While the Montezuma-Cortez wrestling team was in Alamosa last weekend, Dolores, Mancos and Dove Creek teams were also in action.
The Dolores Bears and Mancos Blue Jays traveled to Salida for the Rob Mickel Wrestling Tournament, where Dolores placed seven grapplers.
Dolores
Brandon Ward, of Dolores, compiled a 3-1 record and a second-place finish in the 113-pound class, falling to Ignacio’s Stocker Robbins, 4-2 in the championship match.
Ward is now 20-6 on the season – with three of his losses coming at the hands of Robbins in close decisions – and On The Mat rankings listed him as the No. 4 113-pound wrestler in class 2A, one spot behind Robbins.
Austin Hackney also claimed second place, going 3-1 as well and falling in the 126 pound championship match to Garrett Beebe of Bayfield, 6-2.
Logan Fuller (138 pounds) went 4-1 and pinned his Sierra Grande opponent in the fifth-place match to place fifth, and four Dolores wrestlers finished sixth.
Skieler Grooms (132 pounds), Aiden Hopcia (145 pounds) and Josh Petrow (120 pounds) all went 3-2 for their sixth-place finishes, while David Schmittel’s 1-2 record in the 170-pound class was also good for sixth.
Cameron Chavez was 0-2 in the 106-pound division.
Mancos
Wrestlers from Dolores and Mancos met in the fifth-place match of the 120-pound class, where Mancos freshman Chance Garcia pinned Petrow for fifth.
Garcia finished 4-1 on the day and was one of two Blue Jays to place.
The other was Austin Howerton, who at 182-pounds, finished fourth place with a 1-3 record.
At 145 pounds, Kaleb Hargraves finished the day 2-2, Nick Valdez (132 pounds) went 1-2 and Jake Skinner (138 pounds) was 0-2.
Dove Creek
Meanwhile, in Winslow, Arizona, the Dove Creek Bulldogs competed in the 52nd Doc Wright Invitational.
Senior Case Baughman – who entered the 37-team tournament as On The Mat’s No. 2 wrestler at 132 pounds in Class 2A – led the Bulldogs with his fourth place finish.
Baughman was 5-2 on the weekend, falling to Wyatt Nez of Flagstaff in the third place match.
Rhett Quackenbush and Ricky Adams also competed for Dove Creek, but neither placed.
Quackenbush was 1-2 in the 113-pound class and Adams finished 3-2 at 170 pounds.
Dove Creek and Dolores will meet at the Screaming Eagle Tournament this weekend in Paonia, while Dolores joins M-CHS at the Sand Devil Wrestling Classic in Page, Arizona.
