For any athlete, the opportunity to compete on the state’s highest level may be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Instead of a weekend meet in front of a couple of hundred fans, Mancos High School showcased its program’s emergence inside a packed Ball Arena, with all the bells and whistles of a professional arena’s electric energy.
Yet, the Bluejays stood unfazed – and their superb weekend served as evidence for the program’s flight among the elite programs of small school wrestling. Coming home with a state title and plenty of medals just made the weekend that much sweeter.
Junior Cole Dainty-Guilfoyle took home his first state title, winning at 175 pounds, while junior Levi Martin took runner-up, joining a pair of Bluejays taking third place, and a grand total of six wrestlers making the podium for first-year head coach Ty Penning and Mancos. Their efforts earned them third place as a team, finishing with 119.5 points.
Cole Dainty-Guilfoyle emerged as a state title contender right out of the gate this season, amassing an impressive record and dominating opposition. Three pins in three outings in Ball Arena, including a state semifinal victory over Nucla’s Arthur Connelly late in the third period, put Dainty-Guilfoyle in a prime position to add his name to the growing list of Mancos state champs.
Facing Wray senior Caeden 15, Dainty-Guilfoyle took the early initiative, going for the takedown in the opening fifteen seconds. Bauer fended it off to then score a takedown to take a 2-0 edge, but Dainty-Guilfoyle responded with a reversal to tie the score. Bauer escaped to go up 3-2 in a frenetic opening minute of the match, before the duo sparred for the remainder of the opening period, with the Wray senior in front.
In the second period, Bauer opted to start on bottom, and quickly escaped to build his lead to 4-2. Midway through the second period, Dainty-Guilfoyle, who was the more aggressive of the two wrestlers, shot at Bauer’s leg, and scored a tying takedown.
However, another escape for Bauer put him back up by one heading to the final two minutes. The Mancos junior opted to begin on bottom, and escaped in seconds to again knot up the score, but Bauer almost immediately struck with a takedown of his own to restore a 7-5 lead.
Dainty-Guilfoyle broke free to get one point back, but still trailed with a minute left in the third – facing Bauer in neutral position with time winding down.
Then, in a flash, Dainty-Guilfoyle make his decisive move – scoring a quick-fire takedown of Bauer, then rolling the senior over and covering up for the pin. The move sent the Bluejays crowd into rapture, and the Bluejays junior, raising his fists in triumph, turned to face the fans to soak in the glorious moment.
Also vying for the top spot in his second state title match, having won the crown in 2021, Levi Martin faced his sternest test of the year, taking on unbeaten Eddie Bowman from Trinidad for the 132-pound title. Martin found himself on the defensive right from the opening seconds, as Bowman spun Martin to the side, before completing a takedown. Then, the unbeaten Miner senior used his advantage to twist Martin onto his back, before closing out the pin in 36 seconds.
Martin’s (40-5) runner-up path to the finals included wins over Burlington’s Jason Saucedo, John Mall’s Bernard Espinoza and Cedaredge’s Landon Martin en route to his bout with Bowman.
For junior Elliot Sam (32-13) and sophomore Brandon Vannest (37-8), the weekend couldn’t have gone much better – the duo posted incredible runs through the three-day event, with both Bluejays taking the third-place match in their respective divisions.
Sam ran a 5-1 record, including a perfect 3-0 mark Saturday to cement his podium position. The junior, making his state debut, advanced to the state quarterfinals, before falling in defeat. However, Sam wouldn’t be deterred, as he dominated his next four opponents, including a first period pin of Wray’s Jackson Bledsoe to take the third place medal.
Vannest followed a slightly different path, but much like Sam, showed resilience after his state title dream was cut short in the semifinal round. Vannest topped North Fork’s Charlie Miller in the third-place match to secure a memorable result in his first trip to Ball Arena. The 138-pound wrestler picked up a 4-1 record and 19 team points to help the Mancos team effort.
The two Bluejay seniors walked away with hardware as well, as Isaiah Martinez (120 pounds) took fifth place, while Ayden Mathews (165 pounds) finished in sixth.
Martinez, in his second state tournament appearance, went 4-2, as he battled through the consolation bracket to earn a spot in the fifth place match. The Bluejay showed the grit of a tournament veteran as he edged North Fork’s Breaden Flores in his final match in the blue-and-white, winning 3-2 to take home fifth place.
Mathews (33-10) defeated Kole Hawkins of Cedaredge with a pin in the quarterfinal, but dropped his semifinal match before falling in his consolation bracket match as well. In his final match in Denver, Mathews fell to Keon Bandy of Limon, meaning that Mathews’ second state podium finish would be a sixth-place effort.
Freshmen Jacob Martin (144 pounds) and Colten Vannest (190 pounds) rounded out the Bluejay performances over the weekend, as the pair of first-years captured plenty of experience over their two days, with Martin collecting his first state win in the consolation bracket.
Dove Creek’s Tyson Beanland (26-8, 150 pounds) went 1-2 in his first state tournament, winning his consolation opener over Sabyn Hager of Hayden, before bowing out just short of the podium.
Wray won the team state title with 183 points, and Meeker, last year’s runner-up, took second place with 169.5 points. Mancos finished third with 119.5 points, a program-best team finish.
