Montezuma-Cortez junior Briggs Durban racked up a 4-1 record and was named to the all-conference team during the Southwest League Duals last Saturday in Fruita.
Competing in duals against Grand Junction Central, Durango, Fruita Monument, Grand Junction and Montrose, Durban recorded four wins on three pins and a forfeit, and his only loss came by fall against Henry Ragland of Grand Junction.
“He’s not making careless mistakes that he was making,” M-CHS head coach Shad Bellmire said of Durban. “He’s starting to wrestle more fundamentally sound and getting away from careless stuff and bad habits that we’re breaking him of.”
M-CHS heavyweight Victor Perez also finished with a 4-1 record, falling only to Clayton Voytilla of Fruita Monument, but Voytilla finished the tournament at a perfect 5-0 to claim the all-conference title in the heavyweight division.
“He had a good tournament, so hopefully he can keep that up,” Bellmire said of Perez. “Sometimes you don’t know which Victor is going to show up, but right now it’s the one we’re needing.”
Stevie Fuentes (106) and Josh Ramos (138) were the only other two Panther wrestlers with winning records – both finishing at 3-2.
Shawn Higgins (113) and Matthew Broughton (120) were both 2-3 on the day and Garett Boren (126), Jared Gray (132) and Sonny Boren (145) all finished with 1-4 records.
With five open weight classes, the Panthers were forced to forfeit a number of matches, and M-CHS finished 1-4 as a team in the duals,
The Panthers’ lone win came against Durango, 42-12.
This weekend, M-CHS will compete in the Class 3A Region 4 tournament in Montrose against 13 other Class 3A schools, with the top four finishers in each weight class qualifying for the state championships in Denver, Feb. 18-20.
“You’d like to take your whole team (to state), but nothing is guaranteed,” Bellmire said. “You’ve got to get down there and get after it. All I can ask as a coach is that they give everything they have – 110 percent.”
“I’d like to get four, five, six down to the Pepsi Center,” he continued. “But it’s tough. We’re young, you know, so experience-wise we may be a little bit ‘deer in the headlights.’ But hopefully we’re ready.”