Jeffco Preps With Pleuss is a monthly roundup of Jeffco prep highlights hosted by Dennis Pleuss, Jeffco Public Schools’ sports information director. The Season B sports wrapped up in March. The highlight of the winter season in Jeffco was without question girls and boys wrestling. Chatfield and Pomona were dominate in the first CHSAA sanctioned girls wrestling state tournament. The Chargers won the team title and the Panthers grabbed a pair of individual titles. On the boys side, Pomona captured yet another Class 5A state team championship. Pomona, Chatfield and Columbine all grabbed individual state titles to finish off the wrestling season. Evergreen’s girls swim team won its third straight Class 3A state team championship. Green Mountain’s girls basketball team made another Class 4A state semifinal appearance.
While the venue was different this year for the 2021 state wrestling championships, Jeffco wrestling teams from Columbine, Chatfield and Pomona came home from Pueblo with a load of first-place medals along with the Class 5A boys wrestling team title. Columbine seniors Jack Forbes (195 pounds) and Zach Schraeder (285 pounds) both repeated as state champions. Chatfield senior Jacob Badger (182 pounds) finished off a perfect 23-0 record by winning his first state title.
Pomona needed to rally in the place matches to overcome Ponderosa for the Class 5A team title. The Panthers claimed its third straight team title, fifth in six years and eight team title since 2000. Pomona had four individual state champions with sophomore Jakob Romero (120 pounds), junior Elijah Olguin (126 pounds), junior Daniel Cardenas (145 pounds) and senior Franklin Cruz (220 pounds). Cruz claimed his third state championship title. Cardenas also won his third and has a chance to join the elite 4-time state championship club next year. Cardenas would actually be the first Pomona wrestler to become a 4-time state champion.
Jefferson had three state placers in the Class 3A state tournament. Juniors Daniel Soto (113 pounds) and Angelo Lozado (126 pound) both took fourth place. Senior Alberto Zelaya battled his way to a third-place finish at 170 points. Video by Jeffco Public Schools multimedia specialist Jack Maher.
PUEBLO — Of the 101 team state championships that Cheyenne Mountain now lays claim to, boys wrestling is a new one.
Never before had the school put together a solid enough season on the mat that a wrestling championship trophy was heading to the display case.
Volleyball? Several. Baseball? Multiple. Football? One very legendary run back in 1963.
Perhaps Cheyenne Mountain’s first wrestling title will carry as much folklore around Colorado Springs as that football championship. Uncertainty was the word of the 2021 season as the COVID-19 pandemic raised questions over whether or not a season could even happen.
Once it got off and running, Cheyenne Mountain quickly established itself as a top team in the state. The team entered the season as the No. 3 team in the rankings. But when all was said and done, it stood at the top of the podium.
En route to the team championship, it won two individual titles with Nico Gagliardi taking the 195-pound title with a pin over Montrose’s Raul Martinez. Jake Boley took the 220-pound championship when he pinned Broomfield’s Morgen Watt.
Nicholas Grizales (126) and Jesse Boley (285) each reached their championship matches, but couldn’t capture titles. Still, their road to the finals played a crucial role in Cheyenne Mountain capturing the team title.
Soren Herzog (182) took third, Raife Manjarrez (145) took fourth and Chase Johnsonn (132) took fifth. But even without individual medals, they still get to go home champions after their efforts helped bring the team point total to 123.5.
Pueblo County narrowly too second as a team as Richard Palomar took third in the 152-pound bracket to break a 100-100 tie with Pueblo East.
Elsewhere in the classification, five wrestlers entered the tournament as defending state champions and three of them claimed a second title.
Loveland junior Kobi Johnson won his second title and will have a chance to go for three in a row as a senior next year. He beat Mesa Ridge’s Frankie Gallegos by a 14-5 major decision to claim his title.
Pueblo East sophomore Weston Dalton was hoping to win a second title to keep his hopes for four alive, but Loveland’s Cody Thompson got a 11-4 decision to win the state title in 138. With Dalton’s loss, the class of 2023 will be the first class to not produce a potential four-time state champion since 2013. Woodland Park junior Brady Hankin won his third title Friday night, so the class of 2022 already has a shot to get a four-timer.
Seniors Vance Vombaur (Windsor) and Isaias Estrada (Thomas Jefferson) defended their titles to become two-time champions.
PUEBLO — There was a moment that the state of Colorado crowning any state wrestling champion seemed far-fetched. For Vince Cornella, there was a point where he thought getting his shot at a fourth state championship was nothing more than a fantasy.
After pinning Ponderosa’s Aidan Lenz in the Class 5A 138-pound championship match, reality still felt very much like a fantasy.
“It means a lot,” he said. “I’m just grateful for everyone that put time into me. I can’t thank them enough.”
January turned out to be a trying month for most wrestlers, but especially for Cornella. As the state health department weighed the pros and cons of allowing high school kids to wrestle, Boulder County seemingly had its mind made up. Wrestling was not an option. No way. No how.
For six agonizing days other programs were keeping themselves prepared for an upcoming season. The kids in Boulder were left to fend for themselves. The CHSAA office wasn’t going to punish them. They were going to follow state statue and declare those kids to be at a school without a wrestling program.
The options for Cornella would’ve been to wrestle for a school within the same district (which wasn’t an option with the county shutting them all down) or wrestle for the school who’s district he resides in.
If neither was an option, it then deferred to a neighboring district. But Cornella didn’t want to win a title for another school. He wanted to finish what he started at Monarch. After all, a student at Peak to Peak, he was already at a school without a program and the Monarch team was family.
“It was a little scary,” Cornella said. “I was talking with my coaches about where we might go if the season didn’t happen for BVSD. I knew I’d be able to wrestle, but to be able to represent Monarch is a big deal.”
Cornella’s run at history began in 2018 when a close decision put him into the 106-pound championship and he grabbed a 6-4 sudden victory over Pomona’s Wyatt Yapoujian. His second title was slightly easier to come by. Two pins and a major decision put him in the 113 championship and it took him just over a minute to pin Denver East’s Armando Garcia
His third title, a 126-pound championship, came last year at Ball Arena where he grabbed a 15-0 technical fall victory over Pomona freshman Jakob Romero.
The fourth championship wasn’t quite as dominant as his second, but it might serve as the most memorable given the uncertainty heading into the season and the hoops that he needed to jump through to complete the season.
“It goes beyond the people I know,” he said. “It goes to the people who run this tournament, who fought for a state tournament and who fought for wrestling this year.”
Not since Jacob Greenwood in 2018 has the four-time honor gone to just a single wrestler and Cornella didn’t get the chance to do it in front of a capacity crowd at Ball Arena, but the effort that goes into the achievement is something that no one can take away from him. It doesn’t matter where he won four or how he won four.
All that matters is that he did win four, becoming the 29th wrestler in state history to do so.
“It’s a big deal regardless of how many people do it,” Cornella said. “If five other guys were doing it or if it was just myself, I would’ve felt the same amount of joy.”
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.
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.
