Competing for the first time since Christmas break, the Montezuma-Cortez High School wrestling team placed seventh out of 14 teams at the Indian Invitational Tournament in Montrose on Jan. 10.
Paonia High School finished first in the tournament, and Pueblo County finished second.
Among the top finishers for the Panthers was 182-pound senior Seager Oliver, who won his first three matches before losing a 10-6 decision to Ralston Valley’s Rocky Michaelson in the finals. Michaelson entered the match against Oliver as the No. 2 182-pounder in Class 5A.
“(Michaelson) is a shorter, compact, stout kid,” said M-CHS head coach Shad Bellmire. “There are some people out there who just give you fits. (Seager) isn’t happy, but we just have to move on and dwell on this.”
Also finishing second for the Panthers was heavyweight Victor Perez, who won his first two matches before losing to Golden’s Bailey Boker in the finals.
“Victor finally came out of his shell,” said Bellmire. “My heavyweight coach, Evan Frost, has him coming out and beating on kids.”
M-CHS senior Levi Gross won four of his five matches and finished third in the 132-pound division, and junior Colton Reynolds won four of his five matches and finished fourth at 106 pounds.
“Colton needs to keep this going, and he can get to state,” said Bellmire. “Levi is wrestling relentlessly. He’s getting on kids, taking them down and riding them for two periods in a row. He’s not giving opponents a chance to even breathe.”
Josh Ramos finished 2-2, Briggs Durbin finished 0-2, Andrew Finch finished 1-2, Elijah Lansing finished 0-2, and Justice Ramos finished 1-2.
Bellmire said that Justice Ramos could have placed if not for suffering an allergic reaction brought on by a snack forced him to forfeit a match and visit the emergency room.
“Justice was wrestling well,” said Bellmire. (The allergic reaction) really took the energy out of him.”
After wrestling at home against Mancos and Ignacio on Jan. 12, M-CHS will prepare to face off against Durango at home on Jan. 15. The dual against the Demons will begin at 7 p.m.
“We need the community to get down here, support us and see what our kids are doing,” said Bellmire. “We could get quite a few kids to state, and it would be nice for the local crowd to take a look at us and see what we’ve got.”