Jeff Buck has seen a lot in his lengthy stint as Cherokee Trail boys wrestling coach.
For the first time, he saw Centennial League supremacy decided on the mats.
Buck came away convinced the league had made the right move to add a league tournament, which took place for the first time Jan. 27 with boys and girls varsity and junior varsity competition at Arapahoe High School.
“To be honest, I was on the fence, and I really didn’t know what to expect,” Buck said. “But (Arapahoe) Coach (Steve) Sisler, his staff and parents put on an amazing event. So many kids got a bunch of quality matches. It was a great, great experience and I’m so excited for the future.”
In the past, All-Centennial League accolades were decided on voting by coaches, a lengthy process made challenging by the depth of talent in the league. The team league championship went to the program with the best record in dual matches, which can be an imperfect test of teams, especially given that strategy often plays more of a role than actual wrestling in the result.
All that ambiguity got eliminated when the league voted to add the tournament. With a set-up that also included a true second place, all-league first and second team honors were earned.
“This allows us to just let the wrestling do the talking,” said Eaglecrest coach Javier Quintana. “Coaches often do whatever they can to win a dual, but in this case, we just enter our lineup and see who’s standing at the end.”
The addition of the league tournament provided some other benefits. League teams no longer needed to have duals with all the other programs — though they still keep most of them on the schedule — which opened up possibilities to set up competition with other like programs around the area and state.
On the mat, the Centennial League Championships did not disappoint.
Quintana’s Eaglecrest boys team won the first league championship in program history with a strong finish to the championship round that included key late wins by fall in title matches by seniors Thayne Lundy (175 pounds) and Dalton Leivian (190).
Lundy came from behind in a battle with Smoky Hill senior Zach Brophy to earn a pin with 31 seconds remaining in the match, while Leivian had control of his match with Mullen senior Oliver Scelza, but earned bonus points when he secured the pin just before time ran out.
The Raptors also had league winners in senior Adonias Cantu (113) and junior Alijah Gabaldon (126).
Eaglecrest held off a charge from Grandview, which finished seven points behind in second place. The Wolves had four league champions in senior 132-pounder Nehemiah Quintana (who picked up his 100th career win with a pin in the final), sophomore Jonathan Montes Gonzales (150), junior Charlie Herting (165) and freshman Leland Day (285).
Cherokee Trail, which finished eight points behind Mullen in the chase for third place, had four finalists and the 106-pound champion in freshman phenom Cooper Mathews.
Overland had the other Aurora-area weight winner in senior Eric Kelly, who claimed the 144-pound bracket. Junior Dashawn Jenkins earned Smoky Hill’s highest place as he won a second-place wrestleback to finish second at 106 pounds.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
