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.
LAKEWOOD — The announcement this week that the state wrestling tournament won’t be held at its usual site was another change during this ever changing 2020-21 prep sports season in Colorado.
However, the news that Ball Arena (formerly Pepsi Center) won’t be the site of the state tournament next month hasn’t dampened Pomona’s focus on going after its fifth Class 5A team title over the past six years and eighth team title since 2000.
“I don’t mind. I really don’t,” Pomona coach Sam Federico said of the news coming down Wednesday that all classifications for the state tournament will be held at the Southwest Motors Events Center on the Colorado State Fairgrounds in Pueblo. “I’m glad we have one. I’d do it in South Dakota if we had to. Anywhere is good for me.”
Pomona junior Jacob Judd, behind, works on getting back points during his 170-pound match against Lakewood senior Nolan Hoefner. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
The Panthers — ranked No. 1 in 5A by Tim Yount of On the Mat — has an extremely deep squad this season. Pomona has 11 wrestlers that are ranked in the top-5 of their weight class in the new rankings released this week.
“This is probably one of the best teams we’ve had in years,” Pomona sophomore Jakob Romero said after the Panthers’ tri meet Thursday at Lakewood High School. “We are strong everywhere. We can bump guys up and bump guys down. I’ve wrestled with everyone on this team for the past five-plus years. I’ll do anything for these guys.”
Pomona actually brought just a handful of its varsity wrestlers to the duals against Standley Lake and Lakewood. Still, the Panthers dominated with a 72-6 win over the Gators and 58-14 victory against the Tigers.
Two of the top Pomona wrestlers that saw some action with Romero and junior Jacob Judd. Romero took a 21-5 tech fall victory and managed a pin in the first period in his second match. Judd grabbed a pair of pins in his matches at 170 pounds.
“We are deep, but there are some good teams out there,” Federico said. “We’ll see this weekend when we wrestling Ponderosa and Brighton, two teams that are always good. We’ve got to stay healthy and keep working hard. If we do that good things will happen.”
The Panthers head to Ponderosa High School on Saturday for a pair of dual matches against No. 2 Ponderosa and No. 3 Brighton. It might be one of the best tests for Pomona before heading to regionals scheduled for March 5 and 6.
Federico doesn’t believe the last of tournaments will effect the Panthers. He had a lot of his wrestlers compete at a national tournament in Utah before the season started. Most of his year-round wrestlers have been able to compete at tournament during the COVID pandemic.
“There was so much stop and go,” Federico said of changing on the fly this season. “I’m just glad we got it pinned down and we are wrestling now. It’s good to see the guys out wrestling now.”
Romero is one of those wrestlers who is glad to be back on the mats. The sophomore that placed second at state last year at 126 pounds talked Thursday night about his own battle with COVID-19.
Romero actually came down with COVID in November. He went through return-to-play protocol to return to the mats after his bout with the virus.
Pomona sophomore Jakob Romero, top, controls his match with Standley Lake sophomore Aidan Carlin on Thursday night at Lakewood High School. The Panthers currently have 11 wrestlers ranked in the top-5 in their individual weight classes. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“My family got it. We are all athletes in the family,” Romero said. “We didn’t get it too bad, but I did see some in pact on my training and endurance. I took two weeks off, but still wasn’t myself. It’s just different for everyone.”
The sophomore has a realist perspective on what high school wrestling will look like for at least the near future.
“With COVID, it doesn’t seem to be dying down,” Romero said. “This may be the new norm for us. At least for a little bit.”
Romero admitted he was upset that the state tournament was moved from Ball Arena to Pueblo, but having a state tournament March 13 is what is important.
“In the end, I’m just glad we have a season,” Romero said.
Judd mirrors how everything can change. As a freshman his first tournament he wrestled at 106 pounds. He eventually placed 6th at the state tournament at 113. He wrestled at 132 and 145 pounds last year, qualifying for the state tournament at 145.
Now, Judd is all the way up to the 170-pound weight class and is ranked No. 3.
“I’ve been able to learn a whole bunch wrestling with a lot of different partners,” Judd said. “Most of the kids on the club don’t grow as fast as me. I’ve been able to practice with everyone in there.”
While Pomona has plenty of youth with a dozen varsity wrestlers either freshmen, sophomores or juniors this season they don’t want to take the 2021 season as a throwaway season.
“I’m trying to get the best out of the year,” Judd said. “One more year after this and I want to get two (individual) state championships.”
Pomona’s 113-pounder Gino Cardenas, top, took a 16-0 tech fall against Standley Lake junior Chance Clarke on Thursday night. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
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.
Royce Uhrig didn’t like wrestling a whole lot a few years ago. He participated when his family lived in Brush, but it just wasn’t something he was ready to completely dive into as a kid.
Oh, how things have changed.
Shortly after his family moved to Gunnison, a switch flipped in his head and he quickly found out that the wrestling mat was where he wanted to spend as much time as possible. He came into the season ranked No. 4 in the Class 3A 113-pound rankings and has taken to winning like a fish happily takes to the Blue Mesa Reservoir.
“It’s something I really crave,” Uhrig said. “When I was a kid and lived in Brush, I didn’t go to many big tournaments. I wasn’t motivated too much. When I moved here to Gunnison I started to love the sport more and more. I’ve been trying to work as hard as I can for a couple of years now.”
His early results have made him one of the most notable freshmen throughout the entire state. He officially sports a 6-0 record, but has wrestled five matches (the sixth win came via forfeit).
Not once has he failed to pin the wrestler lining up across from him. The longest match he’s had is four minutes, 32 seconds, a win over Cedaredge’s Landon Martin. He followed that up by pinning Norwood’s Aiden Walton in just 15 seconds.
After initial fears that he wouldn’t get a wrestling season because of the COVID-19 pandemic, he jumped right into mid-season form, taking in the excitement of competing while brushing off any nerves.
“Before (my first match) my coach/dad just told me to get after the guy and have fun,” Uhrig said. “That’s going to go down as one of the happiest moments of life.”
He’s hoping over the course of the next four years he can knock that feeling of winning his initial match down in the rankings of his favorite moments.
With the season officially getting played out, that means the opportunity to become a four-time state champion remains alive. By no means is he of the belief that standing on that podium with four fingers extended in the air is going to be a given.
He has to continue the work he’s been putting in since he came to the realization that wrestling is something he truly loves. And well before he thinks about winning a fourth championship, he knows the most important is his next one.
“You have to take take it one match at a time,” he said. “You have to keep working.”
And that’s exactly what he intends to do. A wrestler is only as good as his most recent match says he is, so he’ll do what he needs to do to be at his best when Gunnison heads to the James Irwin Quad in Colorado Springs this weekend. And after that, he’ll just get right back to work and keep getting better.
“I’ve always been told the harder you work, the luckier you get,” Uhrig said.
With five pins to his name already this season, it feels like he hasn’t needed much luck yet. Maybe he’s just saving it for a later day.
The state wrestling tournament is headed to Pueblo.
The CHSAA Board of Directors on Wednesday voted to approve the Southwest Motors Events Center, a multipurpose arena in the northwest corner of the Colorado State Fairgrounds, as the host site for the 2021 state championships this winter.
The Events Center has been a host to CHSAA regional basketball and cheer competitions in the past.
The venue will provide the opportunity to have a state wrestling tournament that resembles some type of normalcy, said Adam Bright, the CHSAA assistant commissioner who oversees wrestling.
“Providing a culminating event with the CHSAA Championship experience is a goal for all CHSAA sanctioned events during this season,” Bright said. “The City of Pueblo has played host to multiple CHSAA events in the past, and provides an excellent venue to continue the championship experience during this 2021 wrestling season.”
The Events Center’s large floor can fit multiple mats on the floor — an annual and necessary feature at the state tournament.
During a typical non-COVID year, it has a permanent seating capacity of 3,264. The large venue allows for the potential for a larger variance for spectators, if granted.
