The third year could be the charm for the Mancos High School wrestling team.

In year three of its existence, under the tutelage of coach Travis Bryant, the Blue Jay wrestling program is hitting its stride. The Blue Jay are shedding their image of the Class 2A San Juan League’s expansion team after two tough years of paying their dues to bigger and more experienced teams. They should begin reaping the dividends during the 1999-2000 season. If the Jays do not pan out as powerhouses in the league and beyond in Year Double Ought, the prospect should not be far over the horizon.

Bryant and his assistant coach, Paul Wilson, have 19 reasons to agree. That is the number of athletes who turned out for the preseason conditioning drills in mid November, by far the largest turnout locally if not league wide. The Blue Jays were expected to fill all 13 weight classifications, with some leftovers, but that won’t happen now. Bryant added a few new faces to his lineup including Corey Hallam.

But raw numbers do not tell all the story. A good core of eight returning lettermen should provide good leadership for the team, a good portion of which has grappled since grade school in pee wee programs. Four of the returning veterans qualified for last season’s State Wrestling Tournament.

"I’m really happy with the turnout this year," Bryant said. "It’s always good to see a nice full room. We’ve got the potential to do really well, and we can compete with any other team."

The Blue Jays have already shown that so far this season. They finished second at the Kirtland Tournament. They also did well at Cedaredge and at Bloomfield.

Sophomore Scott Koppenhafer, who placed sixth at last year’s State Tournament at 125 pounds, is back for another go at the gold. Three other underclassmen who made the trip to Denver as qualifiers will also be out to make bigger splashes. They include 145 pound Philip Wilson, 130 pound Mike Montoya and 119 pound Jeremiah Muniz— both juniors — and sophomore Nathan Orona who qualified for State at 103 pounds.

"I’m happy with how the kids did last year, Bryant said. "It was sink or swim for them and they held their own against bigger schools. We are only going up."

The team’s only senior, Chris Crady is out for wrestling for the first time possibly hitting the mats at 140 pounds or so. Another Blue Jay first timer is junior Albert Miera at 170 pounds.

Joining Koppenhafer and Orona are joined by fellow sophomores Billy Binford, who is getting scrutinized as a 215 pounder ; 140-pound Chad Mitchell; Matt McGuire, and Victor Rosales (both at 130); and 103 pound Jeremy Sheek.

Frosh moving into varsity level wrestling are heavyweight Kevin Slemmer, 215-pound Josh Seymour who is out for his first year, 125 pounders Cody Montoya and Kelly Mitchell, Daniel Wilson at 112 pounds and David Atencio who will start out as a 103 pounder.

The Blue Jays are facing a tough schedule the rest of the season. The new year begins with a trip to Nucla for a tournament Jan. 8, and on Jan.11, the Jays will host a dual meet against Shiprock, N.M. On Jan 14-15 they will compete in the San Juan Invitational Tourney at Blanding, N.M. The Cortez JV will visit for a dual meet Jan. 18, and then Mancos will host the San Juan Duals Jan. 27. The Jays should have a good chance to win the league duals because of their shear numbers.

Winding up the regular season, the Blue Jays will travel to Ignacio Jan. 29 and then vie in the Terry Rockwell Memorial Tournament Feb. 5 at Dolores.