Wrestling teams from around the Four Corners flooded the mats Saturday at Dove Creek High School. At the annual Dawg Fight tournament, a strong Colorado contingent put up plenty of fight.
Kirtland Central of New Mexico won the meet with 176 points. Farmington was second with 132.5 points, and Durango placed third with 99.5 points. Only one point behind Durango was Bayfield in fourth place.
Mancos was sixth with 69 points, Dolores was seventh with 68, and a Montezuma-Cortez junior varsity squad scored 25 points to place eighth. Ignacio came in ninth with 24 points. Host Dove Creek finished 11th with 15 points, and Durango’s junior varsity rounded out the 13-team meet with four points.
Owen Eicher (106 pounds) and Paul Smagacz (126) placed first for the Durango Demons. Eicher went 2-1 on the weekend with two pin victories and a 4-2 decision loss to Mancos’ Ty Everett, who finished third. Smagacz went 4-0 with three pin victories and a 12-10 win against Kirtland’s Tristen Dobbs in sudden victory.
Ben Finneseth (145) placed second for the Demons with a 4-1 day. He earned three pin wins with his lone loss an 8-1 decision to Brandon Silago of Kirtland. Kaleb McMunn (170) also placed second for Durango with three pin wins and one fall to Kirtland’s unbeaten Cody Manuelito.
Austin Albrecht (182), Jordan Belt (160) and Alex Finneseth (138) all placed fourth for Durango. Sebastian Garcia (120) and Tony Romero (132) placed sixth.
Bayfield was led by Garret Beebe’s first-place finish at 138 pounds. He is now 14-0 on the season. He earned four pin victories and a 9-7 decision against Kirtland’s Jalen Platero to give the Kirtland Bronco his first loss of the year. Daniel Westbrook (220) also placed first with five pin victories and no losses. None of his matches lasted longer than 90 seconds in a dominant performance.
Dylan Pickering (120) had a strong weekend with a 4-1 record to place second for Bayfield. He earned two pin wins and two tech falls with his lone loss coming via fall to Zander Eichner of Dolores. Cordell Ashcraft (152) also placed second for Bayfield after a 3-2 day. He earned three pin victories and was pinned twice, once by Ignacio’s Dustin Sanchez and one by Cirrail Allison of Farmington. Jake Sandrey (160) was another second-place finisher for the Wolverines after a 4-1 day at the tournament’s toughest weight class. He earned three pin wins and a 6-5 decision win against Belt. His lone loss was to Kirtland’s undefeated Isaac Thomas.
Trey Mckee (138) placed third for Bayfield with a 3-2 day with one loss coming to Beebe. Colby Baker (126) went 2-2 and placed fourth for Bayfield. Shane Moore (170) and John Foutz (195) each went 1-3 and placed fourth. Paden Williamson (195) went 2-2 to place fifth for the Wolverines. Jason Schniedier (145) went 1-3 to place fifth at 145.
Ignacio took only three wrestlers to the Dawg Fight. Sanchez’s third-place finsih at 152 was the team’s best result. He went 4-1. Skieler Grooms also went 4-1 at 145 pounds to place fourth. Micah Westbrook made his varsity debut and went 0-5 in the highly competitive 160 bracket.
jlivingston@durangoherla.dcom
