The Aurora area upped the ante in boys wrestling in the 2025-26 season, following up the previous season’s outstanding performance (11 top-six placers, two state champions) with an even better one.
Two juniors — Grandview’s JR Ortega and Cherokee Trail’s Cooper Mathews — won their second career state titles and set themselves to be three-timers as they set the pace for a group of 17 placers at this season’s elite gathering at Ball Arena.
Grandview set program history with a second-place finish, as it came in only behind powerhouse Pomona (which had eight state champions) with the help of a lineup that makes up half of the 14 members of the 2025-26 Aurora Sentinel All-Aurora Boys Wrestling Team. Cherokee Trail had three first teamers, while Eaglecrest, Regis Jesuit, Smoky Hill and Vista PEAK Prep had one apiece.
Full 2025-26 Aurora Sentinel All-Aurora Boys Wrestling Team, here
Coach Ryan Budd’s Grandview team had four finalists (one more than last season) and it was Ortega who led the way. On the heels of last season’s 113-pound title, he was even better as a junior with a 50-1 record that was capped with a victory in the 126-pound final.
A pin of Castle View’s Jacob Ness in the state title match capped a season in which nobody in Colorado defeated Ortega, whose lone loss came at the Doc B tournament to Darion Johnson of West Linn (the eventual 132-pound 6A state winner in Oregon).
Two of the Wolves’ other three finalists — senior Gunner Lopez and 165 pounds and junior heavyweight Leland Day — ended their respective outstanding seasons with heartbreaking finals defeats.
For Day (who won his second Top of the Rockies championship during the regular season), it was the second straight season in which the 285 pound title escaped him. A late lead against Legend’s Alexander Rose disappeared and once in overtime, Rose prevailed with a pin after a scramble. Day’s sparkling 44-3 record featured two losses to Rose plus one other at the Doc B tournament.
Lopez capped a career in which he earned a top-six place in all four seasons with his first finals appearance, where he lost a 5-2 decision to Pomona’s Emmitt Munson. Lopez — who earned a fourth-place finish at the Reno Tournament of Champions among a multitude of highlights — finished 42-5 for the season.
Junior Kyle Menuez made the 132-pound title match for the Wolves, but lost All-Aurora honors to Cherokee Trail’s Mathews.
Grandview’s All-Aurora contingent is rounded out by senior Jonathan Montes Gonzales — who came up short in his quest to make a state championship match for a third straight season, but placed third at 157 pounds for his fourth career podium finish — junior Braxston Widrikis (the All-Aurora 144-pounder for a second straight season), plus two first-time state qualifiers and state placers in junior Christian Skov (who took fourth at 175 pounds) and sophomore Marques Lawrence, who secured sixth at 215 pounds.
Cherokee Trail had history made with the victory of Mathews in the 132 pound final — which came via a 13-4 win over Menuez — as he became the program’s first-ever two-time state champion.
Mathews (the 106 pound state winner as a freshman and a runner-up last season at 120) went 50-4 on the season and all four losses came out of state.
Mathews earned All-Aurora honors for a second time in his career for coach Jeff Buck’s Cougars, as did sophomore Elijah Van Horn, who got onto the medal podium for the second time in as many seasons.
Van Horn finished sixth at 106 pounds as a freshman, but climbed three steps to third as a sophomore with a 5-1 state run that concluded a 44-5 season. Senior Renzo Lugubuin, a first-time state qualifier, placed sixth at 150 pounds and earned All-Aurora honors.
Regis Jesuit’s lone All-Aurora performer came at 113 pounds in senior Richard Avila, who went 1-4 in state tournament appearances as a freshman and sophomore before he missed out junior year. In his final state tournament, Avila finished 4-1 (with his only loss to eventual state champion Tony Tufano of Brighton) and placed third.
Smoky Hill also had a third-place finisher at 138 pounds in junior Jovani Galvan, who earned All-Aurora honors for the first time in his career and had a 42-6 mark for the season.
Vista PEAK Prep again was represented by Ian Bacon, who fell an agonizing point shy of earning a chance to defend his 120 pound state championship. The Colorado Mesa-bound senior rebounded to win the third-place match to cap a 34-5 season.
Rounding out the All-Aurora team is Eaglecrest senior Nakhai Miller, who went 44-6 on the season, but fell shy of making it to the medal podium at 190 pounds.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
