Delta coaches Luis Meza, center, and Clayton Curtis congratulate 152-pound senior Hunter Brasfield after an upset win sent him into the 4A Region 4 semifinals.
Hotchkiss senior Joe Boyle controls Ruben Chagoya of Basalt to win a 3A Region 1 title. He is one of 7 Hotchkiss state qualifiers.
Hotchkiss and Paonia boys will square off this week on the basketball courts. Both are 6-4 in league play.
Delta senior Brooke Taylor scores two of her 12 points against Summit after grabbing an offensive rebound.
Paonia 195-pounder Tyler “TK” Kendall sets Rangely’s Drew Collins up for a pin.
Paonia freshman Bo Pipher sets TJ Richard of North Park up for a pin in Saturday’s regional semifinal round. He is one of 13 Paonia wrestlers headed to state!
Surrounded by coaches and his dad, Conner Beard signs Letter of Intent to play football for the University of Nebraska Kearney.
Hotchkiss' Jacobe Galley signed a Letter of Intent to play football and study engineering at Colorado Mesa University.
Hotchkiss senior Cody Bartlett signed his National Letter of Intent to run cross-country for Hawaii Pacific University.
Photo by Kelley Cox/GSPI Cedaredge freshman Austin Todd controls Grand Valley’s Cody Pfau in the 3A Region 1 championship match at 106. Todd, who had two prior losses and a win against Pfau, won the match 13-0 for the regional title.Freshman 106-pounder Austin Todd kept his word. Todd entered the 3A Region 1 tournament as the No. 2 seed and resolved to defeat the No. 1 seed, female wrestler Cody Pfau of Grand Valley, if they met up in the finals.
Todd did just that, pinning his way to the finals and upsetting the senior and two-time state qualifier Saturday by a 13-0 major decision to claim the 3A Region 1 title. Todd, who was one of five Bruins to qualify for this week's state tournament, pinned a Moffat County wrestler to advance to the semifinals, where he won by an 8-5 decision over third-seeded Justin O'Dell (31-10) of Gunnison.
Prior to Saturday, Todd was 1-2 against Pfau, who at 26-5 is considered the most successful female wrestler in the state. Todd is the No. 2 seed going in to state competition and is one of eight freshmen wrestling in the 106-pound division.
At 132, Peter Williamson overcame a sprained ankle suffered in his opening match of the Western Slope Duals on Feb. 8 to qualify for state. Williamson pinned Hank Edwards of Hotchkiss with one second remaining in the first round to advance to the semifinals. Williamson lost by technical fall to Adam Visconti (35-8) of Middle Park, then wrestled back with first-round wins by pinfall over Ivan Loya of Basalt and Sabyn Diamond of Buena Vista to place third.
Bruin freshman Jacob Ostrom opened with a 17-0 win over Grand Valley. He was pinned by No. 1 seed Trenton Piatt of Olathe (38-0) and won in consolation semifinals to advance to the third-place round. He won by a 16-4 major decision over Issik Herod of Moffat County to place third.
Junior Brian Leahy (170) was poised to place in the top four and opened with a first-round pin over Middle Park, then fell to Grand Valley's No. 2 seed, Bryan Hegwood, in the semifinals. Leahy finished with pins over Salida and Coal Ridge to place third.
Alejandro Alejandre qualified for state after placing fourth in the 182 division. Only the top four placers in each of the regions advances to state competition.
At 126, junior Ty Morton was 1-3 to place fifth. At 195, Landon Eckhart also placed fifth.
Beau Hebert (138, 19-17) opened with a first-round pin over Lake County, and lasted 3 minutes, 32 seconds against No. 1 seed Brandon Coleman of Salida (36-2), who claimed the regional title. Hebert ended the tournament at 2-2.
Senior Heath Frost (145), sophomores Wyatt Toothaker (113), Xander Camp (152) and Isaiah Surber (160) finished the tournament at 0-2.
Cedaredge earned 116.5 points to place sixth at the 12-team tournament. Buena Vista won the team title with 186.5 points.
