Class 3A Wrestling Week 3 Recap
By Tyler Buhr
As promised, a quick recap of the big pre holiday break tournaments. We will go weight by weight mentioning any placers and highlighting matchups where it was both 3A competitors going head to head. A lot to look at with these tournaments and in an attempt to be concise a lot won’t make it in.
NCCT
Team Scores
5 Eaton 150.5
9 Fort Morgan 120.0
13 La Junta 102.0
18 Wellington 82.5
21 Bennett 75.5
28 Brush 61.0
30 Abraham Lincoln 60.5
31 Holy Family 59.5
38 Centauri 52.5
40 Platte Valley 51.0
41 Alameda International 50.5
45 Berthoud 47.0
50 Resurrection Christian 43.0
106
Mario Romero (La Junta) finished 7th winning by tech-fall in his medal match, and received other bonus point wins with two pins and another tech. Alexis Melendez (Fort Morgan) recorded multiple early falls before exiting via injury default to Axel Cuevas (Prairie View). Nestor Pino of Holy Family also had a pin and a tech fall before exiting in the conso rounds.
113
Joseph Gamez (La Junta) claimed bronze, pinning Jax Quintana (Adams City) in the third‑place match after a major‑decision win over Hamid Hashimi (Alameda International) in consolation.
Braxton Smith (Eaton) battled back through consolation but lost the 5th‑place bout to Tony Tufano (Brighton) by medical forfeit; he had earlier dropped a decision to Hamid Hashimi (Alameda International).
The ⅞ place match featured two 3A opponents with Aaron Quiroz Garcia of Jefferson taking the major decision over Hashimi from Alameda International.
120
Blake Hawkins (Eaton) took bronze, including a tech‑fall over Zayden Davis (Woodland Park) and a major‑decision on the podium. Benjamin Gomez (Wellington) took 5th featuring a tech fall win in his medal match,
Jacob Molina (Fort Morgan) pinned Diego Gonzales (Brush) in Champ Round 2, and Daniel Jordan (Bennett) scored a consolation decision over Andrew Cockroft (Platte Valley).
126
Jordan Romero (Abraham Lincoln) ran the table, winning the title with a tech‑fall over Angel Fernandez (Widefield) and earlier stopping Liam Sanchez (Bennett) by tech‑fall.
Jordan Gamez (La Junta) fell in the third‑place match to Ian Bacon (Vista Peak) but featured several big wins to get there.
Louden Kindsfater (Eaton) pinned Cristofer Juan (Fort Morgan) in the early rounds, and Caden Casias (Centauri) recorded a consolation fall over Ayden Arellano (University).
132
Parker Wickam (Eaton) finished runner‑up, dropping the final to Cooper Mathews (Cherokee Trail) by major decision.
Caycen Scholz (Bennett) placed 6th after big consolation wins (tech‑fall and fall).
138
Ethan Deal (Eaton) would battle back for 4th place after losing his quarterfinals matchup. Deal would defeat Darius Masias (Fort Morgan) by decision in the conso-quarters but Masias would go on to grab a 7th place finish.
144
Dylan Paris (Eaton) advanced to the semis after beating Logan Vannest of Platte Valley in the quarters by a 4-3 decision, where he would lose and be sent to the conso semis where he would face fellow 3A competitor from Abraham Lincoln, Samuel Trujillo, Trujillo would win by major and go on to take 4th place. Paris moves on to the ⅚ place match with Vannest (Platte Valley) and Vannest would get the 9-2 decision.
150
No 3A competitors would bring home hardware at 150. Santos Nunez from La Junta would exit one win away from the podium as would Ethan Jordan (Bennett)
157
Adam Moore advanced to the quarter finals and lost a narrow decision, he would battle back for an 8th place finish.
165
Kenneth Jordan (Bennett) would finish one win away from a podium finish.
175
Paxton Pettinger (Eaton) would take away runner-up honors, he won a marquee matchup via pin with Austin Ley (Brush) in the quarter finals. Ley would go on to take away a 6th place finish. Josia Martinez (La Junta) also advanced to the quarters and would lose to the eventual champ and would then battle back to grab 7th place.
190
This weight features three medalists from 3A. Richie Bruno (Brush) would come out the champ. His semis match would be with Spencer Smith from Centauri where Bruno would come out with the narrow 9-6 decision. Smith would go on to grab a 4th place finish. Jason Harrison (Platte Valley) would also Fall to Bruno and battle the backside for 7th place.
215
Donavon Farrell (Berthoud) grabs bronze on the weekend with 3 pins, a tech fall and a decision in the medal match. Juan Fernandez (Strasburg) ends the weekend on the podium with an 8th place finish.
285
Samuel Stockton (Resurrection Christian) would run the table and come out the champ, he would have 4 pins and two major decisions on his run to the top.
The Warrior Classic
Team Scores
5 Fort Lupton 131.0
19 Delta 75.0
20 Pagosa Springs 74.5
24 Bayfield 49.5
30 Montezuma Cortez 44.0
106
Jenesis Naranjo (Delta) flew to the finals with a tech, pin, pin, pin. And would come out with 2nd.
113
Josiah Orozco (Fort Lupton) flew to the finals where he would pick up a 9-5 decision and take home the title, previous wins of pin, pin, major, major. Bodie Stiegelmeyer (Montezuma Cortez) would advance to the semis then drop to the conso side where he would win one more and take home 4th place.
120
Fort Lupton’s Isaiah Rodriguez went to the semis where by narrow 3-2 decision would drop to the conso semis where he would win that by 11-1 major and then lose another close on to grab 4th.
126
Jackson Rugaard (Grand Valley) the lone 3A placer at 126. He took away a 5th place finish aided by the matchup win by pin with fellow 3A competitor Colton Dudley (Valley).
132
Trenton Mestas (Valley) advances all the way to the semis then would find his way in the ⅚ match where he would lose by decision to take the 6th place medal.
138
Fort Lupton’s Josiah Gonzales would run the table and grab the title, picking up four pins on the way. Jiraiya Straw (Rifle) would battle his way to the semis and then eventually end up with 6th.
144
Rusty Snyder (Montezuma Cortez) was able to grab 5th place defeating Bayfield’s Appenzeller in the conso quarter round.
157
Colton Lucero from Pagosa would have three pins and a tech fall on his way to a finals appearance where he would take the 8-1 decision loss and grab 2nd place.
165
Dominick Martinez (Fort Lupton) after a quarter finals loss would grab two more wins and find himself with 4th place.
215
Jimmy Elledge (Pagosa Springs) advanced to the semis, fell to the conso side and went home with 6th.
MileHigh Prep Report 