DENVER — It was either feast or famine for many of the area participants at the Colorado High School State Wrestling Championships which started Thursday, Feb. 15, and concluded Saturday, Feb. 17, at the Pepsi Center.

(See related story on Page 1 on the individual state champs)

Most of the local wrestlers who qualified for the elite tournament did not place. However, three finished as state runnerup, one took third, another finished fourth, and one placed sixth. Not in recent memory had so many from the area (seven) advanced into the finals and get to march in the coveted Parade of Champions.

Casey Spitzer, a 119-pounder junior from Dolores County; junior Scott Koppenhafer, 135, from Mancos; and senior Philip Wilson, 160, also from Mancos; all lost in their respective championship bouts Saturday night. Junior Tyler Gray, 119, from Montezuma-Cortez, came in third place after losing in the quarterfinals Friday morning and then working his way back through the consolation bracket Friday evening and Saturday morning and afternoon. Freshman Anthony Mestas, 112, of Mancos took fourth and freshman Vince Bazile, 103, from Mancos, placed sixth. The remainder of those who qualified for state did not place.

Spitzer had a most interesting match. He fell behind after the first minute of the opening period of the championship match Saturday night when Kevin Salazar of Sanford tosed him to the mat. The score stayed that way for another 31 seconds. Spitzer tried to build a base when he was on the bottom but never could get up. Both wrestlers were cautioned for stalling. The score remained 0-2 at the end of the first period.

Starting in the down position in the second period, Spitzer and Salazar worked themselves into a stalemate. After a reset, Spitzer managed to stand for an escape. The score was 1-2 at the end of the second period.

Spitzer started on the attacking side in the third period. Salazar went to his belly and stayed there, but no stalling call was made. But with 22 seconds left, Salazar flagrantly pushed Spitzer out-of-bounds. The score was deadlocked at 2-2 at the end of regulation.

After a flip of the colored disc, Salazar won the toss and elected to start down in the overtime. He made a reversal to take the title.

Spitzer finished the season with a deceiving 15-19 record.

Koppenhafer, who took second a year ago as a sophomore and was the top seed entering the tournament, found himself in a tough match in the finals against Dustin Ehland of Eads. After neither scoring early, Koppenhafer scored with a takedown. Then the two fought back and forth but neither could gain any kind of advantage. Koppenhafer led 2-0 at the end of the first period.

Ehland got Koppenhafer in a reverse cradle for a three-point nearfall. But Koppenhafer managed to slip free and made a complete reversal. Koppenhafer held a precarious 4-3 lead after the second period. In the final go, the two stalemated. After a reset, Ehland made a reversal to lead 4-5 with 1 minute, 20 second to go. Ehland then scored again on a two-point nearfall with 41 seconds left. Koppenhafer could not make up the difference, losing 4-7. Koppenhafer won 6-1 over Kelsey Gallegos of Calhan in the semifinals Friday night. Koppenhafer finished the season 39-1.

Wilson took on Rick Osburn of Akron in the finals. Wilson came out as the aggressor and led 2-1 with 1:33 in the first period. The score stayed that way until Wilson tossed Osburn to the mat for a 4-1 lead. But Osburn tied it with 27 seconds left and it stayed at 4-4. The score stayed that way quite a while in the second period until Osburn grabbed a 4-6 lead with a reversal. Both wrestlers started in the neutral position in the final round. Osburn got the better of Wilson after he made a critical mistake. Osburn pinned Wilson to the mat in 5:22 to take the title.

Wilson won in an impressive fashion in the semifinals Friday night over Clayton Funk of Strasburgh who had won a state title in 1998. After a slow start, Wilson finally manhandled Funk and led 7-0 at the end of the second period and 9-0 when Funk was forced to retire because of an injury. Wilson ended the year 29-7.

On Saturday afternoon, Gray took on Derek Noffsinger of Englewood in the finals of the consolation bracket. Gray right from the get-go scored almost at will against Noffsinger. He completely dominated him. He tossed him to the mat several times. He made a couple reversals when he did get into a slight bit of trouble. And he scored two- and three-point nearfalls to rack up a 16-1 technical fall.

Gray, after losing a 6-1 decision in the quarterfinals, came back to pin Shane Alton of Monte Vista in 35 seconds. He then easily defeated Jeremy Kellogg of Skyline 12-2. He had a tougher bout in the consolation semifinals by decisioning Eric Griego of Pueblo East 11-7. Gray, a junior, finished with a sparkling 31-6 record (regular season, regionals, and state).

After winning his first-round bout, Mestas had no problems pinning Carlos Valencia of Centauri in 46 seconds in the quarterfinals. But he lost by fall in 1:08 to Jimmy Gebaur of Akron in the semifinals. Mestas pinned Morgan Burr of Merino in 1:34. He then lost by fall to Brady Walter of Wiggins in 2:10 in the consolation finals.

Bazile lost a 12-1 major decision to Danny Birchfield of Strasburgh in the quarterfinals. Basile dropped into the consolation bracket. He pinned Matt Tuoti of Del Norte in 1:52. He then eliminated Josef Sisneros of Antonito with a fall in 2:08 in the next round. He lost to Tony Gallegos of Calhan 11-1 in the consolation quarterfinals. He lost 8-0 to Chad Delgadillo of Monte Vista in the fifth-sixth place bout.

Other 2A local competitors who attended state but did not place were: Matt Beanland, 112, of Dolores County; Daniel Wilson, 119, of Mancos; Trinity Cressler, 125, of Dolores County; Randy Curtis, 130, of Dolores County; Mike Montoya, who finished as state runnerup at 135 a year ago, of Mancos; Kelly Mitchell, 145, of Mancos; Jakob Tallent (152) of Mancos; Casey Garvin (171) of Dolores; Colter Dunagan (189) of Dolores; Tyler Hicks (215) of Dolores; and Kevin Schlemmer (275) of Mancos.