Eight of the nine Ignacio High School regional wrestlers qualified for the Class 2A state wrestling tournament.
Nine reached the semifinal round of the Class 2A Region 1 wrestling tournament in Grand Junction. All but one of those boys qualified for the state tournament, with the one exception being 145-pound wrestler Iaasic Peña, who suffered a dislocated elbow in the fifth-place match.
“All of the guys are really excited. Of the eight boys going to state, four of them are freshmen,” IHS head coach Cody Haga said. “The biggest upset of the tournament was Peña getting taken out with a severe dislocation of his elbow. It was one of those freak injuries.”
Stocker Robbins (34-8) was the lone regional champion for the Bobcats. He took the 106-pound division with two second-round pin victories Saturday, including the final against Meeker’s Sheridan Harvey.
“He wrestled well, and the chips definitely fell his way,” Haga said of Robbins. “His hard work is paying off big for him to be a regional champ and qualify for state.”
Taking second place for IHS were Nathan Appenzeller (126), Christian Knoll (182) and Dalton Mickey (120).
Mickey (13-10) earned a pin in the semifinals against Meeker’s Calvin Shepherd. He was pinned in the championship by Paonia’s Josh Altman.
Appenzeller (25-12) took a 9-8 decision in his semifinal against Dove Creek’s Case Baughman. He dropped a 4-0 decision to Paonia’s Jesse Reed in the final.
Knoll (26-8) advanced to the final via injury default. He lost his final match when he was pinned in the second round by Ethen Upton of Dolores.
“Mickey, Appenzeller and Knoll all had really tough final matches. They wrestled tough, but you can only do so much” Haga said.
Blaine Mickey (170) and Lorenzo Peña (138) both took third place to qualify for state. They both lost major decisions in the semifinals but fought back in the consolation semis to earn victories.
Peña (23-12) defeated T.J. Richard of North Park in a 12-7 decision in his third-place match, and Mickey won his third-place match in a 5-3 decision against Norwood’s Kolby Starks.
Also qualifying with fourth-place finishes were Josh Gallegos (220) and Miguel Perez (152). Both were pinned in semifinal matches, but both answered with pins of their own in the consolation semifinals.
Perez (22-16) dropped his third-place match when he was pinned by Meeker’s Willis Begaye. Gallegos (26-16) dropped his third-place match in a 3-2 decision to Caleb Lawson of Rangley.
“All of the boys are really excited. The regional tournament is what they trained for all year,” Haga said. “Now, it is time for them to get their heads right and prepare for the next couple days for the big state tournament.
“I just want all the boys to get experience they can use the next few years. We are a young team and don’t understand what state is all about quite yet. It will be a learning experience.”
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