DENVER | The spotlight that shines bright on the state championship matches Saturday night will fall on a trio of wrestlers from local programs who made it through the semifinals.
Regis Jesuit junior Alexis Segura, Vista PEAK senior Leilani Caamal and Eaglecrest senior Blythe Cayko all came away with victories in the semifinals on the big stage Friday night at Ball Arena and earned the chance to compete in front of the biggest crowd of the three-day tournament that will see the girls finals run alongside four classifications of boys.
The Parade of Champions is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. preceding the championships.
For Cayko, it is familiar territory, as she is the defending state champion at 190 pounds after she defeated Calhan’s Taylor Knox in the title match last season. A year later, the same two wrestlers will vie in the final, as both Cayko (25-1) and Knox (25-1) — who dealt her a two-point loss earlier in the season — both won their semifinals.
Cayko had needed only 40 seconds to win her first round and quarterfinal matches, but needed a couple of more minutes to finally put away Central of Grand Junction’s Laylah Casto. Casto got the opening takedown and held the lead into the second period before Cayko took her down and finish a pin in 3:23. It was the same result as the first time the two met in the semifinals of the Chatfield War Horse Invitational.
Being in a championship match will also be familiar to Segura, but in entirely different circumstances.
As a freshman, Segura made it to the state championship match in the first season of girls wrestling as a sanctioned sport, but the finals were held in Pueblo due to coronavirus pandemic. When the state tournament moved to Ball Arena last season, Segura — whose older brother Antonio won three Class 5A boys state wrestling championships — missed it due to injury.
She hasn’t been phased by the big stage thus far, as she wrestled well in her first two matches in the 125 pound bracket and then secured a spot in the championship match with a 10-0 major decision over Arvada’s Isabella Ciotti in the semifinals. The two met for the second straight week and the result was the same as Segura pinned Ciotti to win the Region 1 title.
In the championship match, Segura (28-3, with two losses coming out of state and the other by medical forfeit) will face Mesa Ridge junior Isabella Cross, who comes in with a sparkling 40-1 record. That one loss came courtesy of Segura, who pinned Cross when the two squared off before winter break at the Northern Colorado Christmas Tournament.
Caamal has already put the bad taste of a 1-2 performance at Ball Arena last season behind her with three victories that have made her the first wrestler for the Vista PEAK girls program to make it to a state championship match.
She earned her way into the 155-pound final with two strong victories that put her into a semifinal against Denver North’s Rosebelle Atayde, who she was familiar with. Caamal pinned Atayde in the championship match of the Denver South Raven Rumble in early January and did so again in the third period of the rematch after building a large lead.
In the championship match, Caamal (36-4) will have another rematch and it will come against Discovery Canyon’s Victoria Guinard (41-1), who dealt her one of her four losses when they wrestled in the Northern Colorado Christmas Tournament final. Guinard’s only loss of the season came at a tournament in Kansas.
Aside from the finalists, five other wrestlers from girls programs remain alive with the chance to place as high as third in their respective brackets.
Four of the five qualifiers for coach Jakob Vargas’ Vista PEAK remain in the hunt as freshman Amelia Bacon (115 pounds), junior Reagan Perez (120) and junior Rachel Allred (145) all won their consolation second round matches.
Eaglecrest junior Chasey Karabell (100) and Overland senior Vianca Mendoza (120) also moved forward in the consolation bracket, which resumes at 10 a.m. Saturday. The winners in that round are assured of a top-six place and then wrestle again in consolation semifinals to determine if they end up in the third- or fifth-place match.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at [email protected] Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
AURORA’S GIRLS STATE WRESTLING SEMIFINAL RESULTS
125 pounds: ALEXIS SEGURA (REGIS JESUIT) maj. dec. Isabella Ciotti (Arvada), 10-0
155 pounds: LEILANI CAAMAL (VISTA PEAK) pinned Rosebelle Atyade (Denver North), 5:36
190 pounds: BLYTHE CAYKO (EAGLECREST) pinned Laylah Casto (Central G.J.), 3:23
CONSOLATION SECOND ROUND RESULTS
100 pounds: CHASEY KARABELL (EAGLECREST) dec. Sadie Corn (Olathe), 7-4
115 pounds: AMELIA BACON (VISTA PEAK) pinned Anaiah Guajardo-Zarate (Central G.J.), 0:43
120 pounds: VIANCA MENDOZA (OVERLAND) maj. dec. Paola Cruz Andrade (Basalt), 13-0
120 pounds: REAGAN PEREZ (VISTA PEAK) pinned Shaniah Martinez (Mesa Ridge), 1:47
125 pounds: Aubrey First (Poudre) pinned KAIYA WINBUSH (EAGLECREST), 1:47
145 pounds: RACHEL ALLRED (VISTA PEAK) pinned Myka Martinez (Widfield), 2:08
155 pounds: Madison Farris (Rifle) pinned GIANNA FALISE (EAGLECREST), 2:30
170 pounds: Raquel Rios-Paiz (Prairie View) pinned DIORA MOORE (EAGLECREST), 4:14
190 pounds: Ezry Bonomo (Poudre) pinned TARYN HOLLOWAY (VISTA PEAK), 1:19
