STAFF REPORT

TYLER GRAY (on top), 130-pounder for the Montezuma-Cortez High School varsity wrestling team, looks to have left off from last season with easy wins at the Cortez Quad Tournament. Gray, who finished third at last February’s Class 4A State Wrestling Tournament, dominated his opponents. He won all three of his bouts by pins.

BAYFIELD – Mancos High School, by virtue of a 46-36 win over larger Bayfield, earned the championship team trophy at the Bayfield Invitational Wrestling Tournament which was the 2001-02 season opener held Dec. 1.

The Blue Jays won the tourney with 184 points. Bayfield finished second with 216, followed by Aztec junior varsity, 139, Dolores County, 130, and Farmington J.V., 84. While Bayfield had more points than Mancos, BHS coach Herb Stinson did not feel it was fair to claim victory over a team that had beaten his squad in head-to-head action.

The win over Bayfield was the clincher in the dual tournament format.

Mancos’ Kelly Mitchell, in the 152-pound bout, upset Clint Wilson with a pin in the first period. Mitchell went on to record three more pins.

"He was just outstanding," MHS head coach Travis Bryant commented. "While he did not receive a plaque from the tournament, I named him our team’s Most Outstanding Wrestler."

At 119, MHS’s Anthony Maestas had the quickest pin of the day against a Bayfield wrestler in 14 seconds.

For the tournament, Mancos crushed Farmington High JVs 52-24, defeateda Aztec, N.M. JVs 52-24, and dropped fellow San Juan Basin League-mate Dolores County 48-32.

At 103, Ian Mullikin won one bout and lost three on the day. Vince Bazile, 112, went undefeated at 4-0. He earned a tourney plaque for Most Outstanding Wrestler (lower weights) and he took the plaque for the most pins in the quickest amount of time (4 minutes, 30 seconds). Scott Yost, a JV wrestler at 112, went 2-0.

Maestas went 3-1 and picked up the plaque for the quickest pin. Also at 119, JV wrestler Brandon Baumgardner finished 2-1.

Chase Davis made his mat debut and had three pins against one loss at 125. David Auscencio, who gave up a lot of weight, finished 0-3 at 130. Cody Montoya had a good day going 3-1 while JV grappler Joe Plunkett made his debut and went 0-2 at 135. Nathan Orona went 2-3 at 140. Scott Koppenhafer was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler (middle weights) by going 4-0. Mitchell finished 4-0 at 152 as mentioned earlier.

Jakob Tallent was undefeated at 4-0 and JV David Walinski finished 2-0 at 160. Victor Rosales finished at 3-1 at 171. Jeff Roland went 2-1 at 189. Because of some eligibility problems, MHS did not have a 215 or heavyweight this week.

"This was a good way to start," Bryant commented. "We need to carry on this week and get keyed up for Cedaredge."

The Jays will compete all day Saturday, Dec. 8, at the Cedaredge Tournament. Joining them will be Hayden, West Grand, Gunnison, Basalt and Eagle Valley plus Grand County from Moab, Utah.

Dolores County also attended the tournament and did well. The Bulldogs went 2-2 in the duals, losing to aforementioned Mancos, beating Aztec JVs 48-20, beating FHS JVs 52-24 and losing to Bayfield 18-48.

"Forfeits in the upper weights just killed us," DCHS Shane Baughman recalled. "We had some kids who were not eligible, which hurt. But it was a good opener for us. Several of our guys wrestled very well and we have some freshmen who will only get better."

Individually, Landon Putnam, 112, went 3-1. JV grappler Jake Williams went 1-1. Kyle Riddell, 119, went undefeated with all pins and he received an Outstanding Wrestler plaque. Matt Beanland, 125, finished up at 3-1 and JV Eddie Halper went 2-0.

Casey Spitzer, 130, finished at 4-0 (all pins) and was not scored on. He, too, was given an Outstanding Wrestler plaque. Trinity Cressler, 135, had a good day at 3-1 while JV Drew Buffington finished 2-0. Randy Curtis, 140, went 3-1. Brennan Banks, 152, and Kyle Krafka, 189, both ended up at 11-3.

Montezuma-Cortez High School opened the 2001-02 season with the Cortez Quad Tournament last week. The Panthers won two of the duals and lost one. They beat Grand County (Moab, Utah) 52-27, lost to San Juan County High (Blanding, Utah) 52-27, and defeated Shiprock, N.M., 57-38.

In the win over the Red Devils, Cody Dennison at 103 and Ryan Meany at 112 both won by pins in 33 seconds and 1 minute, 02 seconds, respectively. Matt Ott won by decision 20-9 after scoring nearly at will. Tyler Gray (130), who finished third at the State Tournament, looks back to form this fall as he pinned in 43 seconds. Jared Sanders (135), Ryan Buffington (140), and Andy Spruell (152) all won by pins. Travis Spruell (145) won by forfeit. The Panthers had troubles, though, at the upper weights, losing all of them.

The Panthers wrestled well against the Broncos, but still had some problems at the upper weights and lost the match. Although this time heavyweight Elias Lehi did pull through with a pin in 1:35. Dennison won by forfeit. Cortez dominated from 125 to 145 winning all by pins. Ott and Gray won by pins in 1:05 and 1:13 while Sanders and Travis Spruell won by forfeits. Andy Spruell lost by decision 5-10.

Against the Chieftains, the Panthers got started right when Dennison and Richard Yake won by forfeit and Meany pinned in 32 seconds. Gray pinned in 1:01. Sanders won a thrilling 2-1 decision. He scored a takedown in the first period while his opponent made an escape in the third for the only points of the match. Andy Spruell pinned in 40 seconds. Dallas Reed pinned in 1:33.

The Panthers will host Bayfield for a dual at 7:30 p.m. today, Dec. 6, in Ron Wright Memorial Gym.

Dolores High School wrestlers opened the season at the 14-team Kirtland-Central Invitational at Kirtland, N.M., on Dec. 1. They finished sixth overall. Host K-C won the tourney followed by Espanola, N.M., and Monument Valley (Kayenta, Ariz.) in fourth.

"We had to shuffle a lot of kids around," DHS head coach Bill Kralicek commented. "It’s always tough to get kids where they should wrestle in the first tournament of the season."

And true to form, the Bears showed why they are good in the upper weights. Heavyweight Derek Thompson, who went undefeated and won the Class 2A State title last February, won with four pins to win the tourney title at that weight class. Tyler Hicks, 215, came in second after going 3-1. Casey Garvin, 189, also took second with a 3-1 tourney record.

Several other DHS grapplers did well. Sean Boone, 171, had a 2-1 mark. Colter Dunagan, who wrestled aat 215 in the JV bracket, went 2-1. Tex Cervenka went 1-2.

The Bears will wrestle at the Sargent Tournament all day this Saturday, Dec. 8. However, before that ttourney they will tangle with 2A power Antonito in dual match at about 7 p.m. Friday night, Dec. 7. Joining the Bears at Sargent will be LaVeta, Sanford, Del Norte, Alamosa JVs, Mountain Valley, Antonito, and Custer County to mention a few.

"We’ll at least get to wrestle against a lot of schools our size," he said.