With two returning state qualifiers, the Montezuma-Cortez wrestling program is looking to pick up where it left off.
Second place state finisher Victor Perez graduated in the spring, but senior Josh Ramos and sophomore Matthew Broughton are back on the mat after advancing to the Class 3A State Championships last season.
Although head coach Shad Bellmire envisions each of them moving up a weight class or two, he expects both wrestlers to find success again this season.
He also sees junior Sonny Boren – who nearly qualified for state last year – as a potential state qualifier, and has high expectations for returners Stevie Fuentes, Jared Gray, Shawn Higgins and a handful of freshmen and first-year wrestlers.
“With hard work and all that comes with that I’m expecting Higgins can get there, so can Fuentes, Sonny, Matthew, Josh, and Jared,” he said. “And then we have quite a few freshman and first year wrestlers that it’s going to take some work – I’m not saying that it’s ever been impossible – but it’s going to take some work for them.”
After starting official practices on Friday, Nov. 11, Bellmire and assistant coaches Ryan Daves and Evan Frost have been upping the intensity to get the Panthers ready for the 2016-17 season.
“We need to definitely get in shape and start pushing the conditioning during workouts,” said Bellmire. “And then with my new kids, us coaches have got to balance the fundamentals of wrestling with them and then get the guys that are knowledgeable drilling hard and knocking the rust off.”
M-CHS will open the season at the CMU Duals this weekend in Grand Junction, with Bellmire saying that the regular season will be used to prepare for the team’s long-term goal of advancing grapplers on to the state tournament.
“I like records, but when you get to regionals everybody is 0-0,” he said. “And if you’ve been working hard and getting the fundamentals down, with my new kids, they might stand a chance down there at regionals at doing something.”