With Regional Tournaments over, the sights rest on state

Nine San Luis Valley teams will be represented at the Pepsi Center.

Alamosa's Wrestling team poses with their Regional Championship Plaque after winning their home tournament. The Mean Moose will send 11 wrestlers to Denver for the Colorado State Wrestling Championship Tournament. (Photo courtesy of Aaron Parrill)

SAN LUIS VALLEY — Over the weekend, state placements for teams from all over the valley wrapped up with the regional wrestling tournaments. Alamosa will enter state with a splash as regional champions.

With a score of 251 Alamosa beat out rival Pagosa Springs by 33 points to take first place at their host tournament and become Regional Champions. Davion Chavez, Elijah DeLaCerda and Joe Chavez topped podiums for the Moose. Reis Martinez, Zendon Bernal and Preston Duran added team points each making it to championship matches to take home silver. While Tyler Kenison, Kolton Hillis, Ben Vance, and Logan Thompson all added third place finishes for the Moose.

Colton Liddell finalized the state placements with a fourth place finish. Kenison, Martinez and Duran will be sharing brackets with undefeated wrestlers this weekend. Alamosa will be sending eleven wrestlers to state.

Centauri and Monte Vista made trips Pueblo for their regional tournament where the Falcons took third and Monte Vista placed 10th. Centauri would get a strong showing from their top ranked wrestlers, Brandon Buhr took first place while Brian Shawcroft and Bennie Chacon added second places to the Centauri team total. The Falcons would receive another boost from the likes of Zach Martin and Weston Huffaker who each added third place finishes to the final team score. Five wrestlers at the state championship tournament will represent Centauri. Shawcroft will be in the same weight class as undefeated wrestler Jaziah Whaley at the Pepsi Center.

For Monte Vista it was Jacob Chavez, Chavez placed second at the 160 pound weight class. Tyler Vigil and Cedric Perea each added third place finishes for the Pirates while Zach Hindes rounded out the bunch with a fourth place finish. Monte Vista will send all four wrestlers to state.  

Down in Sanford the Indians played host to the final tournament that housed valley based teams. Del Norte placed fifth at Sanford with 98.5 points. Of the 2A teams, they will send the most wrestlers with four. The Tigers got a podium topping performance from Cobie Black who finished first at 120 pounds. Behind Black were Brett Benevides and Dillan Salter who each took third; and Preston Terrell who took fourth. Salter will have an opportunity possibly to avenge his regional loss to undefeated Dahlton McGhee at state.

Sierra Grande/Centennial placed seventh at regionals with a score of 72.5. Their top placer was Richard Atencio who took second place. Accompanying Atencio to state will be team mates Alejandro Velasquez and Isais Minchaca who each took fourth place at regionals.

Center will also be sending three wrestlers to state and earned a 52 point team score to take 10th at the regional tournament. For Center Mario Chavez got a third place finish and will be joined at state by Juanito Garcia and Cosme Cordova who each earned their placement with fourth place finishes on the podium.
Sanford will be represented in the Pepsi Center by Max Salazar and Gavyn Smith. Salazar took over the 106-pound weight class in his home tournament and earned first place, Smith took fourth.

Sargent and Mountain Valley each will send one wrestler to the 2A State Championship Tournament. The Farmers will send Ethan Maxwell who placed second in Sanford and the Indians will have Isiah Wellman donning the Mountain Valley red and black.

This weekend the action kicks off in Denver at the Pepsi Center with preliminaries on Thursday Feb. 15th. Semifinals take place on Thusday follow along at Trackwrestling.com.