AURORA | The 2026 Class 5A boys state wrestling tournaments for Aurora at a glance:
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
AURORA’S 2026 CLASS 5A BOYS STATE WRESTLING TOURNAMENT AT A GLANCE
Eight Aurora programs — Cherokee Trail, Eaglecrest, Grandview, Overland, Rangeview, Regis Jesuit, Smoky Hill and Vista PEAK Prep — will be represented by a total of 32 qualifiers in the 2026 boys state wrestling tournament, which is set for Feb. 19-21, 2026, at Ball Arena in Denver. It is the same number of qualifiers from the area as in 2025, though there were four 4A qualifiers that season.
Grandview has the largest state contingent of qualifiers (11), followed by Cherokee Trail and Eaglecrest with seven apiece, Regis Jesuit and Smoky Hill two apiece and Overland, Rangeview and Vista PEAK Prep with single qualifiers.
Full 2026 Class 5A/4A boys state tournament pairings, here
∙ The first round and quarterfinals of the Class 5A boys tournament will take place at the same time as the 5A girls and 4A boys on 12 mats between 5-9 p.m. Feb. 19. First and second round consolation matches run from 1:15-4:30 p.m. Feb. 20, followed by semifinals at 6 p.m. and the third round of consolations at approximately 7:45 p.m. Consolation semifinals are slated for 9 a.m. Feb. 21, followed by fifth-place matches and then third-place matches. Doors open for spectators at 3 p.m. ahead of the 4 p.m. Parade of Champions for boys and girls, which precedes finals contested on six mats.
∙ 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 brackets and how wrestlers have performed coming into the tournament — have a whopping 20 Aurora wrestlers making their way onto the medal podium and three others one match away from making the medal round depending on the flow of the tournament.
Yount’s projections have five Aurora wrestlers advancing to championship matches and four of them — Grandview junior JR Ortega (126 pounds), Cherokee Trail junior Cooper Mathews (132), Grandview senior Gunner Lopez (165) and Grandview junior Leland Day (285) — having their arms raised as state champions, with one other (Vista PEAK Prep senior Ian Bacon at 120 pounds) finishing second. Ortega won the 113-pound title last season and Bacon won at 120, while Mathews lost at 120 and Day lost in the 285-pound championship match. Yount’s projections have Grandview junior Kyle Menuez (132) and Grandview senior Jonathan Montes Gonzales (157) — a finalist the previous two seasons — to finish third, while Smoky Hill junior Jovani Galvan (138) and Eaglecrest senior Nakhai Miller (190) are tabbed for fourth place, Cherokee Trail sophomore Elijah Van Horn (106), Grandview junior DJ Snider (120), Grandview junior Anthony Segura (138), Grandview junior Braxston Widrikis (144), Cherokee Trail senior Ryan Everhart (157) and Cherokee Trail senior Andrew Dienhart (175) sit in fifth place in the projections and Regis Jesuit senior Richard Avila (113), Eaglecrest sophomore Cade Picone (138), Cherokee Trail senior Renzo Lubugin (150), Grandview sophomore Marques Lawrence (215) and Cherokee Trail senior Youdas Aghouiles (285) come in sixth.
One match away depending on the flow of the tournament according to Yount are Eaglecrest senior Donavon Delbridge II at 126 pounds, junior Britton Matejovsky at 150 pounds, Grandview junior Christian Skov at 175 pounds. Yount’s projections of top-six placers (in any order) last season for 5A was 77.4 percent accurate.
In the 5A team chase, Yount projects out to 15 teams and tabs Grandview to finish in second place — which would be the best in program history — while he has Cherokee Trail in sixth and Eaglecrest in 11th.
∙ A whopping 11 Aurora area state qualifiers come in as regional champions, including five from Grandview in juniors JR Ortega (113 pounds), Kyle Menuez (132) and Leland Day (285) and seniors Jonathan Montes Gonzalez (157) and Gunner Lopez (165) — who all came out of Region 2 — plus four from Cherokee Trail (the Region 4 host) in sophomore Elijah Van Horn (106), junior Cooper Mathews (132), senior Renzo Lubuguin (150) and senior Ryan Everhart (157) along with one apiece from Eaglecrest (sophomore Cade Picone, Region 4, 138 pounds), Smoky Hill (junior Jovani Galvan, Region 2, 138 pounds) and Vista PEAK Prep (senior Ian Bacon, Region 4, 120 pounds). Four Aurora area qualifiers made it in via winner-take-all regional wrestlebacks: Smoky Hill sophomore Tagg Charity rebounded from a loss in the third-place match at 126 pounds at Region 2 to win by fall in a wrestleback. Also in Region 2, Overland senior Juan Valdez Martinez won a major decision in the fifth-place match to earn a challenge to the loser of the third-place match and he prevailed with a 7-2 decision. Cherokee Trail junior Weston Manuel finished strong in the 138-pound bracket at Region 4 with a win by technical fall in the fifth-place match followed by a 12-5 decision in the wrestleback. Also in Region 4, Eaglecrest junior Dane Sims got pinned in the 144-pound third-place match, but returned the favor to his opponent in the wrestleback early in the third period. Vista PEAK Prep had two and Eaglecrest one lose wrestleback chances at Region 4.
∙ Aurora has three four-time state qualifiers in its contingent, which includes a pair from Grandview in seniors Jonathan Montes Gonzales (8-5 in his three previous trips, including runner-up finishes in 2024 and 2025 and a sixth-place finish in 2023) and Gunner Lopez (10-7 in three previous trips, including a third-place finish in 2025 and sixth-place results in the previous two seasons) as well as Vista PEAK Prep senior Ian Bacon (2-4 in a two trips to the 4A tournament in 2023 and 2024 and 4-0 with a state championship in the 5A tournament last season). Three-time state qualifiers include Grandview juniors JR Ortega (8-1 with a state championship in 2025 and third-place finish in 2024), Dustin John Snider (5-5 with a fourth-place finish in 2025 and sixth-place finish in 2024 while in 4A with Sand Creek, Braxston Widrikis (3-4 with a fifth-place finish in 2025) and Leland Day (7-3 with a runner-up finish in 2025 and fifth-place showing in 2024), Cherokee Trail senior Ryan Everhart (7-5 in his career with a fifth-place finish last season and sixth in 2024) and junior Cooper Mathews (7-1 with a state championship in 2024 and a runner-up finish in 2025) and Regis Jesuit senior Richard Avila, who missed the 2024 tournament, but went 1-4 in trips in 2023 and 2025, while two-timers are Cherokee Trail sophomore Elijah Van Horn (3-3 with a sixth-place finish last season), Eaglecrest senior Donavon Delbridge II (0-2 in 2024 while at Grandview), juniors Britton Matejovsky (0-2 in 2024) and Nakhai Miller (0-2 in 2025), Grandview junior Kyle Menuez (1-2 in 2025), Regis Jesuit senior Dane Anderson (0-2 in 2024) and Smoky Hill’s junior Jovani Galvan (1-2 in 2024) and sophomore Tagg Charity (1-2 in 2025) are two-timers. The other 13 area qualifiers will appear at state for the first time.
∙ A whopping eight of Aurora’s 5A state qualifiers return after making the medal podium as top-six state placers last season. Leading the way are two state champions in Vista PEAK Prep senior Ian Bacon (who is back in the 120-pound bracket he won last season) and Grandview junior JR Ortega, who is at 126 pounds this season after he won the 113-pound crown last season. Three other returners were finalists a year ago in Cherokee Trail junior Cooper Mathews (the 120-pounder last season — after winning a state title at 106 in 2024 — who has jumped to 132 pounds, Grandview senior Jonathan Montes Gonzales (the 150-pound runner-up in each of the past two seasons who is at 157 as a senior) and junior Leland Day (who is back at 285 pounds). Grandview senior Gunner Lopez placed third at 157 pounds, Cherokee Trail senior Ryan Everhart (150) and Grandview junior Braxston Widrikis (144) each were fifth and Cherokee Trail sophomore Elijah Van Horn took sixth.
∙ Aurora’s qualifiers span all 14 of the 14 weight classes in Class 5A, with the largest concentration coming at 138 pounds with Smoky Hill junior Jovani Galvan and Eaglecrest sophomore Cade Picone — both regional champions — joined by Cherokee Trail junior Weston Manuel and Grandview junior Anthony Segura. The brackets at 120, 126, 150, 157, 175 and 285 pounds feature three Aurora area qualifiers.
∙ All 32 of Aurora’s qualifiers go into the state tournament with winning records and nine of them have posted 40 wins or more. Eaglecrest junior Britton Matejovsky leads the way with 47, followed by 46 apiece for the trio of Grandview junior JR Ortega (46-1, with the lone loss coming out of state), Cherokee Trail junior Cooper Mathews (46-4) and Overland senior Juan Valdez Martinez (46-7), followed by Eaglecrest senior Nakhai Miller (43-4 at 190 pounds), Eaglecrest sophomore Cade Picone (43-14 at 138 pounds), Grandview junior Leland Day (41-2 at 285 pounds), Rangeview junior Biram Griffey (41-7 at 285 pounds) and Regis Jesuit senior Dane Anderson (40-11 at 120 pounds). The area qualifier with the fewest matches is Eaglecrest junior 144-pounder Dane Sims, who has wrestled just 21 matches and is 14-7.
∙ There are multiple family ties in the tournament led by Vista PEAK Prep seniors Ian Bacon (5A 120 pounds), and his twin sister, Amelia (5A 125 pounds). Both were state champions last season and both won regional titles this season.
∙ The breakdown of Aurora state qualifiers by year: 14 are seniors, 13 are juniors, five sophomores and not a single freshman.