AURORA | Through two rounds of the Class 5A boys state wrestling tournament, six Aurora wrestlers — two apiece from Cherokee Trail and Grandview, plus one each from Eaglecrest and Regis Jesuit — still have their championship dreams alive.
The Cougars’ duo of Derek Glenn Jr. (120 pounds) and Matthew Buck (160), the Wolves’ tandem of Sonny Quintana (145) and Josh Allen (170), Eaglecrest 106-pounder Dorian Ervin and Regis Jesuit 220-pounder Dirk Morley all earned spots in the semifinals, which are slated for 6:30 p.m. Friday at Ball Arena.
Of the group, only Glenn Jr. — the 106-pound state champion in 2020 — has been this far before and in fact is the only one of the group other than Quintana with state experience at all. Winners from the semifinals move on to Saturday night’s championship finals, which begin with the parade of champions at 5:30 p.m.
Ten other Aurora winners from Thursday’s first round went down to defeat in the quarterfinal round — including Rangeview’s Greg Brooks, who was undefeated until he suffered a 7-6 defeat — which put them into second round consolation matches following the semifinals.
Also in those matches will be first round consolation winners that include four wrestlers from Eaglecrest — Ethan Diaz (113), Keegan Beckford (120), Hunter Baird (182) and Mike Witt (285) — plus the Grandview trio of Nehemiah Quintana (126), Gabriel Lasley (138) and Talen Rice (182), Cherokee Trail’s Finn O’Riley (152) and Vista PEAK’s Oscar Valdez in the 4A 195-pound bracket.
Follow @aurorasports on Twitter for live semifinal updates.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
