Not quite four years ago, a group of freshmen walked into Pueblo County High School hoping to make their mark on a developing wrestling program.
On Thursday, that same group of Hornets – now seniors – will attempt to add the exclamation point to a legacy they have built in a program that is now one of the state’s elite.
Each of them – from twin brothers Grant and Hunter Willits, to Justin Davis and Donovan Rincon – has played an important role in helping Pueblo County become a force to be reckoned with on a national level.
It started a few years before they arrived though, when a group of coaches helped develop a youth and middle-school program that was initially self-funded.
“With this senior group we have now, a lot of them came from the middle school program. They were city champs and eighth-grade champs,” said Hornets coach Eddie Soto, who took over the high school program in 2010. “It was good to develop a wrestling culture out here on the mesa. Before that there was no wrestling culture – it was all a football and basketball mentality.”
For more than a decade, Pueblo County boasted only one individual state champion – Bryce Sciumbato, a 125-pound titlist back in 2009. Over the past three years though, Pueblo County has claimed a total of nine individual titles and one team championship, the first for any boys program in the school’s history.
“They know each other so well that they’re riding this thing together. As coaches we’ve given them the opportunity,” Soto said. “They’re a great group of kids, and it’s an honor to be on the ride with them and an honor to be with them.”
Two of the catalysts of the current senior group are Grant and Hunter Willits, who have a combined five state titles between them. Grant, a two-time champion, is the top seed at 132 pounds headed into Thursday’s first round, and Hunter – who is attempting to become the state’s 20th four-time state champion – is the top seed at 152 pounds.
It was about a month ago at the Top of the Rockies tournament in Lafayette when the brothers talked about what it would take to finish their senior year off as champions.
“Obviously just getting our skills better, working hard every day, and going out with a bang with this group that we have,” said Grant, who along with Hunter set the all-time victory record for the city of Pueblo at the 4A Region 1 tournament last weekend, according to the Pueblo Chieftain.
“It’s going to be the last time I get to wrestle with all these guys. It’s going to be a good memory while it lasts.”
Hunter is chasing history in his bid to capture a fourth consecutive championship. The senior carries a 41-2 record into state – both losses came in the Walsh Jesuit Ironman tournament in Ohio – after winning at 132 as a freshman, 138 as a sophomore and 152 a year ago.
Hunter Willits. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
Hunter said he’s just staying focused and sticking to the tried and true cliché of taking it “one match at a time.”
“Everybody says ‘You’ve got to look at it as one match at a time’, and obviously everybody says it, so it’s got to be true,” Hunter said. “That’s what I do. You don’t want to get ahead of yourself. You never want to think you’ve got anything easy.
“I know what the tournament’s like; I know it’s tough, and I’ve seen crazy things happen every year, from my team alone.”
He would be the first individual from Pueblo to accomplish the feat.
“I love representing where I’m from,” Hunter said. “I love representing Colorado when I travel across the nation, and I love representing Pueblo when I’m in Colorado.”
Grant Willits won the 126-pound title last February and Davis took first at 132. Dante Garcia also captured a state championship as a sophomore at 182.
The team had two more finish second last season in Josiah Nava and Chris Sandoval, both of whom were state champions in 2015. Sandoval, who was also part of that incoming class of freshmen back in 2013, transferred to Windsor this season and is in the same bracket as Davis.
Mason Mooring is the only other senior remaining from four years ago.
Hunter Willits said much of the credit goes to the coaches, starting with the youth coaches in the Steel City program, where the group got its initial start. The goal now is for the program to defend its title and for the seniors to go out on top before handing over the reins.
“It is important to them because they put so much time in together,” Soto said. “They want to send us out on top together.”
Big-school boys basketball teams can see the finish line as league champs are starting to be crowned with a few more coming down to the final week.
There was a record-setting individual performance this week, a No. 1 squad went down, and in The Look Ahead we can’t wait for T-Ridge/Rock Canyon and Denver East/GW in awesome season ending match ups!
The Fever Crew predicted Chaparral would test No. 1 T-Ridge and they did but the Grizzlies keep the streak going with 7 point road win. Matt Mathewes with the pics!
Oscar Maldonado with 15 in No. 9 Northridge’s win over Centaurus.
Senior Michael Zeman with 20 points in No. 5 Holy Family 20-point win over Windsor.
We have a 40-piece! David Simental scored the 40 in No. 1 Pueblo West’s lopsided win over Pueblo Centennial 97-59.
Wasn’t easy for Rock Canyon but they squeaked out a 44=39 win over Legend with senior JT Bley scoring 12.
Fort Collins, now in 5A top 10, got a 50-42 road win at Poudre!
Junior Daylen Kountz scored 27 but it wasn’t enough to stop Brevin Brimble and the Doherty Spartans from coming in and pulling of the 5A top to win in the Angels house! Brimble finished with 19.
Wednesday, Feb. 8
(Jeff Tucker/jefferywtucker.zenfolio.com)
Grandview has been on an absolute roll this season but Eaglecrest was eager to avenge an earlier loss to their league foe and Dan Mohrmann covers how this one might just lock up the “Centennial Tough” league for the Raptors behind seniors Ross and Ozors.
Three players scored 12 each along with Michael Ward’s 16 in Mead’s 29-point win over Windsor.
Upset city! We may be looking at a new No. 1 in 4A as Pueblo South was up 34-19 at halftime over Pueblo West and held on for 67-64 win to shake things up!
The Parker battle between Chaparral and Legend is always fun and young Chaparral got 16 points from sophomore Ronnie DeGray III in a solid Continental league road win.
Senior Holten Sparling scored 20 points in a surprising overtime win for Highlands Ranch over No. 6 Rock Canyon. The Fever Crew reports that the H-Ranch was tough on our guy Tyson Gilbert in his return but I’m sure Gilbert will get the last laugh when the Jags move on to the playoffs.
Record setting performance, folks! We’ve discussed the scoring power of GW’s Jervae Green in the past but no one saw a 64 point EXPLOSION which placed him in the CHSAA record books blowing out Denver West in the historic night.
Austin Forsberg led four Raptors in double digit scoring in Eaglecrest’s Centennial title locking win 64-57 over Cherry Creek.
Chatfield extends the state’s longest winning streak in 40-point win over Bear Creek!
Sand Creek looks like they’re getting the groove back as they beat Cheyenne Mountain 81-58.
Saturday, Feb. 11
(Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Well hello junior Adam Thistlewood! Dennis Pluess has you covered on Golden’s win and the 30-point effort.
D’Evelyn jumped out to a 19-2 first quarter and never looked back beating Littleton by 23.
Scoring machine Daylen Kountz was as it again dropping 27 in the Angels “ThunderDome” win over Denver South!
Two of our state’s top PG’s were on display Saturday in Matt Johnson Jr. and Jaizec Lottie tangling. Lottie led C-Trail to the win in this one scoring 23 points.
Brevin Brimble scored 22 and Doherty locked up it’s second league title in as many seasons!
Big time win for young Overland 64-60 over Grandview. Tucson Redding with 26 points in the upset!
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The Look Ahead
(Brie Thomas/CHSAANow.com)
Monday, Feb. 13
Northridge at Longmont.
North at GW. How does Jervae Green follow up 64!?
Montbello (FNE) visits Lakewood. Someone comes out with 16 wins!
West visits East in DPL action.
Tuesday, Feb. 14
Fort Collins on a run faces Legacy.
Legend heads south to Doherty!
Top-10 4A action in Mead and Holy Family.
Green Mountain visits D’Evelyn.
Chatfield puts it’s streak up vs. Dakota Ridge.
Fossil Ridge and Mountain Range will score a ton!
Evergreen at Golden!
Valor at Standley Lake.
Wednesday, Feb. 15
Northridge over to Niwot.
Grandview looks to bounce back vs. Cherry Creek.
C Trail at Arap in Centennial too!
Ponderosa gets it shot at No. 1 ThunderRidge
Castle View get ready. Rock Canyon is coming.
Denver South at Lincoln in city ball.
Smoky Hill with a real test at Eaglecrest.
Thursday, Feb. 16
Fort Collins and Monarch both playing well.
D’Evelyn and Golden in top 10 4A action!
Tough trip for Littleton at Valor.
Standley Lake at Evergreen.
Centaurus travels to Vista Peak.
Friday, Feb. 17
Holy Family at Roosevelt.
Arapahoe/Overland in Centennial battle.
Thomas Jefferson at Denver South.
Cherry Creek at Smoky Hill will be good.
Cherokee Trail & Eaglecrest wrap up league play!
Game of the Week: T-Ridge at Rock Canyon will be rockin!
Saturday, Feb. 18
Denver East and GW in the annual ThunderDome throw down!
Our final regular season week is upon us. Get out and support your squad!
Sterling (18-0) jumped St. Mary’s in Class 3A to become the new No. 1 in 3A.
Sterling beat then-No. 8 Eaton 49-27 in its only game last week. Eaton fell to No. 10.
The top five teams in 5A stayed the same with Grandview posting a 3-0 record to remain No. 1. The top five went 12-1 overall last week.
In 4A, Pueblo West moved from No. 3 to No. 2 after a 2-0 week. Elsewhere in 4A, Valor Christian received one first place vote despite a No. 9 rank.
Haxtun is on the rise in 2A. The Fightin’ Bulldogs come in at No. 7, up from No. 9 last week.
Kit Carson stayed at No. 1 in 1A, as the top five teams remained the same.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. These are the final rankings of the regular season.
Valor Christian boys basketball is the new No. 1 in Class 4A. The Eagles escaped Evergreen in a 54-53 win last week.
The previous top team in the CHSAANow.com 4A rankings, Pueblo West, wasn’t so lucky. The Cyclones lost to Pueblo South 67-64 after being down 34-19 at halftime. Pueblo West didn’t fall too far however, sliding to the No. 2 spot.
That Pueblo South team got some recognition for the upset as they joined the 4A poll at No. 8.
3A also added a new team to the rankings. Manual came in at No. 10 in this week’s CHSAANow.com rankings.
In 5A, Doherty and Grandview swapped places, with the Spartans rising from No. 7 to No. 5. Doherty won its second-straight league title after beating Rampart. Grandview dropped after its loss to No. 4 Eaglecrest.
Dawson received one first place vote as they rose from No. 9 to No. 6 in the 2A poll. The top three teams remained the same in 2A.
Crowley County entered the 2A rankings at No. 8.
In 1A, Longmont Christian moved from No. 6 to No. 4, swapping with Flagler.
Weldon Valley dropped out, making room for Primero to jump into the rankings at No. 10.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. These are the final rankings of the regular season.
Regis Jesuit (16-0-0) received 11 first place votes after Saturday’s 3-1 win over Ralston Valley, and remains No. 1. Ralston Valley dropped from No. 2 in last week’s CHSAANow.com rankings to No. 3 after going 1-2-0.
Mountain Vista and Valor Christian dropped to No. 8 and No. 9, giving Resurrection Christian and Dakota Ridge a chance to jump up in this week’s rankings. Resurrection Christian rose to No. 6, and Dakota Ridge came in at No. 7.
Fort Collins posted a 2-0-1 record last week, rising one spot — up to No. 4.
Castle View remained in the No. 10 slot (2-0-1 last week).
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. These are the final rankings of the regular season.
Hunter Willits of Pueblo County is aiming to become the 20th four-time champion in Colorado wrestling history. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
A breakdown of information for the 2017 state wrestling tournament.
Included: Lists of returning state champions and undefeated wrestlers, as well as the number of qualifiers per school — all broken down by classification.
Saturday, the Skiers proved they’re swimmers too. They added the 3A girls swimming title trophy to their case — it’ll sit neatly next to the seven girls skiing championship trophies. This is the 19th championship overall for the school.
“It’s unbelievable, I’m overwhelmed. These girls worked so hard, they love eachother and it showed,” Aspen coach Kathleen Callahan said. “We’re a tiny team, we have eight girls here and I’m just ecstatic. We made history, who gets to say that?”
Kennidy Quist and Davy Brown led the Skiers as they racked up 209 points. Quist swam and won the 50 and 100 freestyle after coming in second in both events at last year’s 4A meet. Quist had times of 23.50 and 50.33 in the 50 and 100 freestyles, respectively.
Brown swam in the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke, winning the 100 backstroke with a time of 57.37. Counting wins in the 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay, that’s seven medals between the two Aspen swimmers.
Kennidy Quist. More photos. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
“It’s everything I could have hoped for to end my high school career. To end with four wins is what every senior wants to do,” Quist said. “To have all these other girls around me and this team to support me that is so small, yet can accomplish so much, it means the world to me.
“Hopefully this just propels us forward and we can continue to do better and better.”
Also in the 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay for Aspen were Emily Driscoll and Hannah Freeman. Aspen turned in times of 1:48.65 and 3:35.05.
St. Mary’s Academy came in second with 187 points behind an outstanding effort from Alex Reddington. Reddington swam in four events: the 200 free, 100 butterfly, 200 medley relay and 400 free relay.
She said the transition from the 200 medley relay right into the 200 free was a little tough, but that it was part of the sport.
Reddington won her individual events, defending her title in both the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly which she won at the 4A level. In the 200 freestyle, she won by almost five seconds with her time of 1:48.60. Her 100 butterfly time, 54.09, would have been good for second place at Friday’s 5A championships.
Alex Reddington. More photos. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
“I’m really pleased with both of those,” Reddington said. “It would have been great to compete against (5A girls) but there were some amazing girls here today and it was great to swim against someone new.”
Glenwood Springs took third with 173 points.
The Demons’ Lauren Fetzko improved dramatically from her preliminary time in the 200 individual medley to win the race over Brown, the favorite. Fetzko improved her time by 7.19 seconds to jump from fourth to first.
Pueblo Central diver Kaylee Eakman won the 3A dive championship with a score of 441.30 after she finished eighth in the 2016 4A meet.
“I don’t even know what to say. I’m speechless,” Eakman said. “It means so much, I’ve worked hard all four years for this. I’ve had two knee surgeries — I’ve had two setbacks — but all this hard work has payed off. I came back and knew I wanted to win my senior year.”
Eakman stood at the back of the diving board staring ahead and took a deep breath. She walked slowly forward, jumped once, twice, and a third time before launching into the air, rotating backwards stick straight with her arms spread and gliding into the water feet first.
The dives continued to get better as she zoned in. Another dive saw Eakman twist backwards tightly bound and break the water hands first, making a minimal splash.
“I didn’t really think about it too much because I psych myself out,” Eakman said. “I just took it one dive at a time.”
Kaylee Eakman. More photos. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Eakman did hit the board with her foot on her reverse dive, but came away with the win.
“I leaned forward a little bit,” Eakman said. “I knew I was going to hit it, so I just prepared for it.”
St. Mary’s Retta Smith slid into second place with 389.50. Kent Denver’s Campbell Patteson took third with 372.60.
In the 500 freestyle, Abbey Selin won the race for D’Evelyn by 9.61 seconds with a time of 5:01.15.
Directly after, in the 200 free relay, Pueblo County’s time of 1:41.06 was good for first place. D’Evelyn came in second with 1:42.46.
In the 100 breaststroke, it was Pueblo County again as Amanda Blickensderfer turned in a time of 1:05.26.
Golden junior Adam Thistlewood, left, avoids the steal attempt of Green Mountain junior Alex Telles (2). (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
GOLDEN — Apparently, Golden junior Adam Thistlewood doesn’t mind a little work on the weekend.
Thistlewood poured in a season-high 30 points Saturday afternoon to lift the Demons (16-5, 8-4 in Class 4A Jeffco League) to a 55-45 home victory against Green Mountain.
“I’ve been kind of in a drought in those two games before Littleton,” Thistlewood said of scoring a total of 13 points against Valor and Standley Lake. “It was good to get my confidence back.”
Golden, ranked No. 10 in the latest CHSAANow.com 4A boys hoops poll, was in a tight game through three quarters against Green Mountain. A key 9-0 run to start the fourth quarter gave the Demons the momentum it needed to avoid the Rams’ upset bid.
Green Mountain’s Jake Myers (5) looks for a way around Golden’s Colin Mulligan (34). (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Golden was able to push its lead to double-digits after the run in the final quarter.
“You never get worried if he misses some early,” Anderson said of Thistlewood. “When it crunch time he is going to make them.”
Anderson complemented Green Mountain’s interior defense headed by seniors Justin Booher and Dylan Jacob that held the Demons to just 26 points in the first half.
Thistlewood knew Golden would eventually figure out the Rams’ defense. He had a pair of steals from the top of the Demons’ 1-3-1 half-court pressure defense that led to dunks during the key run in the fourth quarter.
“We didn’t execute the way we should have,” Green Mountain coach Derek Van Tassel said. “We got in a hurry in the second half and Golden had that little run. That was the part that hurt us.”
Green Mountain senior Jake Haerti had 19 points for the Rams in the loss. The Rams sit in fifth place in the conference with two league games remaining.
“We just want to keep competing,” Van Tassel said. “We are in every game. We are right there. We just have to figure a way to get over the hump.”
Green Mountain Jake Haerti (25) looks for some room to operate. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Green Mountain (9-12, 4-8) looks to be almost a certainty to make the 48-team 4A state tournament field. The Rams stood in the 37th spot in the RPI standings before Saturday’s loss to Golden.
Green Mountain is at D’Evelyn on Tuesday night before its home finale against Wheat Ridge on Thursday.
Anderson’s crew will get a pair of great test next week to wrap up the regular season. The Demons host Evergreen (16-5, 9-3) at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Cougars nearly pulled off an upset Friday night against No. 2 Valor Christian, eventually losing 54-53.
“It’s probably the biggest two games of our season,” Thistlewood said of facing Evergreen and D’Evelyn next week. “If we can wins those two we can get home court advantage for the first two games in the playoffs.”
Golden’s final game before the playoff will be against No. 3 D’Evelyn (17-4, 10-2) on Thursday night.
Anderson stressed that the Demons won’t be able to lean on Thistlewood as much as they did Saturday when the postseason rolls around in a few weeks. He also believes that his team hasn’t played its best basketball yet this season.
“Everybody knows about him (Thistlewood) and teams are keying on him,” Anderson said. “When the time comes other guys have to make a play.”
The Colorado High Schools Activities Association is schedule to release the state brackets almost a week from now on Sunday, Feb. 19. First-round games in the 4A boys state tournament will be played Wednesday, Feb. 22.
Golden’s Riley Stoner (10) and Joe Madsen, right, trap Green Mountain senior Justin Booher on Saturday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
