Korey Windham of St. Michael's won his fourth state title on Saturaday.
Courtesy photo
In December, the
St. Michael's (Santa Fe) football team edged Silver (Silver City) 10-7 in the New Mexico 3A state championship game.
Saturday, the two rival schools were battling for another state title — this time on the mat at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho. And once again, St. Michael's came out on top in thrilling fashion, 204-198. Both squads had accumulated 198 points entering the final match of the class A-3A state wrestling tournament, which pitted St. Michael's heavyweight
Andres Blea and Tucumcari's Breysen Billings.
Blea ended his prep career in style, recording a pin with 23 seconds left in the first period to cap a 33-0 season — 28 via pinfall — and give the Horsemen their second consecutive championship and third in the last four years.
"We knew coming in it might come down to us and them (Silver City), so it felt good beating them," said St. Michael's coach Joaquin Garcia, who is also the school's football offensive and defensive line coach. "Even though we just started playing them in football and wrestled them for the first time this season, it's definitely a big rivalry already."
Blea was arguably the most dominant wrestler of any weight class this season, having defeated both the 4A and 5A individual heavyweight state champions earlier in the year, Garcia said. The Horsemen had four other individual state champions, including
Geno Palermo at 113 pounds,
Mario Olivas at 126,
Jose Ocampo at 138 and four-time state champ
Korey Windham at 160.
Windham (36-1) has a chance to become only the fourth five-time New Mexico state champion next year. St. Michael's used a formula that has become popular across the nation for the last several years — convince football players who have no wrestling background to give the sport a try.
Nine of the 14 wrestlers in St. Michael's starting lineup this year also played football this past season. Garcia said the school encourages athletes to play multiple sports, and he convinces football players that there are many benefits of going through a grueling wrestling season.
Blea, who is going to play football at New Mexico Highlands University in the fall, is the prototypical athlete Garcia looks for when trying to recruit someone from the football team to wrestle. Despite being 285 pounds, Blea possesses agility, athleticism and quick feet.
"We're probably never going to have another kid like him again," Garcia said. "He's so big and yet so athletic, that it's hard to imagine we'll see a guy with his combination of size, speed and power again."
Robertson (Las Vegas) super sophomore
Richard Montoya (42-1) won his third state title in as many years, defeating Daniel Soliz of Cobre (Bayard), 10-0, in the 120-pound class.
Silver had four individual champions, including
Ceasar Sierra at 106,
Sean Debuskis at 132,
Ricky Bencomo at 182 and
Dakota Bencomo at 195. In the 4A tournament,
Piedra Vista (Farmington) won its third-straight championship, running away from the field with 314½ points, a good 138 more than runner-up Los Lunas.
Piedra Vista had five individual champions:
Jacob Palmgren at 120,
Anthony Juckes at 132,
Ryan Rino at 152,
Wyatt Hardy at 160 and
Christian Acosta at 220. Third-place finisher
Belen produced two individual champions:
Phillip Gonzales at 126 and
Wyatt Robinson at 145.
In the 5A tournament,
Cleveland (Rio Rancho) and
Rio Grande (Albuquerque) shared the crown with 196 points each. Two-time state champion
Nick Chavez (195) gave Rio Grande a 196-192 lead after he pinned James Romero of Atrisco Heritage (Albuquerque), capping off an undefeated season. In the next match, Cleveland's
Clayton Pankey won a 9-6 decision over Seth Mello of Valley (Albuquerque) in the 220-pound division to forge a 196-196 championship tie.
Cleveland's
Paul Mascarenas became a four-time state champion after a dominating 16-3 major decision over Logan Gonzalez of Eldorado (Albuquerque) at 113.
Lawrence Otero (138) of
Volcano Vista (Albuquerque) and
DeShun Brown (126) of
West Mesa (Albuquerque) won their third state titles, while
Albuquerque's Dyon Santiago (145) and
Atrisco heavyweight
Ismael Chavez won their second titles.
Rio Rancho finished in third and had three individual champions:
Orlando Gutierrez at 132,
Miguel Barreras at 152 and
Jordan Lara at 160.
