AURORA | The 2024 Class 5A and 4A boys state wrestling tournament for Aurora at a glance:
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com.Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
Seven Aurora programs — Cherokee Trail, Eaglecrest, Grandview, Overland, Regis Jesuit and Smoky Hill in Class 5A and Vista PEAK Prep in 4A — will be represented in the 2024 boys state wrestling tournament, which is set for Feb. 15-17, 2024, at Ball Arena. The tournament is back in Downtown Denver for a third straight season after it was held in Pueblo in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Grandview has the largest state contingent of qualifiers (12), followed by Eaglecrest with 11, Cherokee Trail (8), Regis Jesuit (5), Smoky Hill (3), while Overland and Vista PEAK Prep have two apiece.
Full Class 5A/4A boys state tournament pairings, here
∙ The first round of the Class 5A/4A state tournament begins at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, with matches running until they are completed. Championship quarterfinals take place at 12:45 p.m. Friday and championship semifinals at 6:30 p.m., followed by the second round of consolations. The third round of consolation matches are set for 10 a.m. Saturday, followed by consolation semifinals, then third– and fifth-place matches as mats become available. The Parade of Champions for the finalists in 2A-5A plus girls begins at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, preceding championship matches.
∙ Tim Yount of On The Mat released his predictions for the top six placewinners in each of the 14 weight classes and his predictions — based on a thorough analysis of the bracket and how wrestlers have performed coming into the tournament — have 14 Aurora wrestlers making their way onto the medal podium and seven others one match away from making the medal round depending on the flow of the tournament.
Yount’s projections have seven Aurora wrestlers advancing to championship matches, including what would be a head-to-head matchup at 106 pounds between freshman Cooper Mathews of Cherokee Trail and freshman JR Ortega of Grandview. He also has two area wrestlers making state championship matches for a second straight season — Eaglecrest senior Adonias Cantu at 113 and Regis Jesuit junior Garrett Reece at 150 — as well as Grandview junior Charlie Herting at 165 pounds, Eaglecrest senior Thayne Lundy at 175 pounds and Vista PEAK Prep senior Joseph Maes in 4A at 285 pounds. He projects a 2-5 record for city finalists with wins from Ortega and Reece.
The pre-state picks project Aurora to have top-six placers in 11 brackets, with holes at 126, 144, 190 and 215 pounds. On the Mat has half of the medal podium at 106 pounds from Aurora with Smoky Hill junior Dashawn Jenkins in sixth in addition to Ortega and Mathews, while Cantu is the lone medalist at 113 pounds, Eaglecrest senior Ethan Diaz third at 120 pounds, Grandview senior Nehemiah Quintana fourth at 132, Cherokee Trail junior Chance Mathews third at 138 pounds, Reece joined on the podium at 150 by Grandview sophomore Jonathan Montes Gonzales in sixth, Grandview sophomore Gunner Lopez 4th at 157, Herting the only placer at 165, Lundy the only placer at 175 and two heavyweight placers in Grandview freshman Leland Day (fifth) in 5A and Maes in 4A. Cantu, Diaz, Reece, Montes Gonzales, Lopez and Herting were placers last season.
One match away depending on the flow of the tournament are Eaglecrest junior Blake Saddler (106 pounds), Cherokee Trail senior Jay Everhart (126), Regis Jesuit seniors Daniel Lantz (138) and Ryan Curran (157), Smoky Hill senior Zach Brophy (165), plus Eaglecrest senior Dalton Leivian and Cherokee Trail junior Mateo Garreffa at 190.
∙ Cherokee Trail freshman Cooper Mathews (Region 1, 106 pounds), Eaglecrest senior Adonias Cantu (Region 2, 113 pounds), Eaglecrest senior Ethan Diaz (Region 2, 120 pounds), Smoky Hill senior Zach Brophy (Region 2, 165 pounds), Grandview freshman JR Ortega (Region 3, 106 pounds), Grandview senior Nehemiah Quintana (Region 3, 132 pounds), Grandview sophomore Jonathan Montes Gonzales (Region 3, 150 pounds), Grandview junior Charlie Herting (Region 3, 165 pounds), Regis Jesuit junior Garrett Reece (Region 4, 150 pounds), Regis Jesuit senior Ryan Curran (Region 4, 157 pounds) and Vista PEAK Prep senior Joseph Maes (4A Region 1, 285 pounds) all won regional championships.
∙ Eight of Aurora’s qualifiers will appear for the third time in Smoky Hill junior 106-pounder Dashawn Jenkins (who has a 1-4 record in two previous trips), Cherokee Trail senior 126-pounder Jay Everhart (who is 2-4 in his state career thus far), Eaglecrest senior 120-pounder Ethan Diaz (who is 4-4 in his previous two appearances and placed fifth at 120 last season), Grandview senior Nehemiah Quintana (who is 2-4 in two previous appearances), Cherokee Trail junior 138-pounder Chance Mathews (who is 4-5 in two trips and placed sixth at 113 as a freshman in 2022), Regis Jesuit junior Garrett Reese (who is 7-3 in his two trips with a runner-up finish at 132 pounds in 2023 and a fourth place at 126 in 2022), Smoky Hill senior 165-pounder Zach Brophy (who is 1-4 in his two previous appearances) and Eaglecrest senior 190-pounder Dalton Leivian, who is 1-4 in his two prior trips.
∙ Forty-one of Aurora’s qualifiers go into the state tournament with winning records, while Eaglecrest senior 215-pounder Braden Conroy (22-25) and Cherokee Trail senior 215-pound Mouhamed Benbelkacem (9-13) qualified with sub-.500 marks. Eaglecrest senior Adonias has the most wins among any area qualified with 55 (against just two losses), while eight Aurora wrestlers have 41 or more wins. The fewest losses suffered by any local qualifier is one for Regis Jesuit junior Garrett Reece, whose lone defeat came in California at the rugged Doc Buchanan Invitational.
∙ There are multiple family ties in the tournament. Vista PEAK Prep sophomore Ian Bacon (4A 120 pounds), and his twin sister, Amelia, qualified for the girls state tournament for a second straight season. In the 5A tournament are two sets of brothers — both from Cherokee Trail in Cooper and Chance Mathews and Jay and Ryan Everhart.
∙ The breakdown of Aurora state qualifiers by year: 18 are seniors, 11 are juniors and there is six sophomores and eight freshmen.
