The first day of the state wrestling tournament couldn’t have gone any better for three Ignacio Bobcats.
Ethan Appenzeller, Tyler Beebe and Lorenzo Peña all won their first-round matches via pin in the championship bracket of the 2015 Colorado High School Activities Association State Championships at the Pepsi Center in Denver.
Beebe (35-10) started the day with a third period pin of Center’s Erik Perez (30-17) at 132 pounds. Appenzeller (36-1) followed with a first period finish of Limon’s Braden Kappel (27-15) to remain undefeated this season at 138 pounds.
Peña and his opponent, Ryan Saine of Manzanola, needed the opening two minutes of the match to size each other up before Peña established control and earned a pin at 3:31.
All three Bobcats advanced to the quarterfinals of the championship bracket. Those matches will be contested at 10 a.m. Friday.
Beebe will take on Brendon Crum (34-3), the No. 2 seed in the 132-pound Class 2A bracket and a senior from Holly. Appenzeller will face Cody Venem (28-8) of Rocky Ford, and Peña will face Tyler Hottinger (27-6) of Akron.
Bayfield’s state tournament didn’t start as well, but Ryan Nava (37-4) secured a first-round win in the Class 3A 145-pound bracket with a 13-6 decision win against Dimitris Flores. Nava had a hard time holding Flores on the mat after scoring several takedowns, as Flores avoided a major decision loss with multiple escapes. Nava, the No. 2 seed in the bracket and a junior, will face sophomore Jimmy Laconte (36-6) of Weld Central in the quarterfinals.
Heavyweight Sam Westbrook also book a trip to the state quarterfinals at Class 3A 285 pounds with a thrilling win against Preson Duran of Alamosa. Duran (22-12) secured an early takedown, but two escape points from Westbrook (39-2) had the match tied at 2 going to the third period. Duran scored an early escape in the period, but a big takedown from Westbrook with 1 minute to go put the Bayfield junior up 4-3. Westbrook solidified a 6-3 decision win with a two-point near fall before the final whistle.
Westrbook will face the top overall seed in the bracket in Sam deSeriere in the quarterfinals. The Mullen junior in 38-2 this season and earned a pin victory only 51 seconds into his first-round match against Andrew Guzman of Brush.
At 126 pounds, Bayfield’s Garrett Beebe (33-13) lost to Jefferson’s Kyle Cisneros (46-4) when he was pinned in the middle of the second period. At 138 pounds, Taylor Winch (17-7) also was pinned near the middle of the second period by Erie’s Ernest Quintana (35-14). Both of those Wolverines will look to bounce back in the consolation bracket with a chance to still land on the podium. Consolation matches will begin immediately after the quarterfinal matches are completed Friday morning.
The Class 4A preliminaries didn’t begin until 7:15 p.m. Durango’s Cole Gustavson (24-12) dropped a 7-0 decision to Zac Baker (35-2) of Cheyenne Mountain at 160 pounds. Baker is the No. 2 seed in the bracket. Gustavson, who is the lone Demon to qualify for this year’s state tournament, will compete in the consolation bracket against Francisco Rosales Ochoa (26-12) of Fort Morgan. Ochoa lost in overtime to Semaj Spencer of Mountain View in a 12-10 decision.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
