The Ignacio High School boys wrestling team hosted the 41st annual Butch Melton Invitational on Saturday with Lorenzo Peña and Ethan Appenzeller coming in first place for Ignacio, and Ryan Nava and Sam Westbrook taking top honors for Bayfield High School.

Ten teams from around the area traveled to the tournament with the Cedaredge Bruins winning the day with 205 team points. Pagosa Springs came in second with 164.5, Bayfield came in third with 130 and Ignacio took fourth with 95. Piedra Vista of Farmington took fifth with 65.5 points and Durango took sixth with 48.

Nava took first place in the 145-pound weight class via pin over Pagosa Springs’ Tyler Cowan, and Westbrook took first place in 285 by pinning Mario Madaleno of Cedaredge. So far this season, Nava is 29-4, and Westbrook is a near perfect 32-1.

“These were all real good wrestlers,” said Nava, son of and Ramona and Raymond Fonseca. “This tournament is good size, and it’s a good tournament to get a feel of people right before regionals right before that push, so I have a lot of respect for this tournament because it’s always given me solid matches.”

On Friday night, Ignacio and Bayfield held a dual meet. The Wolverines beat the Bobcats, and the friendly competition saw Nava beat Appenzeller by a 7-5 decision. Nava credited his performance Saturday to his match against Appenzeller the night before.

“I really put myself to the test, and I feel like I showed myself what I’m capable of,” Nava said. “Getting a tough win like that over a wrestler like Ethan makes me want to work harder and make more pins and do whatever I can do to get to the top of the podium.”

The Bobcats got another stellar win from Peña as he took first at 160 pounds by beating Bayfield’s Macoy Michaeli via pinfall. With the win, Peña moved to 33-2, while Michali is 22-7 on the year.

“I felt pretty good, I thought I did pretty good,” said Peña, son of Kenneth and Shasta Peña. “This is always a good tournament, but tough tournament.”

Ignacio also got a great performance from Appenzeller, who beat Colton Hoerr of Cedaredge in the finals of the 138 pound weight class via pinfall. Appenzeller’s season record improved to 27-1.

Rounding out the Ignacio wrestlers were Tyler Beebe, who took second at 132, Dalton Mickey who took third at 145, and Timothy Plehinger took third at 152. Stocker Robbins was held out of the tournament because of a knee injury he sustained at practice. The injury is not thought to be serious and he should be back in action next week.

“I thought we performed exceptionally well and everybody had that inner fire that we’ve been talking about,” Ignacio head coach Jordan Larsen said. “Everybody battled all the way, so absolutely good performances. We’re keeping our heads, and we’re in a good spot to qualify for some state wrestlers.”

Bayfield’s Cash Snooks took second at 170, Dakota Ehart took third at 220, Wyatt Freier took third at 195, Cody Speece took third at 120, Garrett Beebe took third at 126 and Chris Kane took fifth at 138.

“I felt like we competed pretty good, but I think the pressure of getting to state is getting to them,” Bayfield head coach Neil Barnes said. “Overall, I felt like we wrestled decent. I was pleased and wasn’t disappointed with anybody. We had a lot of young kids come out and do some stuff.”

Durango didn’t have as much success but wrestled well as David Etz took fourth at 195. Paul Smogacz also took fourth at 106, Joseph Gillen took fifth at 285 and Austin Counts took seventh at 145.

“We had some ups and downs, but overall I think it will come around,” Durango head coach Leo Garand said. “We have a number of injuries that will be coming back. We’ll see where that puts us next week heading into league.”

jmentzer@durangoherald.com

Butch Melton Invitational

2016 Weight Class Champions

106: Tyrone Abeita, Piedra Vista

113: Brandon Ward, Dolores

120: Blake Nation, Cedaredge

126: Jake Ostrom, Cedaredge

132: Case Baughman, Dove Creek

138: Ethan Appenzeller, Ignacio

145: Ryan Nava, Bayfield

152: Dalton Lucero, Pagosa Springs

160: Lorenzo Peña, Ignacio

170: Zach Anderson, Cedaredge

182: Chance McReynolds, Pagosa Springs

195: Tre LaBossiere, Cedaredge

220: Anthony Antuna, Cedaredge

285: Sam Westbrook, Bayfield

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