The Durango Wrestling Club hosted its annual tournament on Saturday at Durango High School, welcoming approximately 450 kids from clubs out of Farmington, Mancos, Ignacio, Kirtland, Dove Creek, Shiprock, Bayfield, Moab and Norwood.
Kids ages 4-14 competed while Durango High School wrestlers reffed the matches.
Many members from the Durango Wrestling Club also hit the mat. This year, the club has 130 boys and girls participating in the program, and it offers unlimited scholarships for those who qualify.
“We want all kids to be able to wrestle and strive to make it the most affordable club sport in our area, which it is!” said DWC’s Krista Schwettman.
Wrestling some tough competition from around the region, Durango did well and had lots of first, second and third place performances.
“Our home tournament was a success this year, and it brought in a lot of other wrestling clubs that provided great competition for our young wrestlers as well as bringing in a profit that allows us to maintain being an affordable sport,” Schwettman said. “This year, we are hoping to fundraise money to buy new wrestling mats since some of the mats we practice on are 30 years old. This will be a big expense for our club but will be a great asset as our club continues to grow and more and more kids enter into our program. The Durango Wrestling Club is where many of our middle and high school wrestlers start out and where their love of the sport comes from. We are proud to send our kids through both the middle and high school programs and hopefully into college.”
The same weekend the club was hosting its annual tournament, it also sent a few kids to state championship tournaments in Denver.
At the elementary state championships, Colt Bartel placed fourth at 69 pounds.
In the middle school state championship, Ryder Martyn place second at 120 pounds to lead Durango’s contingent.
Next year, the club said it hopes to send even more kids to state.
