Several SLV wrestlers in first On the Mat rankings of season

Centauri High School’s Eyan Chavez battles a Byers wrestler for position at the 2020 Class 2A State Tournament in Denver. Chavez is ranked second in Tim Yount’s preseason On the Mat rankings which were released on Tuesday (file photo).

ALAMOSA – Tim Yount released his preseason rankings for this season’s On the Mat standings on Tuesday with several wrestlers from the San Luis Valley being recognized.

Class 3A

Alamosa

Four of the locals are from Alamosa and are ranked in Class 3A.

Senior Trevor Maestas is ranked the highest of any of the Mean Moose wrestlers as he is second at 132 pounds. Maestas finished second in the same weight division last season.

The remaining Alamosa wrestlers include junior Dempsey Gibbs, who is third at 113, senior Logan Garcia, who is ninth at 195, and junior Dario Valdez, who is ninth at 120.

Alamosa is ranked 10th in the Class 3A preseason team standings.

Class 2A

Centauri

The remaining SLV wrestlers are all ranked in Class 2A with nine of them competing for Centauri.

Junior Erik Mestas leads the way for Centauri as he is first at 160 pounds. Mestas took second place at the same weight last year.

Two more Falcons are ranked second in their weight divisions. Senior Eyan Chavez, who is a defending state champion at 138 pounds, is ranked second at 145. Sophomore Riley Valdez, who was second at 106 last season, is second at 113 pounds.

Two more Centauri wrestlers are ranked this in freshman Matthew Salazar at 106, and senior Mario Vigil at 120. Vigil was third at 113 last year.

Senior Zach Buhr (170) and senior Byron Shawcroft (182) are both ranked fourth. Both were fifth place finishers in the 2021 season.

Rounding out the Centauri wrestlers are sophomore Josh Polkowski, who is sixth at 152, and junior Cyrus Sandoval, who is 11th at 138.

Centauri is ranked second in the team standings behind Buena Vista.

Center

Center has two ranked wrestlers on sophomores Jordan Duran, who is eighth at 106, and Jesus Valdez, who is 10th at 182.

Del Norte

Senior Malachi Gallegos is Del Norte’s sole representative as he is ranked fourth at 126 pounds. He placed fourth at 113 pounds last year.

Monte Vista

Monte Vista has three grapplers in the rankings.

Ranked for the Pirates are senior Damian Lopez, who is fourth at 132, junior DeAngelo Archuleta, who is ninth at 138, and senior Nathaniel Juarez, who is ninth at 120. Lopez placed sixth at 120 pounds last season.

Sargent

Sargent has two ranked wrestlers in senior Parker Ford, who is sixth at 126, and sophomore Trenton Lovelace, who is eighth at 220.

Sierra Grande/Centennial

The Sierra Grande/Centennial co-op program has a single ranked wrestler in senior C.J. Nix, who is eighth at 182 pounds.

Girls

Yount also released his first rankings for girls wrestling on Tuesday.

Alamosa

Two Lady Mean Moose grapplers are in the rankings. Sophomore Sarah DeLaCerda is third at 105 pounds after a third place finish at state last season. Junior Ciara Dodds is ranked 10th at 185 pounds.

Season begins this week

The 2021-22 wrestling season begins this week with several local schools participating in tournaments.

The Alamosa boys will be at the Rocky Ford Meloneer Invitational, while the girls will compete at the Pueblo Central Invitational.

Centauri is at Pine Creek, Center is in Moab, Utah, and Del Norte, Monte Vista, Sargent, and Sierra Grande/Centennial are at the Fowler Grizzly Invitational.

Del Norte will also host a dual meet with John Mall on Thursday.