Plans for new nursing home falter

MCHS hosts Durango tonight for SWL dual

Jan. 24, 2001

By Jim Thomas
Journal Sports Editor

Southwest League duals begin today, Jan. 24, as Montezuma-Cortez High School hosts rival Durango. A few junior varsity matches will get things started at 6 p.m. and then, according to MCHS head coach Karl McGee, the varsity will hit the mat about 6:30 in Ron Wright Memorial Gym.

The Panthers are a Class 4A team while Durango is a 5A team. The duals will help when it comes to seeding for Regionals the second week of February. McGee said Durango has a good team this year but it should be a great contest.

MCHS is coming off a six-place finish at the Mullen Tournament in Denver this past Saturday, Jan. 19.

"We had a couple kids sick, so we didn’t have a full a team," McGee reported. He noted some lightweights were missing and middleweight Connery Bennally, who has been a steady grappler this season. McGee said that Bennally would have probably placed first or second.

Windsor and Fort Morgan tied for the tourney title.

"I am noticing a scary trend," McGee said. "Here Fort Morgan is a powerhouse and it has only 20 kids in the wrestling room. We we’re down to about 20 in our room. But I’ve been noticing this trend all over the state. In fact, we had some weights at this tournament with only four kids in a bracket out of a nine-team tournament."

Some of the other schools participating were new school Mountain View (Loveland), plus Regis, Liberty, Kennedy, and Alameda.

Lyle Benally captured second place at 119 pounds. He lost 2-10 in the finals to a Fort Morgan opponent. Tyler Gray took first place after defeating a Mullen wrestler 10-7 in the finals at 130. Jared Sanders, 135, grabbed second place. He lost by technical in the finals to a Mullen grappler. Andy Spruell (152) came in fourth place. He lost by fall to a Fort Morgan opponent.

On a side note, Owen House, who was ill, came in fourth place at 103 at an independent.

Mancos wrestled a dual at tough Monticello, Utah, the defending Class 3A Utah State Champion team, Tuesday night, Jan. 22.

Illness to several wrestlers and a couple overweight had MHS head coach Travis Bryant scrambling and shuffling his lineup. The Jays lost the dual 54-14. Most all the upperweights were forfeited by the Jays. Mancos did pick up forfeits wins at 160 and 189.

Scott Koppenhafer, one of the top wrestlers in Colorado, won at 145 pounds. He beat Luke Martinez 8-2. Koppenhafer usually wrestles at 140 but was bumped up for this match.

Cody Martinez had a good wrestler Mark Snyder on his back but Martinez came up short in the 140-pound bout. Jakob Tallent, 152, gave, "110 percent in his bout which is all I could ask for," but lost. Vince Bazile, 103, was wrestling well but suddenly got sick and lost.

"I think we learned from this match. I ran them a little extra this morning (Wednesday). We are still building ourselves back up, but they are coming around," he added.

Dolores County, meanwhile, did about the best of the 2A teams competing this past weekend at the Grand County Invitational in Moab, Utah. Monticello, which has an outstanding team again this year, won the tournament’s team title with 177.5 points. San Juan Basin League-mate Nucla came in second with 144.5. Ignacio took third at 133, followed by DCHS 121.5, Mancos 86, Moab 79.5, Cedaredge 76, Dolores 76, and Norwood 56.5. Rounding out the tourney field were Emery, Utah, at 52.5, and Whitehorse, Utah, 25. Incidentally, independents, if totaled together, scored 82 points.

Several Dolores County wrestlers had a good tournament, according to head coach Shane Baughman.

Trinity Donalow, 103, did not place but finished at 1-2. Kyle Riddell (112) captured first place and was voted the Lower Weights Outstanding Wrestler. He defeated Michael Smith of Nucla 2-1 for the title. Jake Williams, 112, wrestled as an independent and finished 2-2.

Matt Beanland, 119, came in fourth place. David Hannay, 112, finished 1-2. Casey Spitzer, 125, took first place. He beat Adrian Abeyta of Ignacio 9-4. Eddie Halper, 125, went 2-2 but did not place. Trinity Cressler, 130, placed third. Drew Buffington, 125, also finished 2-2.

Randy Curtis, 135, grabbed second. Mancos’ Nathan Orona won with a first-period pin. Brennan Banks, 140, came in fourth after, "wrestling the best tournament of his life." Kyle Krafka, 171, went 1-2. Bru Meyer, 189, came in fourth after, he also wrestled well. James Smith, 215, finished 2-2 but did not place.

"The competition was pretty good," Baughman noted. "We saw some kids from our league and some others who we had not seen before."

Mancos did not get any points for Orona’s wins because he wrestled as an independent.

"He just came out of nowhere to wrestle. I did not have him as my regular because he did not make weight. But I thought he did just outstanding," Bryant commented.

Anthony Maestas lost a heartbreaker and finished in second place when a call did not go as expected, according to Bryant. Maestas had Andy Butler of Monticello in a full press but got no call. Maestas then lost in the second period by pin in the 119-pound contest.

Bazile finished in second place, after losing a tough bout to an Emery, Utah, wrestler in the finals. Ian Mullikin, wrestling as an independent, came in fourth place.

Koppenhafer easily won the 140-pound class. He beat a previously undefeated Mark Snyder of Monticello, 4-0 in the title bout.

Dolores’ heaveyweight Derek Thompson continues his unbeaten ways, easily winning the heavyweight title. Thompson won a tough match in the finals, defeating Fred Spor of Norwood by a 3-0 decision.

Ignacio’s Jarad Lyons defeated Shawn Everett of Dolores 12-2 in the finals of the 145 bout. Dolores’ Casey Garvin captured third place at 160. Colter Dunagan wrestled well but did not place.

The Bears competed in two back-to-back duals against Shiprock and Durango JVs in Dolores prior to the Moab tourney. DHS defeated Shiprock 35-24 but lost to Durango 42-24. DHS head coach Bill Kralicek reported the Demons had several weights covered while DHS had to give up points on forfeits. However, Kralicek said that of the 11 matches the Bears participated during the evening, they won 10 of them.

Dolores, Dolores County, and Mancos will compete at the Ignacio Tournament this Saturday, Jan. 26. MCHS will head to the Rifle Tournament on Saturday.