Fourteen wrestlers from La Plata County punched their tickets to this week’s state wrestling championships with top four regional finishes over the weekend.
At the Class 4A Region 1 championships in Broomfield, five Durango Demons qualified for state: Ryan Dugan at 106, Jacob Fenberg at 113, Riley Belt at 138, Tyler Woodworth at 160 and Ben Belt at 170.
“We had a great tournament, and we were so close to punching seven,” said Durango head coach Robert Finniseth, noting that Cole Pontine and Chris McGrath just missed the cut by placing fifth.
At the 3A Region 1 championships in Gunnison, four Bayfield Wolverines managed to qualify. James Mars won the regional title at 132 to lead the Wolverines while Keaton Pickering (113), Kobe Prior (170) and Jordan Cundiff (285) also advanced.
“I felt really good on the weekend,” said BHS head coach Todd McMenimen. “I felt we wrestled as well as we could have.”
At the 2A Region 1 Championships in Buena Vista, three Ignacio Bobcats managed to qualify for state, including Keaton McCoy (145), Tyler Barnes (170) and Jeremy Roderick (285).
The Durango, Ignacio and Bayfield girls wrestlers also competed in the Region 1 championships at Grand Junction Central High School. Durango’s Brooke Fenberg and Ignacio’s Faye Hackett advanced to the state tournament.
Mars was the only county wrestler to win a regional title. He pinned his first two opponents to reach the 132-pound finals and then scored a 6-2 decision over Alamosa’s Trevor Maestas. “He controlled the (finals) match from the beginning to the end,” McMenimen said.
Prior also pinned his first two opponents to reach the 170-pound finals, but ended up placing second after losing 8-2 against Moffat County’s Pepper Rhyne in the championship. “It was a tight, tough match, but unfortunately we came out on the losing side of it,” McMenimen said. “Kobe wrestled really good all week.”
Despite a scary situation, Keaton Pickering also qualified with a fourth-place finish. In the third-place match, the coach said he went limp on the mat and ended up losing by a medical forfeit. “He didn’t look right all day,” McMenimen said, but added that Pickering got cleared to compete this weekend. “He’ll be able to battle back,” the coach said.
Cundiff was the team’s other qualifier, placing third at 285. Cundiff lost his opening about to Grand Valley’s Hayden Grice. “He was a behemoth of a man, but Jordan went toe to toe with him,” McMenimen said. After the loss, however, Cundiff pinned his next two foes to finish third.
Deegan Barnes placed sixth at 152, losing a close match against Moffat County’s Ryan Duzik that ended his chances.
Hunter Mars, despite only weighing 95 pounds, finished fifth at 106, losing a close contest in the true-fourth match to Grand Valley’s Jaysen Sken. “He wrestled lights out all weekend,” McMenimen said.
Logan Valencia went 1-2 at 120, also going up a weight to find a spot in Bayfield’s lineup.
“He has grown a ton in the room and wrestled to the best of his ability,” McMenimen said.
Avery Mitzlaff, meanwhile, ended his high school career with some his best wrestling, going 1-2 at 126. “That was probably the best tournament I’ve seen him wrestle in three years,” McMenimen said. “I was really pleased with his effort.”
Donovan Candeleria, meanwhile, went 0-2 at 160. “He’s extremely athletic, he just needs more mat time,” McMenimen said.
As a team, Bayfield finished seventh with 105 points. Moffat County won the region with 237.5, followed by Alamosa (203), Gunnison (202) Pagosa Springs (152) and Delta (143) in fifth. Montezuma-Cortez scored four points to finish 14th, with 132-pounder Ryan Pipkin scoring all four points in a 1-2 effort.
The Demons had three wrestlers advance to the regional championship matches to lead the team to a fifth-place finish.
Dugan pinned his first two opponents, but lost 7-2 in the finals against Broomfield’s Cody Tanner, a wrestler who pinned him earlier in the year.
“Ryan had a great tournament and really wrestled well,” Finniseth said.
Fenberg scored a technical fall in his first match and pinned his semifinal opponent. In the finals, he squared off with Tommy Blackmon of Lewis Palmer. Fenberg got a takedown in the third period to cut Blackmon’s lead to 4-3. Before Fenberg could cut him loose to try for a tying takedown, however, Blackmon was able to reverse Fenberg and held on to win the match, 6-3.
“His finals kid had a great duck; we don’t usually see speed like that,” Finniseth said, but added, “We hope to see that kid again at state.”
Woodworth reached the 160-pound finals by scoring a major decision and then pinning Harrison’s Chris DeBlasio in the semis. In the finals, however, Woodworth got pinned by Pueblo West’s Zach Kottenstette.
“He likes to get out there and go, go, go, so we’ve been working on pulling his reigns,” Finniseth said. “He had a great tournament until the finals, then he wore himself out.”
Ben Belt responded from a semifinal loss at 170, pinning his next foe and then beating Falcon’s Joseph Lovato Bakke in the third-place match, 7-5, in the first sudden victory period.
Riley Belt, meanwhile, had to win a true-fourth match to qualify at 138 pounds. Riley went 3-2 in his bracket, but a pin over JP Cates of Falcon secured his spot in the state tournament.
Chris McGrath also had the opportunity to wrestle in a true-fourth match for a shot at qualifying for state after winning three matches at 132 pounds. McGrath, however, got pinned in the fourth-place match by Falcon’s Kasson Miles.
Cole Pontine also placed fifth at 120, beating Broomfield’s Mason Smiley by a 9-0 decision in his final match. A 4-2 consolation semifinal loss to Grand Valley’s Cole Good, who finished fourth, kept Pontine from advancing.
“He was basically one takedown away from getting to state,” Finniseth said.
At 145, Wyatt Bartel went 1-2 for DHS, despite being a true 132-pounder. Nathaniel Pinto went 1-2 at 152 while Braxton Waddell went 0-2 at 182.
“It’s exciting to see these freshmen want to compete and battle,” Finniseth said.
Durango scored 129.5 points to finish fifth as a team. Broomfield won the region with 207.5, followed by Falcon (198.5), Pueblo West (149) and Montrose (131).
“As a whole, our coaching staff was proud how the kids came to battle,” the coach said.
The Ignacio Bobcats also had three wrestlers place high enough to qualify for state at the 2A Region 1 championships in Buena Vista.
Roderick pinned his semifinal opponent to reach the heavyweight finals, but got pinned by Rangely’s Byron Mackay in the finals and finished second.
Barnes pinned his first opponent, but lost a 5-4 decision in the semis to the eventual champ, Cody Hawn of Hayden. Barnes, however, came back and pinned Devin Yakubson of Platte Canyon, and Justin Mattison of North Fork to place third.
McCoy also placed third at 145 to qualify. McCoy won his first match by a 10-4 decision, but got pinned in the semis. McCoy responded with a tight, 4-2, victory over Rangely’s Braxton Moore and then a fall over Ace Connolly of North Fork.
Asher Gallegos went 1-2 for IHS at 126 while Cayle McCoy (106), John Nossaman (152) and John Riepel (160) all went 0-2.
The Durango, Ignacio and Bayfield girls’ wrestling teams all competed at the Region 1 championships at Grand Junction Central. Brooke Fenberg of Durango, however, scored the only top-four finish, Fenberg placed third at 105 pounds. Faye Hackett of Ignacio placed fifth at 127, but also qualified for the state tournament since there are only three girls’ regionals.
Fenberg pinned two opponents and then beat Arvada’s Dalilah Aguayo 8-3 in the third-place match.
Hackett won four matches to place fifth at 127, getting a pin over Vista Peak’s Reagan Perez in the fifth-place match.
Carly Piccoli went 2-2 at 111 for DHS. Amiah Hansen (127), Madison Scales (136) and Grey Lund (147) finished 0-2.
Lexy Young went 1-2 for IHS at 136 while Audrey Roderick went 0-2 at 118.
For Bayfield, Brooke Morse went 1-2 at 136 and Gracie Patton finished 0-2 at 185.
The state championships will begin Thursday in Denver.
