Thirty-two wrestlers from nine Aurora area programs earned the chance to compete in the Feb. 13-15 Class 5A & 4A boys wrestling state tournaments.
At least one wrestler from Cherokee Trail, Eaglecrest, Gateway, Grandview, Hinkley, Overland, Regis Jesuit, Smoky Hill and Vista PEAK Prep made it through regional tournaments Feb. 7-8 to advance to the big stage at Ball Arena.
The Colorado High School Activities Association issued the official state tournament brackets Monday. Find them, here.
Grandview — ranked in the top three in Class 5A by On The Mat for the entire season — had the top performance, as the Wolves won the Region 3 tournament at Broomfield High School with 307.5 points and had 11 state qualifiers.
Sophomores JR Ortega (113 pounds) and Braxston Widrikis (144), juniors Jonathan Montes Gonzales (150) and Gunner Lopez (157), senior Charlie Herting (175) and sophomore Leland Day (285) all won regional championships to earn automatic state berths.
The state contingent for coach Ryan Budd’s Wolves also includes regional runners-up in sophomore Kyle Menuez (113) and freshman Ryder Hoffschneider (190), third-place finishers in sophomore Pearce Christensen (106) and senior Graeson Streit (132).
Next in terms of volume is Cherokee Trail, which had a trio of champions from the Region 2 tournament at Ponderosa in sophomore Cooper Mathews (120 pounds), senior Chance Mathews (138) and junior Ryan Everhart (150).
Regional runner-ups in sophomore Charlie Rider (113) and senior Mateo Garreffa (190) also advanced for coach Jeff Buck’s Cougars, as did freshman Elijah Van Horn (3rd at 106) and senior Michael (Noah) Collins (4th at 175 pounds).
Vista PEAK Prep has a trio of state qualifiers that are led by junior Ian Bacon, who won the Region 3 title at 120 pounds. Fourth-place finishers at 106 pounds (junior Adrian Pacheco) and 132 pounds (junior Denzel Womely) also made state.
Rounding out Aurora’s 5A boys wrestling state contingent are the duo of senior Alijah Gabaldon (126) and junior Nakhai Miller (285) for coach Javier Quintana’s Eaglecrest team, the tandem of seniors Jarrius Ward (215) and Silver Velasquez DeLao (285) for coach Carter Krueger’s Overland squad, the pair of senior Dashawn Jenkins (106) and freshman Tagg Charity (113) for coach Jake Fisher’s Smoky Hill team and junior 113-pounder Richard Avila for coach Dan Wrona’s Regis Jesuit team.
The Raiders lost Garrett Reece — a two-time state finalist and state champion last season — for the season due to injury.
The 4A boys tourney will have two wrestlers apiece from Gateway (Daniel Anaya Sanchez & Juan Campos) and Hinkley (Marco Duran & Carter Davis). All four qualified out of the same regional.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
