Durango junior Ryan Dugan doesn’t shy away from his wrestling style. He likes to beat people up on the mat. Dugan has a hard, strong, fast-paced and aggressive wrestling style at 120 pounds that people enjoy watching.
“I enjoy it,” Dugan said. “Obviously, you enjoy anything when you're good at it. Being good at it makes it a lot more enjoyable but I enjoy it because it's a good stress-reliever and it's just fun.”
Good at it he is.
Dugan is one of the top wrestlers at 120 pounds in Class 4A this season. He is fresh off a win at the 59th Doc Wright Invitational last weekend, a tournament in Winslow, Arizona, known for bringing in top talent from numerous states around Arizona.
The Durango junior also finished first at 120 pounds in the Rocky Mountain Invitational, the Warrior Classic 2023 and the 2023 Moab Red Rocks Invitational this season.
Dugan is 31-1 overall this season. He placed second in the Western Slope Showdown with his lone loss in the championship against the top seed Bryson Valdez from Aztec.
The offseason is what Dugan said was the biggest key to his success so far this season.
“I went to an eight-day camp at the University of Wyoming,” Dugan said. “I went to the Western Regional qualifier in Utah. I went to the Colorado freestyle and Greco state championships and then just a handful of other tournaments. That's really been the key to my success along with the work in the room, obviously, but I think that extra work that I've put in has really paid off.”
Dugan could have done even more in the offseason but chose to make some sacrifices because he was on the Durango football team. He regretted not going to the Fargo freestyle and Greco national championships which he qualified for but skipped because of a football camp.
The Fargo freestyle and Greco national championship is the top high school tournament in the country, according to Dugan.
Wrestling is in Dugan’s blood. His father, Jeremy, wrestled in high school and on the club team at Indiana University. Dugan began wrestling when he was four and his father has coached him ever since.
“He's the reason I've gotten so far,” Dugan said about his father. “He’s been the most instrumental to my success. He’s taken me to tournaments in the offseason and works with me after practice and just putting in all the extra work. He’s been my biggest drive in my wrestling career.”
Dugan’s evolution in his high school career has come with a change in mindset. He no longer psychs himself out by looking at his opponent’s stats or their tournament placings before he wrestles them. Dugan instead focuses on how they wrestle and how he’s going to beat them. He’s less timid and doesn’t worry about losing or points getting scored on him.
On his feet are where Dugan feels most comfortable during a match. He likes the freedom to try different moves like throws, lat drops and headlocks.
“It's always fun tossing somebody and getting five points or even a pin from your feet,” Dugan said.
Pins and tosses are easier for Dugan because he has worked on his conditioning and his wrestling IQ so that he can control a match and not get gassed in the third period like he did his freshman and sophomore years.
Maintaining his 120-pound weight hasn’t been an issue for Dugan with the amount of conditioning there is during the wrestling system. Although Dugan played football in the fall at around 132 pounds, he shed the weight fast with a healthier and smaller diet.
Before the season started, Dugan said his goal was to place top four at state. But with the help of Durango coach Jason Silva, Dugan thinks a state championship is attainable.
“I think he based our harder schedule and planned some of these harder tournaments for me and some of the better wrestlers on the team,” Dugan said about Silva. “Just because he wanted to see us reach the next level and he wanted us to see a higher level of competition. He really has my back and he always wants the best for me. He's hard on me in practice but I think that's what makes up a great coach; driving your athlete to success through hard work and feeling their dedication for the sport.”
After high school, Dugan wants to wrestle at a Division I program with Arizona State and Virginia Tech being his dream schools. But Dugan is willing to go anywhere if the fit is right.
But before that, Dugan has a chance to put himself in the record books as Durango’s first state champion wrestler since Bryson Webber in 2000 and the first-ever Demon state champion at 120 pounds.
“That'd be a huge staple for Durango wrestling, which has kind of fallen off obviously since 2000,” Dugan said. “That'd be huge for the community, as well. I have a lot of backing in the community. I have a lot of people who want to see the best out of me and to win the state championship would really mean a lot for them.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
