DENVER | It was a perfect finish for Aurora area girls wrestlers Saturday at the conclusion of the Class 5A state tournament at Ball Arena.
Three girls from local programs — Vista PEAK Prep senior Amelia Bacon and junior teammate Khloe Yizar and Regis Jesuit junior Remington Zimmerer — earned their way into championship matches in front of a packed house and all three came away with titles.
The Colorado High School Activities Association shuffled the starting weight classes for finals — which typically start from lowest weight and work up to heaviest — so Yizar only had to wait two matches before she got on the mat in the 235-pound final opposite Pulotu Savea of Central of Grand Junction.
Neither wrestler had been there previously and they went through two scoreless periods before Yizar put Savea on her back and earned a pin in 4 minutes, 38 seconds, that made her Vista PEAK Prep’s second all-time state champion and completed a 29-8 season.
History was made again later by Bacon, who became the Bison’s first-ever state winner in 2025 when she secured the 125-pound championship. Back in the same weight bracket, Bacon still could not be defeated at the state tournament — or at all over the course of the season — as she dominated a matchup with junior Bella Arellano-Gandy of Coronado, a first-time finalist.
Never threatened, Bacon earned a 7-3 decision that made her the program’s first two-time state winner and completed a 47-0 campaign.
The two state championships helped coach Ashley Jaramillo’s Vista PEAK Prep team score 55.5 points to place ninth in the 5A team standings, second only locally to fifth-place Eaglecrest. Coach Horacio Vialpando’s Raptors accrued 86 points with three top-six placers, but no finalists.
Zimmerer won her first state championship — and first for the Regis Jesuit girls program — last season with a two-point win over Widefield’s Amaya Hinojosa in the 120-pound final and it was an exact rematch for this season’s crown.
Again, it was Zimmerer who prevailed as she got the opening takedown and stayed in control the entire way for a 7-0 victory that finished a 47-2 season and put her in position to become a three-time state champion with a win next season.
Placers: Four Aurora area non-finalists earned medals as well, topped by the third-place finish of Eaglecrest senior Parice Jones at 170 pounds. To get that place, she pinned Regis Jesuit freshman Alexandra Zimmerer, who took fourth in her state debut. The Raptors also had the fifth-place finishers at both 125 pounds (senior Jordan Heibult) and 140 pounds (sophomore Maxime Lantz). It was the second top-five place in two years for Lantz (who was fourth last season), while Heibult placed for the first time.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
