Productive weekend for Valley wrestling teams

Alamosa's wrestlers pose after having taken first place at the Pueblo East Wrestling Invite over the weekend. Alamosa will meet Pueblo East in a dual Dec. 13. (Photo courtesy of Alamosa Wrestling Twitter)

Alamosa takes first place at Pueblo East, Centauri places first at Robert Mickel Tournament

ALAMOSA — Valley wrestling was on the road over the weekend, Alamosa traveled to the Pueblo East Tournament while teams like Centauri, Center and Sanford were in Salida for the Robert Mickel Tournament.

At the Pueblo East Tournament Alamosa finished first among 16 other teams. In Salida, Centauri also placed first as a team.

The Pueblo East Tournament was attended by some of the higher ranked teams in their respective classes according to On the Mat’s team rankings. Participants included; 4. Rocky Ford of 2A; 1. Alamosa, 6. Lamar and 8. Berthoud from 3A; as well as 1. Pueblo East, 3. Pueblo County and 6. Pueblo County from 4A.

The decorated roster further cements the accomplishment from Alamosa picking up 207 team points to claim the tournament title. What’s more, the Moose reached the top three spots of the podium in 10 of 14 weight classes, 4 second place and 6 third place finishes.

With all the talent in attendance it should come as no surprise there were ranked matchups among 3A wrestlers. On the Mat’s rankings came out prior to Saturday’s tournament.

First ranked 106 pounder Davion Chavez from Alamosa met No. 2 Brady Hankin of Woodland Park in the semifinals, Hankin was victorious by a 8-5 decision. Chavez would go one to take third place.  In the 113 pound class number one and two also met up in Alamosa’s Elijah DeLaCerda and Zach Dooley of Woodland Park respectively. DeLaCerda defeated Dooley by a 5-1 decision to place third at the tournament.

Lamar’s Zane Rankin moved up a weight class to enter the 138 pound bracket. Prompting a meeting between two third ranked wrestlers Rankin at 132 and Alamosa’s Tyler Kenison at 138. Kenison defeated Rankin by a 6-2 decision en route to claiming second place. 

At 152 pounds No. 2 Kolton Hillis met fourth ranked Jose Serrano of Lamar in the second round.  Hillis would defeat Serrano by a 6-2 decision. Hillis would also defeat Berthoud’s Kyle Conlon to claim third place. Conlon also defeated Serrano to enter the third place match.

While the first and second ranked wrestlers at 126 pounds were both in attendance they would not meet one another. No. 2 Ethan Andrade of Lamar fell to Patrick Allis, Discovery Canyon in the semifinals and would go on to claim fourth place. No. 1 Alamosa’s Joe Chavez took second place via a 7-2 defeat, also to Allis.

At the Robert Mickel Tournament the Valley teams did well also.  The No. 6 ranked team in 2A, Centauri collected two first place finishes. Zach Martin collected four pins to place first at the 145 pound class. Bennie Chacon was also undefeated for Centauri finishing first at 285. The Falcons as a team finished first with a team score of 160.5.

Center and Sanford would tie for 10th place at the tournament with 47 points.  Center got a first place finish from Mario Chavez at 160 pounds as well as a third place finish from Cosme Cordova in the 145 pound class. Sanford’s top finisher was Max Salazar who finished second at 113 pounds.

For Sierra Grande-Centennial it was a twelfth place finish with 30 team points.  The composite team  saw a first place finish by Max Mondragon at 195 pounds and a second place finish for Richard Mondragon at 132 pounds.

Mountain Valley placed fifteenth at the tournament as a team largely thanks to a first place finish from Isiah Wellman at 138 pounds. Sargent rounded out the valley placing in 16th place. Ethan Gearhart earned top placing for Sargent, taking fifth at 126 pounds.

Alamosa will go to Pueblo having a number one versus number one dual with Pueblo East on Dec. 13, a light week in preparation of the Reno Tournament of Champions next week.  The Pete and Inna Gomez hosted by John Mall in Walsunberg will host Centauri, Center, Del Norte, Mountain Valley, Sanford, Sargent and Sierra Grande-Centennial Saturday December 15 at 9 a.m.

*This story has been edited to reflect the correct placing of Tyler Kenison