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 Tamie Meck Wrestling at 152 pounds, Paonia’s Zach Milner, bottom, controls Brendon Beck of Hotchkiss. Paonia won the dual, held Jan. 17 at Paonia, 68-12. Hotchkiss was open in four weights, and had pins at 138 and 145.If last week's dual at Paonia had opened at a different weight, things may have gone differently for Hotchkiss. But Jesse Head opened the dual at 138 pounds with a pin over Gunner Chesnik.
"He was a little tougher than I thought," said Head, who is undefeated at 138. "I had to work hard, but I came out on top."
Joe Boyle was up next, scoring a pin over fifth-ranked Ty Coats for a win at 145 pounds. Coats' style is much like that of a former teammate, said Boyle. "So I've got lots of practice against that." Boyle put Coats on his back early on when he short set. "When he did it again, I was ready."
The opening matches were the only wins for the Bulldogs, but they set the tone for the rest of the team, said head coach Glen Suppes.
"It's a great dual for us," said Suppes. Paonia is the No. 1-ranked team in the state. "For us to get a chance to dual them, you always want to wrestle the best. We wrestled the best."
Had the dual started off with a loss, said Suppes, the tone may have been much different. But with all the kids psyched up, "Everyone wrestled hard enough to give themselves a fighting chance."
The Eagles pinned their way through the remainder of the dual, with most matches ending in the first round. No. 1-ranked heavyweight Tony Darling scored a second-round pin over Zack Taylor with 4 seconds remaining in the second round. It was the first match of the season for Taylor, who was recovering from a football injury.
"I know he's a good wrestler and will probably be a state champion this year," said Taylor, who was satisfied with his performance. "I knew that I just wanted to wrestle him hard."
Paonia won the dual, 42-12. The Bulldogs were missing wrestlers due to illness.
Hotchkiss was open at 106, 113, 120 and 170 pounds.
