Local wrestling teams are gearing up for their respective league championships this weekend.
The Butch Melton Invitational in Ignacio last Saturday provided great competition for Montezuma-Cortez, Dove Creek and Dolores.
Dove Creek crowned two champions at 120 and 138 pounds in Cole Baughman and Dalton Randolph. Montezuma-Cortez High School saw Trenton Gustafson win the 182-pound title. Gustafson pinned TJ Pazell (Bayfield) and John Ellaesser (Bloomfield, N.M.).
Trenton is wrestling really hard, M-CHS coach Eric Smith said. Hes doing everything right going into regionals.
Randolph pinned his way to a 3-0 record on the day.
He wrestled his best tournament of the year, Bulldogs coach Shane Baughman said.
Cole Baughman defeated a defending New Mexico state champion from Piedra Vista (Farmington) on a 10-2 decision.
Chance Randolph, Tyler Ebberts and Jared Galyean all took second for Dove Creek at 113, 132 and 220 pounds with 3-1 marks. The Bulldogs were fourth as a team, but were without Nick Jones (120) and Chance Johnson (170). Bayfield won the tournament.
Having those two would have been 50 more points. But individually, the kids wrestled really well, Shane Baughman said. If we could ever get our full team together. We havent had our full team at all this year. We will be dangerous, if we could get our full team. Im pretty excited to see how they do at the regional and state tournament. Were going two-a-days (practice) now to get these kids ready. Thats why we do it now.
M-CHS junior captain Ryan Daves took second at 126 pounds. He lost a heartbreaking 10-9 decision in the championship to three-time (2A) state champion Alex Pena of Ignacio. Daves had leads of 4-1 and 9-8 in the match, but couldnt hang on.
Hes lost to him three times now all by one point. Its tough, Smith said about Daves wrestling Pena. We came up with a game plan on how to beat the kid. Ryan was attacking him on his feet. He went six minutes hard. Alex has a way to find ways to win. Hes a tough kid. Its unfortunate we came up on the losing end.
Seager Oliver placed third at 152 pounds, Levi Gross was fifth at 113 pounds and Justice Ramos posted a 1-2 record at 132 pounds.
Im getting good production out of these kids. Theyre wrestling hard and coming through the back side (of the bracket) and finishing strong, Smith said. They catch a gear and go hard. Justice Ramos has showed a lot of improvement for wrestling his first year. Im just proud of him. These kids are peaking at the right time going into regionals. Thats the plan. They continue to wrestle hard. Hopefully, theyll have a good showing there and at state.
Dolores had three top-five placers.
Ethan Upton (145) and Wyatt Wade (126) placed fourth, and Richard Belt (220) took fifth.
However, the Bears overall performance was one coach Dean Valdez would like to forget.
We had a couple kids who felt pretty sluggish. I dont know if we got a little bug going on or whatever, hopefully theyre feeling good. Leagues are this week, he said. We need to be on our game by then. We always have one bad week. Hopefully, the kids will get their heads screwed back on. Im sure well straighten that out
The 2A/1A San Juan Basin League championships for Dolores and Dove Creek are Friday in Norwood at 5 p.m.
We have expectations for league. But it will be pretty tough to beat Dove Creek for league, Valdez said about the defending SJBL champs. Theyre tough at every weight. Were going to have to come hard and wrestle. Especially, after how we did last week (in Ignacio).
The Bulldogs will first host a dual with Utah border foe Monticello on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
M-CHS will wrestle at the 5A/4A Southwestern League championships on Saturday at 9 a.m. in Grand Junction High School.