MCHS takes third; Mancos grabs second on the mat

MCHS takes third; Mancos grabs second on the mat

Jan. 8, 2001

STAFF REPORT

Montezuma-Cortez and Mancos high school varsity wrestling teams returned to action from the holiday break on Saturday, Jan. 5. MCHS captured third place in the Florence Invitational while Mancos grabbed second at the Nucla Tournament.

"We bounced back from the break real well," MCHS head coach Karl McGee reported. "We did not wrestle well at home against Ignacio before the holidays. I was real pleased with the way the guys wrestled at this tournament."

The Panthers took nine wrestlers to the meet and seven of them were in the finals.

Travis Spruell was the only winner with a 3-0 record at the tourney. Tyler Gray was upset by a Weld Central wrestler (top ranked 3A wrestler) and finished second. Owen House, Lyle Benally, Jared Sanders, Connery Benally, and Andy Spruell all had 2-1 records and all finished in second. Ryan Meany came in fourth with a 2-2 mark. Brad Phillips. who was in a tough bracket, wrestled well but ended up 0-2 and did not place.

Lewis-Palmer won the tourney, host Florence came in second and MCHS third.

The Panthers will host Monticello, Utah, at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 10, in Ron Wright Memorial Gym. The junior varsity will take the mat first with the varsity match to immediately follow. MCHS will not compete again until participating in the Mullen Tournament Jan. 19.

Mancos started the 2002 portion of the season by competing at Nucla. The Mustangs won the event with 134 points, Mancos came in second with 133, followed by Hotchkiss JVs with 94. Others included Montrose JVs, Paonia, San Juan County High (Blanding) JVs, Fruita-Monument JVs, Monticello JVs, Olathe, Delta JVs, and Norwood.

"It was a big tournament," MHS head coach Travis Bryant commented. "It started at 11 a.m. and it didn’t get done until 11 p.m. We did see some outstanding wrestlers including some from our league (San Juan Basin)."

Vince Bazile took third at 103 pounds, Anthony Mestas first at 125, Nathan Orona third at 130, Scott Koppenhafer first at 140, Kelly Mitchell first at 145, Jakob Tallent fourth at 152, and Victo Rosales third at 160 all in the "A" bracket.

In the "B" bracket, Ian Mullikin (103) came in first.

"This was a good tournament for us to start the second half of the season. We looked pretty good overall. I don’t think we had too many who were not in shape (from the holidays)," he added.

The Blue Jays will compete in the big Navajo Nation Invitational in Shiprock this Friday and Saturday, Jan. 11-12.

Dolores and Dolores County will get back on the mat at the Paonia Tournament this Saturday.