AURORA | Brush was the most dominant team in the Smoky Hill gym Saturday for the annual Buffalo Invitational boys wrestling tournament, but Vista PEAK and Regis Jesuit raced each other for second place.
With nine champions and 271.5 points, the Beetdiggers finished well in front of the other 13 teams in the field, but the Bison — who had the 190-pound winner in senior Ezekiel Taylor — racked up 146 points to hold off the Raiders (137.5) for second place in a tournament that featured six Aurora teams in all.
Smoky Hill sophomore Dashawn Jenkins won the other bracket championship among city wrestlers as he finished atop the 106-pound weight class and led the host Buffaloes, who finished seventh, just behind a squad of lower level wrestlers from Grandview, which had its main varsity squad at the Colfax Smackdown at Denver East.
Young wrestlers from Cherokee Trail (which was also at the Legend Duals) tied for 11th, while Gateway (which had one placer in Julian Moreno, who took fourth at 120 pounds) finished in 12 place.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2022 SMOKY HILL BUFFALO INVITATIONAL BOYS WRESTLING TOURNAMENT
Jan. 7 at Smoky Hill H.S.
Team scores: 1. Brush 271.5 points; 2. VISTA PEAK 146; 3. REGIS JESUIT 137.5; 4. Longmont 122; 5. Lutheran 119; 6. GRANDVIEW 83; 7. SMOKY HILL 78; 8. Englewood 43; T9. Cherry Creek 40; T9. Standley Lake 40; T11. CHEROKEE TRAIL 39; 12. GATEWAY 28; 13. Legend 15; 14. Thomas Jefferson 11
Vista PEAK placers: 106 pounds — Adrian Pacheco, 2nd place; 113 pounds — Ian Bacon, 3rd place; 157 pounds — Thade Holmes, 4th place; 175 pounds — Jason Leadens, 3rd place; 190 pounds — Ezekiel Taylor, champion; 215 pounds — Oscar Valdez, 2nd place; 285 pounds — Joseph Maes, 3rd place
Regis Jesuit placers: 113 pounds — Richard Carrier, 4th place; 120 pounds — Richard Avila, 3rd place; 126 pounds — Connor Mohr, 3rd place; 138 pounds — Daniel Lantz, 2nd place; 144 pounds — Ryan Curran, 3rd place; 157 pounds — KJ McHugh, 2nd place; 285 pounds — Daniel Lovato, 2nd place
Grandview placers: 120 pounds — Anthony Segura, 2nd place; 126 pounds — Brady Dean, 4th place; 132 pounds — Logan Griffin, 3rd place; 132 pounds — Andrew Krutzsch, 4th place; 144 pounds — David McCurdy, 2nd place; 215 pounds — Zechariah Clausen, 4th place
Smoky Hill placers: 106 pounds — Dashawn Jenkins, champion; 138 pounds — Jacob Castellano, 4th place; 165 pounds — Zach Brophy, 2nd place; 190 pounds — Elijah Villegas, 4th place
Cherokee Trail placers: 150 pounds — William Collins, 3rd place; 175 pounds — Noah Collins, 4th place
Gateway placer: 120 pounds — Julian Moreno, 4th place
