A big dual match between Overland Mullen wrestling on Tuesday resulted in the Mustangs getting a 42-33 win.
Category: Boys Wrestling
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Ticket information for the 2020 state wrestling tournament
(Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com) The 2020 state wrestling tournament is Feb. 20-22 at the Pepsi Center.
Below is information for purchasing tickets.
- Purchase online: TicketMaster
- All sessions except for the semifinals and finals (Session 4 and 6) are general admission only. Purchasing GA tickets will not have an assigned seat.
- Session 4 and 6 (semifinals and finals) will be Reserved seating only.
- There will not be a student/senior discount until the day of the events as the presale tickets are already discounted below the day-of discount.
- General Admission presale pricing is $11 for all tickets and General Admission day-of pricing is $14 for Students and Seniors, $15 for general public.
- Reserved Seating presale pricing for Session 4 (semifinals) is $12 for all seats, and $16 day-of. All seats will be reserved seating, use the map provided on Ticketmaster to select seats closest to the mat you will be watching.
- Reserved Seating presale pricing for Session 6 (finals) is $14 for all seats, and $18 day-of. All seats will be reserved seating, use the map provided on Ticketmaster to select seats closest to the mat you will be watching.
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Schedule for the 2020 state wrestling tournament
(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com) The schedule for the 2020 state wrestling tournament at the Pepsi Center is below.
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Thursday, Feb. 20
2A/3A
- Weigh-in: 11:30 a.m.
- Preliminaries: 2-4:45 p.m. (10 mats)
• • Clear house • •
4A/5A
- Weigh-in: 12:30 p.m.
- Preliminaries: 6-8:45 p.m. (10 mats)
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Friday, Feb. 21
2A/3A
- Weigh-in: 7 a.m.
- Championship quarterfinals: 9-11:45 a.m. (10 mats)
- First round consolation: Immediately following previous round
4A/5A
- Weigh-in: 8 a.m.
- Championship quarterfinals: 12:45-3:30 p.m. (10 mats)
- First round consolation: Immediately following previous round
• • Clear house • •
2A/3A
- Second round consolation: 5-6:15 p.m. (10 mats)
All classes
- Semifinals: 6:45 p.m. (8 mats)
**4A/5A
- Second round consolation: 7:15 p.m. (1 mat each class). (As mats become available, expand to 10 mats)
**4A/5A wrestlers competing in the second round consolation will begin at the same time as the championship semifinals — 4A on Mat 1; 5A on Mat 10.
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Saturday, Feb. 22
All Classes
- Weigh-in: 8 a.m.
- Third round consolation: 10 a.m. (10 mats)
- Semifinal consolation: Immediately following (as mats become available)
- Fifth place: Immediately following (as mats become available)
- Third place: Immediately following (as mats become available
• • Clear house • •
- Doors open: 5:30 p.m.
- Parade of Champions: 6:30 p.m. (4 mats)
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Wrestlers take the mats at Ron Granieri Memorial Invitational
ARVADA — This is the time of year that Jefferson wrestling coach Oscar Fonseca really loves.
“It’s a lot of fun to watch these kids’ hard work come to fruition,” Fonseca said during the finals of the Ron Granieri Memorial Invitational at Arvada West High School on Saturday. “Watching them climb that mountain and hopefully we are peaking at regionals and state. I love watching the progress from the beginning. This is really when it picks up for us.”
Grandview junior Frankie Sanchez flexes after winning the 106-pound title Saturday at the Ron Granieri Memorial Invitational at Arvada West High School. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics) It really picked up for three of the Saints’ top wrestlers during the two-day tournament. Sophomore Angelo Lozado (113 pounds), along with seniors Zander Condit (145 pounds) and Nick Gallegos (152 pound) worked their way into the finals Saturday afternoon. Lozado, Condit and Gallegos all faced No. 1 ranked wrestlers in either Class 5A or 4A in the championship matches.
While Lozado (Class 3A state champion at 113 last year) and Condit (three-time state placer) came up short in their title matches, Gallegos pulled off one of the more dramatic wins in the title bouts.
“That was really big,” Gallegos said. “Having a good match like that makes me feel pretty good.”
Gallegos trailed Thomas Jefferson junior Isaisa Estrado — ranked No. 1 at 152 pounds in Class 4A — 1-0 in the final seconds of the third period. Gallegos was able to snatch Estrado’s leg and get a 2-point takedown with 20 seconds remaining.
“For him to stay calm, get his setups going and get it done at the very end was fantastic,” Fonseca said of Gallegos pulling off the 2-1 win.
Jefferson ended up placing third in one of the tougher tournament heading toward regionals coming up next month. The Saints have been ranked No. 1 in the 3A team rankings by On The Mat for the majority of the season, but slipped behind Alamosa and Valley this week.
Jefferson senior Nick Gallegos, left, went 4-0 at the Ron Granieri Memorial Invitational on Friday and Saturday to capture the 152-pound title. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics) “We want to win the state (team) title, but we want to get better as well,” Gallegos said. “We just want to get better. If we get better that gives us better odds of winning that state title.”
Jefferson has never won a state wrestling team title. The school’s last team state title was back in 1968 when the Saints won a state baseball title.
“The team goal is always there, but we focus more on the work ethic,” Fonseca said. “The work ethic is going to prepare us for that end goal.”
The combination of Lozado, Condit, Gallegos, along with the return of senior Jimmy Ramirez III give the Saints a shot to make history at Pepsi Center coming up in late February. Ramirez hasn’t wrestled since his freshman season due to a pair of season-ending knee injuries.
Lozado’s 7-4 loss to Brighton junior Kenny Sailas — No. 1 in 5A 113-pound rankings — didn’t discourage the sophomore.
“I’m just going to go back in the (wrestling) room and keep working hard,” said Lozado, who added he doesn’t feel extra pressure being a defending state champion and is more confident on the mat this season then he was as a freshman.
Pueblo East ran away with the team title Saturday. The Eagles posted 243 team points with four individual champions.
The favorite to win the 5A team title this season — Pomona — was at Arvada West on Saturday, but a lot of the Panthers’ top wrestlers didn’t compete. Because Pomona goes to some out-of-state tournaments during the season they have to make sure wrestlers don’t go over the match limit set by the Colorado High School Activities Association.
A big difference for the tournament this season was a name change. The annual wrestling tournament that A-West have hosted for decades was changed to the Ron Granieri Memorial Invitational in honor of the former wrestling coach. Granieri coached the Wildcats to 5A team state titles in 2014 and 2015. The longtime coach, who also spent time at Standley Lake, passed away last year after the wrestling season.
Jefferson senior Zander Condit, bottom, does everything in his power to escape Pueblo East senior Aaden Valdez during the 145-pound final Saturday. Valdez took a 16-1 technical fall in the battle between the No. 1 ranked wrestlers in Class 4A and 3A at 145 pounds. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics) -
Photos: Cherokee Trail wrestling wins Legend mini tournament
Cherokee Trail wrestling amassed 287 points which was good enough to win the team championship at the Legend mini tournament on Saturday.
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Wrestling rankings: Fort Morgan joins in 3A
Below are this week’s wrestling rankings from On The Mat.
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On The Mat Wrestling Rankings
Tim Yount of On The Mat provides weekly wrestling rankings for teams and individuals in all weight classes. To see individual rankings, you can subscribe to On The Mat’s full rankings.
To subscribe via PayPal, choose your subscription option on this page click on the corresponding PayPal button. To subscribe by mail or fax and pay by personal check, click here for a printable subscription form. Email Tim Yount at tim@onthematrankings.com with questions.
To purchase individual weeks of the rankings (as opposed to the entire season), you will need to use the printable subscription form and pay by check. The season ranking subscriptions are offered at a discounted rate.
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Class 2A RK TEAM PVS 1 Wray 1 2 Rocky Ford 3 3 Cedaredge 2 4 Paonia 4 5 Lyons 5 6 Highland 7 7 Buena Vista 6 8 Hotchkiss 8 9 John Mall 9 10 Centauri 10 Dropped out None. Class 3A RK TEAM PVS 1 Alamosa 1 2 Valley 2 3 Jefferson 3 4 Pagosa Springs 4 5 Lamar 5 6 Eagle Valley 6 7 Weld Central 7 8 Sterling 8 9 Fort Morgan – 10 Skyview 9 Dropped out Eaton (10). Class 4A RK TEAM PVS 1 Windsor 1 2 Pueblo East 2 3 Broomfield 3 4 Pueblo County 4 5 Roosevelt 5 6 Mesa Ridge 6 7 Cheyenne Mountain 7 8 Pueblo West 8 9 Grand Junction Central 9 10 Loveland 10 Dropped out None. Class 5A RK TEAM PVS 1 Pomona 1 2 Rocky Mountain 2 3 Ponderosa 3 4 Grand Junction 4 5 Cherokee Trail 5 6 Brighton 6 7 Monarch 7 8 Grandview 8 9 Pine Creek 9 10 Legacy 10 Dropped out None. -
Photos: Ralston Valley wrestling faces off with Valor Christian
A late-week dual wrestling match featured the Valor Christian Eagles traveling to Ralston Valley on Thursday.
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Photos: Rocky Mountain wrestling topples Greeley West
A couple of technical falls went the way of Rocky Mountain as the Lobos beat Greeley West in a wrestling dual on Thursday.
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Alamosa wrestling knows success also brings pressure
(Photo: Rusty Johnson/Alamosa wrestling) In recent years, it’s become a common sight to see the Alamosa Mean Moose hoisting a Class 3A state wrestling championship trophy.
In 2019, the Moose claimed a second straight state wrestling title and their 13th overall. The program soared to extreme heights under coach Gary Ramstetter. But he has since moved on and it’s on one of his former assistants, Rusty Johnson, to keep the program performing at the high level it has grown accustomed to.
“There’s pressure, and there’s quite a bit of it,” Johnson said. “I try not to think about it because that just brings on more pressure. I’ve been an assistant under Ramstetter for 27 years, so I knew there’d be pressure, just not to this extent.”
The way he’s alleviating that pressure is relying on those competitors that have thrived at Alamosa.
The Mean Moose return four state placers from last year’s team and each one will be vital in helping Johnson ease into his role and keep the team competing as a state powerhouse.
Of those four returners, Davion Chavez brings the most experience. He finished second in the 106-pound bracket and claimed a state title as a freshman.
“I lean on him pretty hard,” Johnson said. “I have also have three other seniors that placed at state last year that I push a lot off on to them as well.”
Colton Liddell placed fourth at 132, Hunter Smith placed fourth at 145 and Austin Trujillo placed sixth at 220.
Those finishes along with the state championship claimed by then-senior Joe Chavez at 126 was good enough for Alamosa to hold off Eaton and claim a state title.
But that was last year. If there is one thing that Johnson has learned in his time with the program it’s that championship performances don’t automatically carry over.
“There’s always work to be done,” Johnson said. “Just at the tournaments we’ve competed at so far, they’ve competed well.”
Maybe the best performance came at the Warrior Classic just before the winter break. Davion Chavez found himself in a championship match at 120, but lost to Grand Junction’s Dawson Collins.
Liddell finished fourth, Smith finished third and Trujillo took fifth.
The Mean Moose will get back in action this week with a couple of duals before hosting the Alamosa Invitational this weekend.
With just over a month remaining until the state tournament, it’s important for the team to see as much action as possible in order to get the full team, not just those who placed last year, ready to get back to Pepsi Center to defend the team title.
“It helps a lot,” Johnson said. “There’s always some concern with the younger guys and how they’re going to perform at state. I’m counting on some of them to perform well and place at state.”
In the most recent On the Mat team rankings, the Mean Moose checked in as the new No. 1 team in 3A. Outside perception has a funny way of adding just a bit more pressure to what Johnson is facing in his first year at the helm.
“We’re not that good yet,” he said with a laugh.
But that doesn’t mean that won’t be the case on the floor at Pepsi Center on a late Saturday night in February.
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Photos: Fort Morgan wins the Gary Daum wrestling tournament
Fort Morgan’s performance at the Gary Daum wrestling tournament was good enough to come away with a big team win.