PUEBLO — Down 12 points heading into the placing matches on Saturday night, Pomona roared back to win yet another state wrestling championship.
The Panthers had 12 wrestlers place, including four individual champions, as they won a third-straight Class 5A championship, and eighth overall.
Winning titles for Pomona were:
Jakob Romero, at 120 pounds
Elijah Olguin, at 126 pounds
Daniel Cardenas, at 145 pounds
Franklin Cruz, at 220 pounds
Also placing were:
Mark Cardenas, fifth at 106 pounds
Jeramiah Steele, third at 113
Josiah Parsons, third at 132
Gage Bernall, third at 160
Jacob Judd, third at 170
Roman Cruz, sixth at 182
Justin Cullen, fifth at 195
Jose Rosales, fifth at heavyweight
Heading into the final round of the event, Pomona trailed Ponderosa’s 155 points to their 143. But the Panthers’ depth quickly helped them close the gap.
Wrestling two weight classes at a time in the final session, Pomona shrunk the lead to 155-150 after two weight classes. After four, they jumped into the lead at 157-155.
They never trailed again.
A key match came in the 120-pound bracket when Pomona’s Romero beat Ponderosa’s Jett Strickenberger 7-5 thanks to a late takedown. His win, coupled with the fifth-place finish by Cullen at 195, expanded the lead to 163-155.
They two teams also had a head-to-head championship matchup in 126, where Pomona’s Elijah Olguin beat Ponderosa’s Jacob Bostelman with a 3-0 decision.
Pomona, which ended with 180 team points, has now finished either first or second at the tournament in each of the past seven years.
Ponderosa ended up having 10 wrestlers place, and finished the event with 159 team points, which earned them the runner-up trophy.
Pomona’s Daniel Cardenas positioned himself to potentially join that club next season with his third state championship. Cardenas, a junior, won the 145-pound division with a 13-3 major decision against Ponderosa’s Jaron Mahler.
It was a night for multiple-time champions.
Three others also won a third championship: Regis Jesuit senior Antonio Segura, who captured 152 pounds; Pomona senior Franklin Cruz, who won at 220 pounds; and Brighton senior Kenny Sailas, who won at 113.
Additionally, Columbine teammates Jack Forbes and Zach Schraeder are now two-time champions. Forbes won his second title at 195, while Schraeder won at heavyweight.
In terms of the team race, Monarch (65 points), Chaparral (53) and Brighton (52.5) also finished among the top-5.
Due to the major snowstorm that has hit much of the state, the CHSAA basketball playoff schedule will be modified to accommodate those teams impacted by the storm.
Great 8 Games
These games must be completed by Tuesday, March 16. Games MAY be played on Monday or Tuesday to allow for those teams that can play Monday to do so, or those who are battling travel issues with the storm to play Tuesday.
The amount of travel between sites dictates that the semifinal date be changed to allow for teams to travel. And a change in the dates for the state championships is needed.
Final 4/Semifinals
All Semifinals have been moved to Thursday, March 18. This provides travel time and preparation time for all teams.
State Championships
The five Friday Championship Games (1A Boys & Girls, 4A Boys & Girls, 5A Girls) will be moved to Sunday, March 21, (CHSAA Bylaw 2310.5) with the same game times. Saturday Championship games would remain (2A Boys & Girls, 3A Boys & Girls, 5A Boys) with the same game times.
With the closure of Adams 12 Five Star Schools on Monday due to severe weather this weekend, the Class 3A girls swimming and diving state meet has been moved to Tuesday.
The state meet host site, Veteran’s Memorial Aquatic Center, is an Adams 12 facility.
CHSAA assistant commissioner Justin Saylor sent the following email to schools:
We were just notified that Adams 12 Five Star Schools (along with most in the metro area) will be closed tomorrow due to the severe weather that has overstayed its welcome in the metro area. Because of the closure, we will push back the 3A State Meet to Tuesday, March 16th. Diving will be earlier in the day with warmups beginning at 6:15am (7:30am start to the competition) and swimmers allowed into the facility for the 200MR at 10:15am. … Our schedule will have the meet finished at around 5:30pm so we can get people back on the road and home on Tuesday evening.
An updated schedule:
[pdf-embedder url=”https://old.chsaanow.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-Girls-State-Meet-Schedule-3A-Tuesday.pdf” title=”2021 Girls State Meet Schedule 3A Tuesday[69]”]
PUEBLO — Moments after Centauri narrowly wrapped up the team title, Eyan Chavez put an exclamation point on the night for the Falcons.
Tied 0-0 after three periods in the final match of the Class 2A boys wrestling state tournament, Chavez, a junior, earned a 2-0 sudden victory win against Peyton’s Clint Brown to win a championship in the 145-pound division.
Minutes later, Chavez and Centauri were posing with the gold trophy as they earned the program’s third title and first since winning back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010.
The title was only locked up after the second-to-last match of the event.
Heading into the placing matches, Centauri led the team race with 92 points. Cedaredge and Wray were just behind at 84, and Buena Vista also in the hunt with 81.5.
Things only tightened as the placing matches continued, wrestling two weights at a time. Through the first six weights of the final session, Centauri and Cedaredge were deadlocked with 95 points apiece. Buena Vista sat in third with 87.5 points, and Wray was fourth with 84.
Through eight weights, Centauri inched ahead of Cedaredge at 97-95. Through 10, the lead expanded to 100-95. Through 12 weights, the team race stayed the same.
Then, finally, as the 145- and 152-pound divisions wrapped up and the tournament concluded, the picture was finally clear: Centauri had won the title, The final margin? 104 points to Cedaredge’s 99.
Chavez was the lone individual title for Centauri, but the Falcons had seven wresters place. Included: Riley Valdez (2nd, 106); Jordan Martin (2nd, 152); Erik Mestas (2nd, 160); Mario Vigil (3rd, 113); Zach Buhr (5th, 170); and Byron Shawcroft (5th, 182).
The tournament also featured a number of standout individual performances.
The 132-pound match was a monster battle between two two-time champions: Rye senior Michael Atencio and Lyons senior Oran Huff. Huff took a tough 3-2 decision.
Huff won 126 as a junior and sophomore, after he finished fourth place in that weight as a freshman.
Cedaredge’s Lane Hunsberger, a junior, won the 120-pound championship in sudden victory, beating returning champion Brady Collins of Wray 5-3. Collins, a sophomore, won the 106-pound title last season.
Meeker senior Colby Clatterbaugh beat two returning champions in the 195-pound bracket to claim the title. Clatterbaugh beat previously unbeaten Fabian Lopez of Sedgwick County/Fleming in the semifinals with an 8-4 decision, and pinned Adam Schulz of Crowley County in 3:49.
Wray senior Tyler Collins won his second championship in defending his championship at 152. Collins got a 7-1 decision over Centauri’s Martin.
Wray finished third as a team with 95 points. Buena Vista (89.5) took fourth, and John Mall (69) was fifth.
PUEBLO — For the first time in school history, Pagosa Springs is a team state wrestling champion.
The Pirates put together a solid Class 3A state tournament performance across the board, ending the night with one state champion and three additional top-three placers. They finished with 110.5 points. After clinching a share of last year’s team title, Eaton finished second with 84.5 points.
They got their first state champion of the night when Cameron Lucero finished off an undefeated season, beating Fort Morgan’s Cael Langford in a 9-6 decision to claim the 160-pound title. The win gives Lucero his third state championship and it gives him a win in his final match as a high school wrestler.
After falling in the semifinals, Erik Wyman battled back to get a third-place finish after pinning Elizabeth’s Andrew Kramer.
Dylan Tressler had a chance to give the Pirates two gold medalists on the night, but ran into two-time state champion, Zane Rankin. The Lamar senior is no stranger to the big stage as he had previously won to wrestling titles and was also named the 2A football player of the year last fall.
Even with Tressler’s second-place finish, the Pirates had plenty to celebrate. They get to go home with their first team trophy in the sport and they got to watch head coach Dan Janowsky get honored for his 20-plus years of service to high school wrestling. He has been coaching the Pirates for 40 years, the last 31 as head coach.
And while the Pirates left the Southwest Motors Event Center as the ultimate winner, there were plenty of other notable achievements from the 3A wrestling tournament, some of which will have an impact for next season.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
Woodland Park’s Brady Hankin needed a 5-3 sudden victory to advance to the 138-pound championship match. Hankin, a junior, is going for his third state title and with Jefferson’s Angelo Lozado getting beat in the 126-pound semifinal, Hankin will be one of two wrestlers to have a shot at a fourth state championship next year as Pomona junior Daniel Cardenas will be going for his third title on Saturday.
Hankin cruised to his second state title last year, beating La Junta’s Isaiah Gamez with an 11-6 decision in the championship match. He became just the third state wrestling champion in school history when he won the 106-pound title as a freshman in 2019.
Should he win a state title next year, he would be the first wrestler from Woodland Park to be a four-time state champion.
Valley’s Isaiah Rios won the 152-pound title to also claim his third state championship.
Platte Valley’s Jeremiah Garcia beat Pagosa Springs’ Skyler Hill to claim the 220-pound title. This comes 24 hours after his sister Navea Garcia won the 161-pound girls championship, making the Garcias the first brother/sister combo to claim state wrestling titles in the same year.
Summit took home a pair of individual titles in the girls alpine races, and Aspen repeated as team champion, as the state skiing championships came to a conclusion on Friday.
Summit’s Ella Snyder, a freshman, won the morning’s giant slalom race, and her older sister, Olyvia Snyder, a junior, won the slalom in the afternoon. They helped pace an outstanding day for Summit that saw a number of standout individual performances.
But Aspen’s girls kept pace. And, coupled, with the fast start to the team race that their nordic team gave them last week, the Skiers were able to repeat as state champions. It is Aspen’s 10th girls championship. The school also won the boys title on Thursday.
(Erika Krainz)
Ella Snyder won the GS with a combined time of 1:45.03. She finished the first run in 52.79, and the second in 52.24. Snyder’s teammate Jenna Sheldon was second (1:45.96), and Aspen’s Stella Sherlock (1:46.70) was third.
Also finishing in the top five were Battle Mountain’s Robin Pavelich (1:47.63) and Aspen’s Cate Simpson (1:47.66).
Aspen also had Maddy Hicks finish seventh (1:49.95), while Summit’s third scoring racer was Paige Petersen, who was 12th (1:51.47).
In the slalom, Olyvia Snyder captured the event with her two-run time of 1:28.48. She finished her first run in 43.61, and her second in 44.87.
Sheldon was also runner-up in the slalom, as she went 1:30.59, and Aspen’s Sherlock was also third in the event (1:34.96).
Aspen’s Simpson was fourth (1:35.16), and Summit’s Camille Thompson was fifth (1:36.09).
Peterson placed sixth as Summit’s third scoring race, in 1:37.13, Aspen also got points from Hicks, who was eighth in 1:38.10.
As a team, Aspen’s alpine and nordic squads combined to score 670 points. Summit finished as runner-up with 644. Also in the top five were Middle Park (577 points), Vail Mountain (546), and Lake County (531).
PUEBLO — In June, a mountain biker stumbled across a gruesome scene and frantically dialed 911 hoping help could arrive in time. A dirt bike accident left Paonia senior Anthony Miller bleeding, broken and on the brink of death.
Nine months later, after having to relearn to walk and even after fighting off a COVID-19 infection, Miller stood at the top of the podium at the Southwest Motors Event Center. He’s a state wrestling champion at a time that he’s simply happy to be alive.
“The first thing I remember is waking up in the hospital,” Miller said. “It felt like I was dreaming. That’s what I asked my mom if it was a dream, because I had been in it forever.”
It wasn’t a dream. It was a coma.
The frightening reality of what happened started sinking in. While on his dirt bike, Miller crashed. He doesn’t know how and he doesn’t know how long he was on the ground unconscious before he was found and put on Flight for Life bound for Children’s Hospital in Aurora.
He had two brain bleeds and six broken bones. There was doubt that he would live and even if he did, it was a near certainty that his days of competing in high school sports were over.
The first piece of new he received on that front was that playing football for Paonia was not an option. But as his rehab progressed, he got the green light to go out for wrestling.
“They told me I could wrestle and I didn’t ask any questions,” Miller said. “It sounded good to me.”
Still learning to walk, he started hitting the weight room. Once he got his footing, he started running every morning. He was going into his senior wrestling season with a brand new lease on life. If a near deadly motorcycle accident wasn’t going to stop him from competing, nothing would.
“I actually gained about 35 pounds since August training for this season,” Miller said.
Miller wrestled at 195 as a junior in 2020. He took sixth in the bracket, always having dreams of coming back to win a state title. But he couldn’t even begin to imagine the road that he had to go through.
Shortly after the 2020 state tournament, the COVID-19 pandemic began impacting high school sports. Then came the accident.
Just as he was getting healthy and recovering from that, he got hit by COVID.
“I had to miss the first two weeks of wrestling,” he said. “I was glad I caught it because that meant I couldn’t miss this for any reason.”
He took advantage of the opportunity. He advanced to the championship match by pinning his first two opponents. Taking the gold wasn’t going to be as easy as he and Wray’s Harrison Wade were tied after three periods.
It just came down to who wanted it more, and when the final whistle blew, the kid that wanted it more was the kid who battled back from a near fatal accident.
“It didn’t feel real,” Miller said. “They gave me two (points) and blew the whistle and I couldn’t believe it. Did I really just do that?”
He did. And to make it all the more impactful, his match is the last championship wrestling match for Paonia High School as it’s getting consolidated with Hotchkiss next year.
Paonia’s last champion is also the state’s least-likely champion. There couldn’t be a better ending to a wrestling story for both champion and school.
The Eagles scored 495.5 points in a dominating win to finish ahead of second-place Mullen (322) and third-place Niwot (307).
Shaw blazed to a state record in the 50 freestyle when she posted a time of 22.22. It eclipsed the time of 22.41 set in 2011 by Regis Jesuit alum and Olympic champion Missy Franklin. Shaw also won the event in 2018 as a freshman. Last year’s champion, Lindsey Immel of Rampart and Claire Chahbandour of Mullen finished in a tie for second place (23.52).
(Paul Soriano/CHSAANow.com)
“Anna is an incredible human being and an incredible athlete, obviously,” said Heritage head coach Tom Byorick. “She made a huge statement today that she’s the best swimmer in Colorado.”
Shaw cemented her status as a star with another state-record-setting win, this time in the 100 freestyle. She posted a time of 48.24, good enough to erase another “Missy-mark” from the record book. Franklin established the previous standard of 48.45 in 2012.
“I’m so excited! It’s just the culmination of the ups and downs of high school swimming,” said Shaw, who is Stanford-bound in the fall. “To be a senior and to finally accomplish these high school dreams is so incredible for me. And to have both of my parents here too … I’m just very lucky.”
Like many young swimmers, she was a huge fan of Franklin’s at a young age.
“I have looked up to her since I was about 9-years-old,” Shaw revealed. “Especially as a Coloradan, there is something special about Missy Franklin, just kind of that magic. I had the chance to meet her and she’s incredible. There is something super-special in knowing that I broke Missy’s records.”
“It’s a heck of a day when you set two state records, overall state records,” Byorick added. “And when those records belong to Missy Franklin, that’s just an incredible honor and amazing thing to witness her do.”
While Shaw crafted a high-school career to remember, she has bigger aspirations in mind. She will compete at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials in Omaha, Neb., in June.
“It’s a huge goal of mine,” Shaw admitted. “The Olympic Trials is just a culmination of all my hard work. I’m just excited to go out there and enjoy the experience.”
Heritage captured the first swim event of the day, the 200 medley relay, and the domination was underway. Shaw, Aislyn Barnett, Inge Ehm and Amaia Sherman raced to a time of 1:42.86. Mullen took second (1:44.11), followed by Rampart (1:46.74).
“It’s just so incredible to see how the energy started at the beginning of the day,” said Shaw. “We won the medley relay, and that gave us such a strong start. And getting to watch all of my teammates have such strong races was exciting, too.”
Barnett, a sophomore, added a state title later in the evening with the best time in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.44) to edge Mullen’s Chahbandour (1:02.44) and Charlotte Burnham (1:02.91). Barnett trailed nearly the entire race until she pulled out the win at the touch line.
The Eagles finished the evening with a rousing victory in the final race of the night, the 400 freestyle relay, with a time of 3:27.50.
“We have this incredible group of freshmen, and seven of them were here scoring points for us,” said Byorick. “We have an amazing returning group of sophomores, and they stepped up. Our juniors stepped in and took advantage of opportunities right and left.
“And obviously, our seniors … they came in and all posted best times today, by significant margins. Not just season-bests, but best times in their lives,” he revealed. “They did it with big smiles on their face and a lot of happiness and love for the rest of their teammates.”
While Shaw and the Eagles garnered the lion’s share of headlines on the day, two other swimmers each won a pair of individual state championships and deserve their time in the spotlight.
Caroline Bricker of Cheyenne Mountain added another state championship to her resume with her second-straight victory in the 200 IM. Bricker, who is just a sophomore, raced to a 2:00.87 time to finish ahead of Mullen’s Charlotte Burnham (2:03.62) and Barnett (2:06.02).
Bricker secured her second championship on the day in the 100 butterfly. Her time of 54.51 beat out Jamieson Legh (55.75) of Niwot and Inge Ehm (56.03) of Heritage.
Niwot’s Mary Codevilla defended her crown in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:47.63. Chase Davison of Mullen finished second (1:49.38) and Emily Kahn of George Washington placed third (1:52.20).
Codevilla then reached the top of the podium for the second time on the day when she defended her state championship in the 500 freestyle in record time. Codevilla finished in 4:51.98 to shatter the 4A state record set by Evergreen’s Lexie Malazdrewicz in 2012.
Rampart senior Maggie Buckley capped a stellar career by winning her third-straight 4A diving state championship to kick off the days’ events. Buckley, who finished second as a freshman, posted a score of 529.85. Ivy Buckley, Maggie’s freshman sister, finished second (486.40), while Cheyenne Mountain senior Kaelyn Hinesley placed third (465.60).
Mullen’s 200 freestyle relay team (Gabrielle Zinis, Chahbandour, Lindsey Sowitch and Davison) secured the state championship for the third-straight season with a top-time of 1:34.84. Niwot finished second (1:35.05) and Rampart finished third (1:37.55).
Mullen’s Davison won the state crown in the 100 backstroke with a time of 54.74 to finish ahead of Rampart’s Claire Timson (55.92) and Legh of Niwot (57.39).
