DENVER | Thirteen Aurora area wrestlers earned their way onto the medal podium as top-six placers in the Class 5A boys wrestling state tournament Feb. 15 and nearly all of them had been there before.
Nine placers from the 2024 tournament were back among the elite at their respective weights when three days of wrestling was done at Ball Arena and the vast majority of them made it to a higher place on the podium this time.
Aurora area programs had two state champions in Grandview sophomore JR Ortega at 113 pounds and Vista PEAK Prep junior Ian Bacon at 120 pounds, but Ortega was the only one of the two to place previously. Ortega suffered a semifinal loss last season and ended up third at 106, while Bacon jumped from a 1-2 tournament in 2024 to state champion.
Final 2025 5A boys wrestling state team scores and placing match results, here
Other area wrestlers who lost in state championship matches were the Cherokee Trail duo of brothers Cooper and Chance Mathews (120 and 138 pounds, respectively), along with the Grandview tandem of junior 150-pounder Jonathan Montes Gonzales and sophomore Leland Day.
Montes Gonzales finished in the second spot in the same weight class as last season, Chance Mathews moved up from fourth last season to second and Day jumped from fifth to state runner-up. Cooper Mathews won last season and dropped to second in 2025.
Grandview had the majority of the Aurora area’s placers, as coach Ryan Budd’s team had seven placers who helped the Wolves finish third in the team standings behind powerhouses Pomona and Ponderosa for a second straight season. Grandview piled up more than 300 points in winning its regional tournament the previous week and bumped its total from 116 in 2024 to 137.5 this season.
Two Wolves finished third this season and one of them — senior Charlie Herting — had been on a quest to win a second straight season championship.
Herting hadn’t lost since the championship match of the Top of the Rockies Invitational against Pueblo Central’s Genaro Pino (the 4A state champion), but a streak of 14-straight wins by pin came to an end with a 12-8 overtime loss in a see-saw match with Pomona’s Emmitt Munson.
Munson went on to win the championship — one of five in the tournament for the Panthers, who won the team title as well — and Herting put the disappointment behind him with two wins on the final day of the tournament. He pinned his way past Loveland’s Bryce Hayman in the consolation semifinal to make the third-place match, where he needed just 33 seconds to pin Chatfield’s Jay Aplanalp, who he had pinned in the quarterfinals on the opening round of the tournament, to finish a pin-filled season 44-5.
Herting finished no lower than third in three state tournament appearances, as he was also third at 165 pounds as a sophomore in 2023, and finished 12-2 in his career at state.
Also in third place was junior Gunner Lopez at 157 pounds, as he came up just short of being the Wolves’ fourth finalist with a 4-2 loss to Ponderosa’s DJ Wince in the semifinals, but also put together two wins Feb. 15. Lopez won a 4-2 decision over ThunderRidge’s Caden Deines in the consolation semifinals, then finished in style with a 16-2 victory by major decision over Central G.J.’s Hassin Maynes.
Sophomore 144-pounder Braxston Widrikis went 0-2 in his first trip to state, but this time he earned wins by major decision and pin to reach the semifinals and assure himself of a top-six place. He lost by technical fall in the semifinals to eventual state champion Derek Barrows of Pomona, but went on to place fifth (and finish 40-10) as he picked up an 18-3 win by technical fall over Rock Canyon’s Noah Jadd.
Sophomore Oz Nowick added a sixth-place finish at 215 pounds as he went 3-3 (to finish a 31-9 season) and made the podium for the first time. His three losses came to the three wrestlers who finished just in front of him on the podium (Pomona’s Maddux Najera in third, Centaurus’ Mason Shore in fourth and Denver East’s Grayson Robinson in fifth).
The good news for the Wolves is that only one of their 11 state qualifiers — Herting — will graduate, while 10 of the 11 all won at least one match at state this season.
Besides the two runners-up, Cherokee Trail had three other placers in senior Mateo Garreffa at 190 pounds, junior Ryan Everhart at 150 pounds and freshman Elijah Van Horn at 106 pounds, as coach Jeff Buck’s Cougars finished in sixth place, a one spot jump from 2024.
Garreffa made the semifinals for a second straight season (he placed sixth last season) but his championship bid ended with a loss to undefeated Carson Hageman of Erie. He bounced back with a win by technical fall in the consolation semifinals to make the 190-pound third-place match, where he lost a 7-1 overtime decision to Pomona’s Emerson Claeys to finish the season 45-9.
Everhart placed sixth last season at 144 pounds and bumped up a weight class this season, where he ended up fifth place after a 10-5 decision over Greeley West’s Marcelo Marquez in his last match. After a quarterfinal loss to Pomona’s Tyler Capps (who placed third), Everhart picked up three wins in four matches on the consolation side of the bracket — all won by decision — to finish 40-10.
Van Horn made the state tournament in his freshman season and suffered a loss by decision in the opening round to ThunderRidge’s Emmett Alexander, who would continue on to make the state championship match at 106 pounds. Van Horn (33-11) rose to the occasion in the consolation side of the bracket with three straight victories to make the placing round before he dropped decisions in the consolation semifinals and fifth-place match.
The only 2024 state placer who was back and didn’t make return to the podium was Eaglecrest senior Alijah Gabaldon, who was third last season at 126 pounds, but finished 2-2 and lost in the third round of consolations to finish just shy of placing. Regis Jesuit’s Garrett Reece won a state championship last season, but missed this season due to injury.
Complete results for all Aurora qualifiers in the 2025 5A & 4A boys wrestling state tournaments, here
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
