Anthony Juckes of Piedra Vista comes into this season as the No. 5 overall wrestler in the state. His team is ranked at the top.
Photo courtesy of ZiaWrestler.com
New Mexico wrestling will be dominated this season by
Richard (Rico) Montoya of
Robertson (Las Vegas, N.M.) and the
Piedra Vista (Farmington) team, according to Kolbe Fraley of ZiaWrestler.com.
Fraley calls Montoya, a 132-pound senior, "hands down, the best in the state," noting that he is seeking to tie the New Mexico record by winning his fifth state championship this season. He posted a perfect 40-0 record last year and has won his last 72 matches. In addition, he won the 2014 NHSCA national crown and he will wrestle next year for the Division I University of Northern Colorado.
Jose Tapia, Capital (top)
Photo courtesy of ZiaWrestler.com
Montoya's coach, Richard Martinez, noted, "He has an awesome work ethic on and off the mat. He does a lot of it on his own and travels to other places (where he can find the best competition)."
ZiaWrestler.com lists
Capital (Santa Fe) sophomore 113-pounder
Jose Tapia as the No. 2 wrestler in the state. He has a 60-2 record with one national and two state titles already under his belt.
Miguel Barreras, a 170-pound senior from
Rio Rancho, is No. 3;
Ernest Salvidrez, 152-pound senior from Capital, is No. 4.
The No. 5-ranked wrestler, Anthony Juckes, is the leader of the No. 1 team, Piedra Vista. The 152-pound senior also can tie the state record by winning his fifth championship. He has a 126-11 career record and has won state titles in four different weight classes.
Piedra Vista coach Mike Bejar says Juckes "Is just a gamer. He might lose a match or two (in the regular season), but when the lights come on (the state tourney) he turns on the switch. He works his tail off in the (practice) room."
Fraley ranks Piedra Vista as the No. 1 team because it has "the most complete lineup from top to bottom. They have a big, strong lineup."
Ernesto Salvidrez, Capital (right)
Photo courtesy of ZiaWrestler.com
The Panthers won the Class 4A state championship for the last four years and now are 5A due to the reclassification of all schools this year.
"We try to strive for it," Bejar admits. "We put in a lot of work for that. You just have a bigger target on your back."
Bejar has an interesting philosophy.
"We don't like to have kids undefeated coming into the state (tourney)," he revealed. "As a program we always try to face the toughest competition. We've only had one undefeated wrestler in four years."
Last year the Panthers lost only to an Arizona team, Mountain View (Mesa). They set a school record by scoring 323.5 points in the finals, but still seek the elusive state record of 331.5 points. They graduated one state champion and one runner-up, but return 10 varsity wrestlers, including four champions.
Other returning champions are seniors Philip Archuleta, Sam Sandoval and Zach Ahlgrim. Archuleta posted a 37-3 record at 120 pounds, Sandoval was 47-3 at 126 and Ahlgrim was 42-4 at 220. Archuleta, Sandoval and freshman Wes Rayburn must wrestle off to solidify their weight classes for this year.
Cleveland (Rio Rancho) is the No. 2-ranked team, followed by
Rio Rancho,
Belen and
Volcano Vista (Albuquerque).
