3A Wrestling Week 5 Recap and Week 6 Preview by Tyler Buhr

3A Wrestling Week 5 Recap and Week 6 Preview

We are one week closer to the big showdown in Denver and with that it has brought us to one of the biggest weekends in 3A wrestling with this weekend bringing us the Mel Smith Invitational in Florence. Before we completely dive in let’s recap some performances from last week.

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Week 5 Recap

Week 5 included the Valley Viking Invitational where a host of 3A teams took the mat as well as some 2A teams sprinkled in. This tournament would be won by Fort Morgan besting Wray by just half a point. Fort Morgan had one individual champ (120 lbs Cristofer Juan) and take home 8 more individual medals. Host team Valley would come in 3^rd as a team with two individual champs (Garrett McGirl 150 lbs. & Rocky Hoffschneider 165 lbs.) as well as 4 more individual placers. Holy Family would come in 4 points behind and would place 6 wrestlers. Eaton would come in right behind with two Champs (Blake Hawkins 113 lbs. and Cal Sidwell 190 lbs.) and 3 other finishers.

On the other side of the state, we had the Rocky Mountain Invitation where Centauri would finish second as a team behind 2A Rocky Ford. Bayfield would finish 7^th and Pagosa Springs would come in 12^th. Centauri would have three individual champs with Matthew Salazar at 106, Parker Buhr at 157, and Spencer Smith at 175, they would also have 5 other medalists. Bayfield had 7 individual placers with Logan Valencia at 138 lbs. finishing in second.

Week 6 Preview

Some very big tournaments this week and we will dive into several, the first being the Mel Smith Invitational in Florence. Florence puts on a great tournament with some very good competition for 3A teams with a few smaller schools and a couple bigger schools taking place as well. This is often considered as close to a state preview as can be made. Another huge tournament this weekend in the Top of the Rockies tournament where several 3A teams attend with a host of bigger schools as well. Further details of both to follow.

Mel Smith Invitational – Florence CO 1/17-1/18

Almost half of the 3A teams in the state will be here this weekend, including the likes of Alamosa, Brush, Centauri, Eaton, Fort Morgan, Gunnison, Resurrection Christian, University, Valley, and host team Florence, along with many other 3a, 2A, and some 4A teams as well. The team race will be one to watch as this makes 7 of the top 10 current ranked teams in the state, as well as, others that are currently not in the top ten but are making moves to be in it. On the individual side there will be countless matchups between not only ranked wrestlers be there will be several matchups between 1 and 2 ranked wrestlers in the state making this tournament the place to be to see a preview of what may be to come in several short weeks in Downtown Denver.

2025 Top of the Rockies – Centaurus High School 1/17-1/18

The other big tournament of the week, 3A teams going include Fort Lupton, Jefferson, Moffat County, and Mullen. These teams will be mixed in with a ton of other schools mostly consisting of 4A and 5A teams as well as a few out of state schools sure to bring plenty of solid competition.