Since 1936, when Colorado staged its first state wrestling tournament, there have been only 16 four-time champions in the history of the event. When a wrestler has the opportunity to join that elite group, the rest of the state takes notice.
There was no question which state championship match was most anticipated by the crowd at the Pepsi Center on Saturday night, as Ignacio's Alex Pena attempted to claim his spot in state annals. Instead, it was Holly's Robert Darnell who stepped into the spotlight, as he scored an 8-5 decision against Pena to win the 126-pound title in Class 2A.
Darnell, who won at 130 last season, never trailed in the match. He scored his first takedown 32 seconds in and led 6-4 after the first period and 7-4 after the second. The senior finished 28-1 and avenged a state championship match loss to Pena when both were freshmen.
"My goal was to get the first takedown, no matter what and go from there," Darnell said. "Eighty percent of the people who get the first takedown are going to win the match.
"This is what I have been working for all season, and I couldn't have gone out a better way."
Pena nearly had his streak ended in the semifinals a day earlier, when he rallied in the third period to score a 5-4 decision. He expressed confidence in wrestling from behind, but Darnell never allowed him to make a final charge.
Pena, who won at 112 as a freshman and at 119 the past two years, finished his career 132-8. He said the expectations of becoming a four-timer weren't a factor.
"I really tried not to think about it too much, so I didn't get too nervous," Pena said. "There was a lot of pressure, but I just tried not to look at it that way.
"I don't regret anything; I'm not disappointed," he added. "I gave it my all. I trained hard for these three days, and I left it all out there on the last day."
Class 5A
The state tournament, which drew 38,771 spectators during the three days, is supposed to be about competition, but Regis Jesuit senior John Crowley turned it into more of a coronation with his dominance. He cruised to a 14-4 major decision in the championship to complete a 43-0 season with his third state title.
Crowley won his first three matches by technical fall and he outpointed his opponents 66-11 overall.
"I'm going to miss this," Crowley said, who is hoping to wrestle at Duke, Virginia or, if he stays in-state, the Colorado School of Mines. "I was thinking about it before the match: no more Pepsi Center. It has been a lot of fun."
Crowley was one of three 5A wrestlers to repeat, as Adrian Cordova of Coronado (113) and Emilio Martinez of Greeley West (126) won for the second year in a row. In addition, Loveland's Jordan Hedrickson and Josh Schoenberger of Fountain-Fort Carson completed undefeated seasons. Hendrickson finished 44-0 to win the 145 title, while Schoenberger ended at 39-0 in the 182-pound division.
Pine Creek won its first team title with 143.5 points, and had two runners-up in Geo Martinez (132) and Brandon Tribble (195). Martinez was attempting to win his third title, but lost a 5-4 decision to Pomona's Raymond Robledo.
Schoenberger was selected the classification's outstanding wrestler by the state's coaches.
Team scores (Top 10): Pine Creek 143.5, Pomona 109, Mountain Range 93, Grand Junction 81, Ponderosa 68.5, Fountain-Fort Carson 67.5, Greeley West 57.5, Coronado 57, Loveland 57, Bear Creek 50.5.
Championships
106 pounds: Trenton Watson, Pine Creek dec. Mitch Finesilver, Cherry Creek, 2-1. 113: *Adrian Cordova, Coronado dec. Bennie Pachello, Arvada West, 12-5. 120: P.T. Garcia, Bear Creek dec. Jacob Trujillo, Grand Junction, 9-1. 126: *Emilio Martinez, Greeley West dec. Anthony Apodaca, Mountain Range, 4-2. 132: Raymond Robledo, Pomona, dec. Geo Martinez, Pine Creek, 5-4. 138: Cory Mitze, Mountain Range dec. Jerry McGinty, Pine Creek, 4-0. 145: Jordan Henrickson, Loveland dec. John Lewis, Ponderosa, 7-3. 152: Sam Kreimier, Loveland dec. Jesse Carlson, Legacy, 5-4. 160: *John Crowley, Regis Jesuit maj. dec. Devin Dunnum, Fort Collins, 14-4. 170: Jesse Hoffschneider, Grand Junction dec. Thad Gallegos, Ponderosa, 3-1. 182: Josh Schoenberger, Fountain-Fort Carson dec. Axel Wessell, Boulder, 9-2. 195: Augustus Marker, Castle View dec. Brandon Tribble, Pine Creek, 8-4. 220: Austin Waterman, Greeley West pinned Chris Frisbie, Castle View, 5:06. 285: Jorge Rodriguez, Mountain Range dec. Kirk Owens, Smoky Hill, 7-2. *Repeat champion.
Class 4A
Valor Christian has experienced a lot of athletic success in its four years of varsity competition, but Cody Weitzel accomplished a first for the school Saturday.
In winning a 2-1 decision against Daniel Salazar of Palisade at 132 pounds, Weitzel established his place in Eagles lore by becoming the school's first wrestling champion. He completed his senior season 39-0.
"It feels great. Obviously our school has exceeded in sports, but wrestling has been lagging a bit," Weitzel said "Hopefully it will be picking up now; I think it will. I've always wanted to leave a legacy behind."
Arvada wrestlers Marcos Peralta (160), Garet Krohn (182) and Dwight Howes (195) certainly left an impression, as each repeated as champions. Howes completed a 38-0 season with a pin of Quinton Riley in the finals and was selected 4A's outstanding wrestler.
Those three individual titles were not enough to keep Windsor from defending its team championship, though. The Wizards had two runners-up with Jonathan Lewis (106) and Jack Kuck (220).
The classification had four other repeat champions in Broomfield's Drew Romero (106) and Phil Downing (138), as well as AJ Rees of Discovery Canyon (113) and Robert DeHerrera of Pueblo South (126).
Team scores (Top 10): Windsor 121.5, Pueblo South 111, Discovery Canyon 101.5, Broomfield 98, Montrose 97.5, Arvada 85, Thomspon Valley 79.5, Pueblo Central 75, Fort Morgan 57.5, Roosevelt 57.
Championships
106 pounds: *Drew Romero, Broomfield maj. dec. Jonathan Lewis, Windsor, 16-2. 113: *A.J. Rees, Discovery Canyon dec. Ian Wingstrom, Fort Morgan, 6-4. 120: Steve Turner, Discovery Canyon pinned Jeremiah Banuelos, Montrose, 3:42. 126: *Robert DeHerrera, Pueblo South dec. Bobby Amond, Cheyenne Mountain, 3-0. 132: Cody Weitzel, Valor Christian dec. Daniel Salazar, Palisade, 2-1. 138: *Phil Downing, Broomfield pinned Jace Lopez, Roosevelt, 4:43. 145: Geordon Hudson, Montrose dec. Nick Swanson, Wheat Ridge, 4-3. 152: Nick Babcock, Broomfield dec. Clay Bunker, Erie, 3-1. 160: *Marcos Peralta, Arvada dec. Brandon Hoffman, Fort Morgan, 3-1. 170: Luke Engelhaupt, Sterling dec. Adrian Mack, Discovery Canyon, 9-3. 182: *Garet Krohn, Arvada dec. Cameron McCrimmon, Thompson Valley, 10-4. 195: *Dwight Howes, Arvada pinned Quinton Riley, Vista Ridge, 4:57. 220: Rip Price, Air Academy dec, Jack Kuck, Windsor, 1-0. 285: Michael Miller, Pueblo Central pinned Tuli Laulu, Sand Creek, 4:33. *Repeat champion.
Class 3A
Across the four classifications, a handful of wrestlers fell just short Saturday of becoming three-time champions, but Olathe senior Zach Shank wasn't one of them. Shank dominated in a 8-0 victory at 132 pounds to close his final season at 44-0.
"You have to take advantage of everything you can," Shank said. "State's all mental, and you just have to build confidence each match."
Shank won as a freshman at 112 and last year at 125, but said he thinks just as much about the one he didn't get as a sophomore. Shank lost in the 119 championship that season.
"I know for the rest of my life I will think about that one," Shank said.
Also repeating as champions were Bayfield's Aaron Velasquez (160) and Middle Park's Brian Macchione (195). Macchione completed a 43-0 season, but it wasn't enough to hold off Bennett's Caleb Copeland as 3A's outstanding wrestler. Copeland also finished unbeaten, 28-0, in winning at 170.
Alamosa won its ninth state title with 146.5 points behind state champions Pablo Ortiz (138) and Dakoda Curtis (152).
Of note, at 106 pounds, Levi Maes gave Sheridan its first state champion since 1974 with an 8-3 decision against Diondre Garcia of Monte Vista, then teammate Luis Gurule scored a 7-5 win at 113 to make it back-to-back champions for the Rams.
Team scores (Top 10): Alamosa 146.5, Olathe 121.5, Valley 78.5, Centauri 77, Lamar 76.5, Highland 75, Eaton 72.5, Bennett 69, Brush 60, Holy Family 60.
Championships
106 pounds: Levi Maes, Sheridan dec. Diondre Garcia, Monte Vista, 8-3. 113: Luis Gurule, Sheridan dec. Trenton Piatt, Olathe, 7-5. 120: A.J. Salazar, Dolores Huerta dec. Aaron Cisneros, Jefferson, 8-3. 126: Jared Mestas, Dolores Huerta dec. Elijah Mora, Brush, 11-3. 132: *Zach Shank, Olathe dec. Zach Mahaney, Alamosa, 8-0. 138: Pablo Ortiz, Alamosa tech. fall Kris Trujillo, Highland, 19-2. 145: James Price, Highland maj. dec. Jason Buhr, Centauri, 10-1. 152: Dakoda Curtis, Alamosa dec. Micah Keys, Centauri, 11-3. 160: *Aaron Velasquez, Bayfield pinned Brandon Bertsch, Alamosa, 4:54. 170: Caleb Copeland, Bennett dec. Austin Trujillo, Valley, 9-3. 182: Jaden Olearnick, Eaton dec. Cory Ellis, Berthoud, 7-0. 195: *Brian Macchione, Middle Park dec. Walker Gonzales, Valley, 6-0. 220: Dalton Shoop, Eaton dec. Jeremy Ruiz, Gunnison, 6-4. 285: Raul Rios, Platte Valley pinned Hector Morales, Lamar, 2:22. *Repeat champion.
Class 2A
While the match between Pena and Darnell provided the individual drama, Paonia took any suspense out of the team race by clinching the title before the finals began. After finishing third last season, Paonia blitzed the field by amassing 179 points en route to its third team title. The Eagles had nine of its 14 qualifiers place in the top six, which included champion Jesse Reed (113).
Mark Edmonds, a senior from Holyoke, capped his career with a third title by outlasting Alex Klopp of Yuma, 2-1, at 132 pounds. Also returning to the top step of the champion's podium were Brent Harris of Norwood (170) and Cole Briegel of Burlington (195). Briegel clinched his repeat feat with a 1-0 victory.
La Veta's Adam Ortivez (138) won the first title in school history and Akron's Caleb Christensen (220) was the only 2A wrestler to finish the season undefeated. He went 37-0. Holly's Darnell was selected the classification's outstanding wrestler.
Team scores (Top 10): Paonia 179, Baca County 115.5, Rocky Ford 109.5, Fowler 99, Burlington 84.5, Yuma 73, Akron, 70, Hayden 68, Dove Creek 66.5, Norwood 65.
Championships
106 pounds: Jacob Palmgren, Del Norte dec. Austin Coy, Swink, 2-0 OT. 113: Jesse Reed, Paonia pinned Miguel Torres, Burlington, 3:38. 120: Adam Baca, Rocky Ford dec. Cole Baughman, Dove Creek, 7-2. 126: Robert Darnell, Holly def. Alex Pena, Ignacio, 8-5. 132: *Mark Edmonds, Holyoke dec. Alex Klopp, Yuma, 2-1. 138: Adam Ortivez, La Veta dec. Jake Milberger, Fowler, 5-1. 145: Jace Nordyke, Holly dec. Chad Terry, Hayden, 17-14. 152: Davey McCombs, Wiggins dec. Michael Smithey, Rocky Ford, 8-3. 160: Ethan Wright, Fowler dec. Jourdan Hottinger, Akron, 6-3. 170: *Brent Harris, Norwood dec. Broc Pelle, Holyoke, 5-3. 182: Tyler Korf, Yuma pinned Morgan Rieder, Paonia, :32. 195: *Cole Briegel, Burlington dec. Johnny Loflin, Baca County, 1-0. 220: Caleb Christensen, Akron maj. dec. Truett Box, Cheyenne Wells, 9-1. 285: John Gray, Crowley County dec. Josh Johnson, Stratton, 6-2. *Repeat champion.
