THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Grand Junction High School Athletics

After a runner-up finish in 2017, Grand Junction reached the mountaintop last season by winning the Class 5A state title. It was the school's ninth championship and its most recent since 1994. The Tigers will have a solid team this season, despite losing three stars to graduation. You cannot replace a Josiah Rider, arguably the best ever in the school's storied 83-year wrestling history. The three-time state champion now competes for North Carolina State. In addition to Rider, Grand Junction will miss state finalists Dylan Martinez and Seth Latham. However, coach Cole Allison's team still has plenty of top-notch talent returning to make another title run. On the Mat's top-ranked 126-pounder and returning state champion Dawson Collins is joined by other state medalists in Kerian Thompson, who placed sixth; Jay Skalecki, who finished third; and state finalist Hunter Tobiasson. Collins, a junior, is also halfway to becoming a four-time Warrior Classic champion, an elite group that includes only Rider and Nucla's Tucker Lane. Tobiasson, ranked No. 1 at 220, also won the Warrior Classic last season. Skalecki and Thompson are ranked No. 2 at 170 and No. 5 at 113, respectively, and freshman Andrew Leyba is ranked fourth at 106. The Tigers are ranked third behind Pomona and Grandview. Pomona, which won the state title in 2017 and was second last year, has seven wrestlers ranked in the top five. Three are at No. 1, and that includes freshman phenom Daniel Cardenas. In the 25 years of On the Mat rankings, only three freshmen have been ranked in the number one spot to start their prep career — Cardenas, Rider and Lane. Fruita Monument senior Keegan Bailey went 5-1 at the Class 5A state tournament to place third, losing only to the eventual champion. Bailey is ranked No. 2 behind Tobiasson at 220 pounds. Coach Lucas Archuleta also has seniors Ty Walker, ranked No. 8 at 170, and Delson Pyland, ranked No. 9 at 195, back this year. In addition to the Wildcats' three returning state qualifiers, eight other underclassmen competed in last season's regional. It is not often that a Class 5A regional tournament is held on the Western Slope, but this season, Fruita Monument will host. The elder statesman of Western Slope coaches, Central's Laurence Gurule, has been coaching the Warriors since 1982 and has been the head coach for the past 21 years. His senior-laden team is once again primed for success, as he has eight wrestlers with Class 4A state tournament experience returning, including Palisade transfer Jaggar Wade. Seniors Tiga Lundin, Paul Salazar, Tanner Hickey and Shaun Stepisnik, as well as juniors Luke Pleasant and Isreal Lima, all hope to make a return trip to state. Leading the Warriors is senior Dre Martinez, ranked No. 4 at 138, who brought home a third-place medal last year and is a returning Warrior Classic Champion. Palisade's dominating 182-pounder Terrance Williams graduated after winning a Class 4A state title. Coach Tanner Ridgway has a young team and stresses that each wrestler show at least one percent of improvement each day. 113-pound freshman Judah Guajardo appears to have plenty of potential after finishing fifth at last year's middle school state tournament. Montrose has three wrestlers returning who qualified for state: Grady Nickolaus, Fabian Lujan and Ben Roebuck, who placed sixth. Some team members who are trying to play catch up in practice were part of the Class 4A football semifinal team. One of them is Roebuck, a junior, ranked No. 2 at 170. Nickolaus is ranked No. 5 at 120 and Lujan No. 6 at 132. Both are seniors. For returning state titlists, it's a given they become a target for every opponent who hopes of "knocking off" the state champ. Such will be the case for Grand Valley senior A.J. Serna. The Class 3A 120-pound champion will be a marked man. Losses have been few for the senior, who has suffered only 12 losses and compiled 135 victories in his prep career. If he stays on pace for about 40 wins a season, he could reach that magical plateau of 170 career victories, an incredible accomplishment no matter the classification. Serna is ranked No. 2 behind La Junta junior Isaiah Gamez, who won state at 113 pounds last season. Also back for Grand Valley is Jonathan Pena, a 145-pound senior who qualified for state two seasons ago. Delta returns two state qualifiers for coach Clayton Curtis. Aiden Barrios and Gauge Lockhart are back, with Lockhart coming within one victory of the medal round, a top-six finish, at last year's Class 3A state tournament. Barrios, a senior, is ranked No. 3 at 170, and Lockhart, a junior, is ranked No. 7 at 195. This is coach John Wisniseski's 19th year leading the Class 3A Rifle Bears. Last season, a couple of sophomores surprised by crafting impressive records and topping it off by qualifying for state. Cauy Smith finished 41-12 and Conrad Demann tallied a 31-14 slate, both displaying their potential for continued success. Smith is ranked No. 6 at 132 and Demann is No. 11 at 145. Olathe Coach Tee Jay Rose has three seniors with state tournament experience on this year's squad. Clay Yarnell, Chase Sale and Elias Ramirez look to make a return trip to Denver's Pepsi Center. Yarnell, who is ranked No. 8 at 145, placed sixth in 2016, and injuries have sidelined 138-pound Ramirez his sophomore and junior years. Sale is slated to wrestle at 220 pounds. Area teams have always had an impact when it comes to deciding the Class 2A state title, whether winning it outright or playing the spoiler. Meeker (8), Paonia (5) and Hotchkiss (3) have accounted for 16 state titles. Last season, all three schools, along with Cedaredge, finished in the top 10 at state. For the first time in many years, all four will not be at the same state qualifying regional tournament. Cedaredge will travel to John Mall High School in Walsenburg for Region 2 competition. Paonia placed second last season and returns six state qualifiers, with four of those bringing home medals. Senior Sackett Chesnik paces the Eagles. Chesnik placed fourth as a freshman, second as a sophomore and third last season. Grey Neal, a junior, whose father Eric was a 1992 state champ for Hotchkiss, placed third. Other third-place medal winners were Anthony Felice and Levi Peterson. Chesnik and Neal, a junior, are both ranked No. 1 at 145 and 160, respectively. Felice, a senior, is ranked at No. 2 at 182 and Peterson, a junior, is No. 2 at 220. Sophomore Anthony Miller is ranked No. 3 at 195. Zeb Etter, a junior, also is a returning state qualifier at 138. Cedaredge hadn't had an individual state champion since 1986. Last season, Sean Dale and Trey Geyer both won titles. For Geyer, now a sophomore, it places him on track as a potential four-time champion. Dale made the top of the podium at state after the junior placed fourth the previous season. Both he and Geyer are ranked No. 1 at 120 and 126, respectively. All total, Cedaredge has seven state qualifiers returning with sophomore Adrian Nieto placing fourth. Seniors Toby Waddell finished sixth and Taj Van der Linde brought home the fifth-place medal. Sophomore Derek Sanchez was only one match win away from the medal round. The Bruins also have three wrestlers ranked No. 3 — Nieto at 132, Van der Linde at 220 and Sanchez at 285. Waddell is No. 5 at 182. Cedaredge, the Region 1 champion, had one of its best showings at state in years, finishing fourth. The Meeker Cowboys are three seasons removed from their most recent state title. Last year they returned only three state qualifiers but still finished eighth. Coming back this season is three-time state qualifier and state finalist Tannen Kennedy, who is ranked No. 1 at 152. James Amick placed sixth and is No. 7 at 182, and state qualifier Ridge Williams is No. 5. at 220. Hotchkiss finished 10th and returns four state qualifiers from last season, but in reality there are two more when you consider seniors Sergio Campos and Landen Mayberry. Campos placed third and second his first two years. He was a regional champion last season but did not compete at state because of an appendicitis. Mayberry qualified in 2017, but did not make weight at the regional tournament after being ranked high all season. He is ranked No. 8 at 113. The Bulldogs had a fine showing from state qualifiers Traycer Hall, a sophomore who placed fifth and Presley Pene who finished sixth. This season, Hall is ranked No. 2 at 138, and junior Jace Peebles is No. 5 at 160. Another returning state qualifier is 113-pound sophomore Robert Cochran, also ranked No. 8 with Mayberry. Campos and Pene, a senior, are both ranked No. 5 at 132 pounds. Coach Flores is still working on the lineup to find the best weight class for Mayberry, Cochran, Campos and Pene. One goal many coaches work toward is to qualify as many possible to the state tournament and return with medals. If they have success with that formula, then state team titles or top-10 finishes will take care of themselves. But beyond the qualifying and medals, it is important for coaches to see improvement each day and the commitment from wrestlers to be their best both on and off the mat.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Grand Junction High School Athletics

AREA TEAMS PEGGED FOR MORE SUCCESS

ROBERT GARCIA

The Daily Sentinel | 12/5/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Scott Schlaufman