BY JIM THOMAS

It was their second tournament win of the season for the seventh-ranked Montezuma-Cortez High School varsity wrestling team. The Panthers showed mainly Four Corners area teams they had a very good squad by running away with the Montezuma Valley Tournament in Kayenta, Ariz., back on Dec. 10-11. They showed a lot of Front Range schools that Cortez is among the best along the Western Slope by winning the Florence Tournament this past Saturday, Jan. 8.

"Teamwise, we ran away with it," MCHS head coach Mike Allison said. "The first few rounds we dominated. We had nine in the championship finals and four in the consolation finals. I was really pleased with all of them."

Cortez won with 214 points. Host Florence came in second with 164.5, followed by Weld Central 159.5, Palisade 106, Lewis Palmer 98, Canon City 73, Fountain-Fort Carson 58, Colorado Springs Christian 50, and Florence JVs 31.

Individually, the Panthers did very well. Richard Yake, 103 pounds, took third place. Lyle Benally, 112, grabbed second. Tyler Gray, 119, took second. Travis Spruell, 125, came in second. Jared Carver, 130, also took second. Nic Martinez, 135, came in third.

Devin Newby, 145, captured fourth. Joey Wynes, 152, won as did Cole Allison, 160. Josh Knapp, 171, came in fourth. Dan O’Neal, 189, and Shawn Randolph, 215, both came in second. Evan Frost, heavyweight, grabbed second.

Allison said he was very pleased with his lighter weights. Yake, who recently moved into the varsity starting lineup only a few days earlier, showed much promise. Gray, who is a light 119, moved up in weight from 112 and did a nice job in the tourney. Spruell, who has been struggling so far this season, had a good tournament. Carver is coming around as expected.

In the consolation finals, Yake decisioned a Lewis Palmer wrestler 9-5; Martinez won easily 10-4 over a Florence wrestler; Newby was pinned by a Palisade opponent; and Knapp lost by fall in 2:20.

In the championship finals, Benally lost 2-5 to a Lewis Palmer wrestler; Gray lost by fall in 3:56; Spruell lost by a fall in 5:21; Carver lost 2-9 to Palisade; Wynes won 7-4 over a Weld Central opponent; Allison decisioned a Lewis Palmer wrestler 6-2; and O’Neal was decisioned 10-15 to a Florence wrestler.

The Panthers travel to Denver to compete in the Mullen Tournament. Joining Cortez and Mullen will be Alameda, Faith Baptist, Fort Morgan, Frederick, Grandview, Kennedy, Monarch, and ThunderRidge.

"We will see several wrestlers from schools we could see at State. Fort Morgan, Kennedy, Mullen and ThunderRidge are all (Class) 4A schools. This tournament will give us another opportunity to see wrestlers from the Front Range," Allison added.