Two northern New Mexico schools finished one, two at the annual Terry Rockwell Memorial Wrestling Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 3, at Dolores High School. Shiprock, which has been improving in the sport, captured first-place honors with 152 points. Bloomfield finished a distant second with 129. Nucla took third with 128 and Mancos came in fourth at 112. Dolores County was next at 83.5, followed by Norwood 71, Antonito 62, Dolores 61, and Montezuma-Cortez JVs 19.5.

The key match of the tournament was when Shiprock’s Brandon Bull pinned Jeremiah Muniz of Mancos in the 130-pound bout. Bull took Muniz down, worked his legs, reversed him and pinned him. Bull was presented the tournament’s outstanding wrestler (lower weights) honor.

Derek Thompson, heavyweight, from Dolores is still undefeated at 24-0. He captured the title with a pin over a Nucla opponent in 3:59. Thompson recorded the fastest pin during the tournament in 16 seconds. He was chosen the tournament’s outstanding wrestler (upper weights).

"I thought it was a good tournament," Dolores head coach Bill Kralicek commented. "Everything ran smoothly. I was not surprised that Shiprock won and Bloomfield came in second. They have the numbers."

There was a good crowd on hand most of the day to watch the local teams.

Dolores also had Shawn Everett, 140, take third place. He decisioned a Bloomfield wrestler 9-3. Casey Garvin, 171, also came in third in a round-robin format because there were only a few wrestlers in that category. Tyler Hicks, 215, came in second. He was decisioned in a wild-scoring affair, losing 9-20. Two other DHS grapplers did not place (Tina Ramirez at 119, and Colter Dunnagan at 189).

Mancos had a good tournament. Vince Bazile, 103, came in third after beating a Shiprock wrestler. Daniel Wilson, 119, came in fourth. Scott Koppenhafer, 135, ran his record to 34-0 with a 6-0 decision in the title match over a Nucla opponent. Mike Montoya, 140, came in second after losing a 3-7 decision to a Shiprock opponent. Kelly Mitchell, 145, placed third, winning 7-4 over a Shiprock grappler.

Philip Wilson, 160, came in second after losing to Sabin Mock of Nucla by a 4-7 decision.

Anthony Mestas (112), Jakob Tallent (152), Jeff Roland (189) , and Kevin Schlemmer, heavyweight, did not place. Mancos, though, did have an independent wrestler in Cody Montoya, 140, who came in fourth.

"This was an eye-opener for our guys," Mancos head coach Travis Bryant commented. "Although we didn’t do as well as I thought we could, I think it lit a fire under our guys. We had an awesome practice (Monday morning). I was especially proud of Kelly Mitchell who has been wrestling awesome for us lately. As a team, I think we are peaking right in the nick of time (for Regionals this weekend)."

Dolores County did well considering it has such a young team this year. The Bulldogs’ Kyle Riddell, 103, captured first place by beating Justin Darby of Bloomfield 4-2 in the championship match. Matt Beanland, 112, is coming along. He took second place after falling to an Antonito wrestler 0-7. Casey Spitzer, 119, was not scored on during the tournament and he pinned a Shiprock opponent in the second period for first place. Trinity Cressler, 125, placed fourth after going 2-2. Randy Curtis, 130, came in third and Kyle Krafka, 215, grabbed fourth. Newcomer Eddie Halper, 119, competing in his first match of the season, went 1-2. Jake Williams, 112, did not place. David Hannay, 103, won his second match ever but did not place.

"This was by far our best tournament of the season," DCHS head coach Shane Baughman remarked. "By far it was the best. Both Kyle (Riddell) and Casey (Spitzer) are wrestling well right now. Matt (Beanland) is finally coming around like we knew he could.