The 2018-19 all-state wrestling teams are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.
These teams were created based upon results at the state meet. Coaches and wrestlers of the year were selected by the Colorado High School Coaches Association at the state meet.
Scroll down to see the teams, or use the menu below to navigate to the class of your choosing.
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Class 5A
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
Wrestler of the year: Cohlton Schultz, Ponderosa
Coach of the year: Sam Federico, Pomona
First team
Name
Year
School
Weight
Daniel Cardenas
Freshman
Pomona
120
Vince Cornella
Sophomore
Monarch
113
Franklin Cruz
Sophomore
Pomona
182
Alec Hargreaves
Junior
Rocky Mountain
195
Austin McFadden
Senior
Prairie View
152
Justin Pacheco
Senior
Pomona
132
Kenny Sailas
Sophomore
Brighton
106
Marquez Salazar
Senior
Adams City
160
Fabian Santillan
Senior
Grandview
138
Cohlton Schultz
Senior
Ponderosa
285
Mosha Schwartz
Senior
Ponderosa
126
Antonio Segura
Sophomore
Regis Jesuit
145
Jay Skalecki
Senior
Grand Junction
170
Hunter Tobiasson
Senior
Grand Junction
220
Second team
Name
Year
School
Weight
Joey Airola
Freshman
Boulder
106
Keegan Bailey
Senior
Fruita Monument
195
Tyson Beauperthuy
Junior
Doherty
152
Kai Blake
Senior
Cherry Creek
170
Joshua Deaguero
Junior
Adams City
138
Armando Garcia
Sophomore
Denver East
113
Sam Hart
Sophomore
Cherokee Trail
220
Joey Joiner
Junior
Legacy
145
Austin Kelchen
Senior
Douglas County
160
Colin Lavell
Senior
Legend
285
Jaron Mahler
Sophomore
Ponderosa
120
Randy Myers
Sophomore
Castle View
132
Jake Welch
Senior
Valor Christian
182
Wyatt Yapoujian
Junior
Pomona
126
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Class 4A
(Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com)
Wrestler of the year: Andrew Alirez, Greeley Central
FLORENCE — According to rankings going in, the Mel Smith Husky Invitational probably should have been Pagosa Springs’ show. Don’t tell Eagle Valley wrestling that, though.
The Devils came to prove something. And, after 31 hours of wrestling, they had made a few new believers.
“We’ve had a tough time at this tournament in years past. We knew coming into this tournament we had to wrestle at our best, ” remarked head coach Luke Cross.
And that’s exactly what the Red Devils did.
Although Eagle Valley didn’t end up with even one individual title, but they came together as a team, placed in half of the weight classes, and kept piling up points until the rest of the 30 teams at the tournament were in the rear-view mirror.
That’s not to say the Devils had no special efforts.
In particular, Cross singled out the effort of 182-pounder Davis Ward: “He just really stepped it up. He’s overcome a lot of adversity in his life, and he got third place today. … The kids kind of rallied around that and we all wrestled better with his leadership.”
How much better? Eagle Valley logged three second-place finishes, two thirds, and two fourths.
The seconds went to Matthew Medina at 106, Lucas Comroe at 132, and Noah Baldwin at 152. The Devils did not bring wrestlers in two weight classes, but every wrestler they did bring contributed to the overall winning point total of 168 points.
Hot on Eagle Valley’s heels were the teams from Eaton and Pagosa Springs.
Like Eagle Valley, both Pagosa and Eaton found it difficult to win weight classes. Eaton got their lone individual title on the last match of the evening, courtesy of a late flurry that gave Jeremy Murano the title at 285 pounds.
Pagosa’s Cameron Lucero wrestled perhaps the most entertaining final of the entire evening, going back and forth with Clay Yarnell of Olathe before getting the pin at 3:06. Though both are from the western slope, Lucero had not met Yarnell until this evening. Lucero offered, “I knew he was good on top.”
But Lucero gave Yarnell very little opportunity to show any of that. On the other hand, Lucero took some opportunities that might have left a lesser wrestler on his back. In the end, though, it was Yarnell who ended up on his back.
Lucero smiled about it after it was over, “If you don’t take chances, you don’t win.”
Valley led all schools with three individual titles on the weekend — Isaiah Rios at 138, Colin Brown at 152, and Jaziah Whaley at 160. As sharp as the Vikings were in the middle weights, however, they simply didn’t have enough wrestlers with them to make a serious run at the title. They will, however, undoubtedly be heard from at state.
The only other team with multiple individual title winners was Elizabeth with two. Kris Kramer took the crown at 113 pounds and Abe Leonard pinned his way through the bracket at 195.
Other individual title winners included Brady Hankin of Woodland Park at 106, Ethan Andrade of Lamar at 120, Zach Loft of Sterling at 126, James Ruona of Canon City at 132, Wyatt Pfau of Brush at 170, Nathan Johns of The Classical Academy at 182, and Eli Smith of Salida at 220.
Tim Yount’s rankings generally held true, but there were bits and pieces of new ground turned over.
Ethan Andrade of Lamar dropped down from 126 to beat 120 No. 1 Isaiah Gamez of La Junta. Isaiah Rios jumped all the way up from No. 5 at 138 to win the title over previous No. 1 Dylan Yancey of Eaton. Most impressive of all, Colin Brown of Valley was ranked No. 14 at 145 before taking the crown at 152.
But the disruption there, significant as it is, probably still doesn’t eclipse the disruption brought by the rise of Eagle Valley as a certifiable 3A team contender.
