Log In


Reset Password
Pine River Times Pine River Times opinion Pine River Times news Pine River Times sports

Driven: 4 Wolverines heading to state

Nava takes regional wrestling title, leads team to 5th place

Back in business after sufficiently recovering from recent injuries, Taylor Winch didn't waste the opportunity to make up for lost time to see one more week - the most important one - in the 2015-16 season.

Starting with a pin in 1:26 of Parachute Grand Valley freshman LadisLao Sotelo, the Bayfield senior went 3-1 at last weekend's Class 3A-Region IV Championships in Montrose, and secured his place in this weekend's 2016 CHSAA State Championships with a second-place finish at 138 pounds.

Only Delta senior Shaun Staats stood between Winch and the tournament title. Winch had dominated Denver Sheridan frosh Diego Madrigal by a 17-6 major decision and then stuck Montezuma-Cortez junior Josh Ramos 90 seconds into the semifinal showdown's second period. Staats won by pin with 2:42 elapsed-leaving the Wolverine standing 17-5 prior to action inside Pepsi Center.

He'll have three teammates for company.

With three victories in as many tries after receiving a first-round bye inside Lloyd McMillan Gymnasium, junior 145-pounder Ryan Nava improved to 35-4 with a quality 8-7 defeat of Rifle junior Alex Cordova in the weight's finale. Nava had previously demolished Intermountain League rival Tyler Cowan (senior, Pagosa Springs) in the semis by 23-6 technical fall and pinned GV freshman Carlos Flores in only 50 quarterfinal seconds.

Led by its two top placers, BHS amassed 128 points and finished fifth in the standings.

Olathe nabbed the championship from Delta, 203.5 to 198 in a race between the classification's #5 and #7 teams. Craig-based Moffat County (159) took third and Rifle (148.5) fourth.

Delta sophomore Logan Church had definitely earned his final-round spot, managing to deal Bayfield junior Sam Westbrook just his second loss - an 8-7 result in the division's semis - this winter. But irking the big Wolverine usually doesn't bode well for subsequent opponents, as Basalt soph Oswaldo Morales and M-CHS senior Victor Perez soon learned.

Morales was pinned with seven seconds left in the first period, and Perez fell 3-1 with third place. Westbrook, who went 3-1 overall, will bring a record (38-2) as imposing as his stature to the Mile High City.

Finally, sophomore Garrett Beebe's by-rule fourth berthed him into the state bracket at 126 pounds.

A 9-2 loss to PSHS' Tate Hinger had denied him third place, but pinning Steamboat Springs' Colten Crawford in his previous consolation-round match paid off doubly when Crawford then stuck DHS' Brandon Harper to set up a rematch-on paper-with Beebe (4-2 at the regional, 33-11 overall) to decide the last Denver transfer.

Just missing was junior Cody Speece, who went 3-3 and took fifth at 120 but lost his shot at state to Sheridan's Justin Salazar by pin after an elapsed 4:05.

Senior Cash Snooks also placed at Region IV, ending up sixth at 170 after a second loss to PSHS' Chance McReynolds left him 2-3 for the tournament. And at 195, senior Wyatt Freier finished sixth after a 3-3 (all wins via pin) showing ultimately ended by an 11-3 MD courtesy Basalt's Jack Huggard. Freier's late-starting season ended with a 7-14 record, Snooks at 23-11, and Speece was a workhorse at 29-18.

At 160 pounds, junior Macoy Michaeli (25-11) went 1-3 and also ended up in sixth place. Classmate Chris Kane (4-13) went 0-2 and did not place at 152, and neither did sophomore Dakota Ehart (3-18), 0-2 at 220, nor freshman Colby Baker (6-27), 0-2 at 106.

3A-REGION IV TEAM STANDINGS: 1.Olathe 203.5, 2.Delta 198, 3.Craig Moffat County 159, 4.Rifle 148.5, 5.BAYFIELD 128, 6.Pagosa Springs 124, 7.Steamboat Springs 101.5, 8.Denver Sheridan 93, 9.Gypsum Eagle Valley 79.5, 10.Montezuma-Cortez 72.5, 11.Parachute Grand Valley 69, 12.Basalt 59, 13.New Castle Coal Ridge 37, 14.Gunnison 12.5.

3A-REGION IV CHAMPIONS: 106-Anthony Serna (Parachute Grand Valley); 113-Elias Ramirez (Olathe); 120-Matthew Broughton (Montezuma-Cortez); 126-Colt Rohrig (Rifle); 132-Noah Hermosillo (Gypsum Eagle Valley); 138-Shaun Staats (Delta); 145-RYAN NAVA (BAYFIELD); 152-Jacob Jimenez (Olathe); 160-Hayden Johnson (Steamboat Springs); 170-Kory Mills (Delta); 182-Aaron Apodaca (Denver Sheridan); 195-Chayden Harris (Olathe); 220-Ricky Ayala (Denver Sheridan); Hwt-Felix Pena (Olathe).