did well,” Larson said. “We’re mostly a young crew. It’s good to be back, but it’s always tough coming off of a break.”
Round 3 decided the county champions, with the Ignacio and Durango girls wrestling while the DHS and BHS boys wrestled.
Ignacio and Durango both had two girls win matches. At 120, Brooke Fenberg of Durango pinned Roderick early in the third period. Hanson also pinned Martinez-Perez in the second at 135.
Kacey Brown of Ignacio, meanwhile, was able to pin Teresa Benac in the first at 125. At 130, Faye Hackett of IHS pinned Quincy Ellis in the second. Ignacio, however, had one more wrestler win by forfeit to win the county title.
In the BHS and DHS boys dual, Bayfield won six matches by pin and DHS won five by pin, but for the second year in a row DHS won the county title on criteria 42-42.
Dugan, Belt, Cole Pontine, McGrath and Miguel Stubbs all picked up pins for Durango.
For Bayfield, Pickering, Logan Valencia (126), Zayden Cundiff, Donovan Candelaria (157) and Barnes all won by fall to give the Wolverines the lead heading into the final three weights. DHS took a 42-36 lead with a pair of forfeits. At heavyweight, neither Franklin or Jordan Cundiff were able to score in the first period. Midway through the second, however, Cundiff used an arm spin to put Franklin on his back and pin him, causing all of his teammates to jump with excitement.
On Saturday, the three girls teams were all scheduled to compete in Kirtland (New Mexico) after Alamosa canceled its tournament. The county’s boys, meanwhile, headed to Pagosa Springs for the Rocky Mountain Invite.
