The Montezuma-Cortez and Dolores wrestling teams were unable to travel to the Montrose Tournament they had originally planned to attend due to the massive amount of snow dumped on the area last week.
However, the Dove Creek and Mancos wrestling programs braved the weather and traveled to tournaments.
Dove Creek competed in the Tournament of Champions in Vernal, Utah on Friday and Saturday, and senior Case Baughman was the top finisher for the Bulldogs, going 4-1 and taking home second place.
Entering the 132-pound class with an 18-3 season record, Baughman quickly dispatched his first three opponents to move onto the semifinal round, where he would face Daniel Van Hoose of Fruita Monument High School.
Van Hoose entered with a 20-3 season record and ranked as the No. 3 132-pound wrestler in Class 5A according to On The Mat, but Baughman prevailed in a close one, winning in a 6-5 decision to move onto the finals.
Baughman, who was himself ranked as the No. 2 132-pound wrestler in Class 2A, was finally toppled in the championship match.
He lost in a 6-3 decision to Kedric Coonis from Uintah High School in Vernal, Utah, who entered the tournament with an 18-4 record and had placed in the top four the last three years in the Utah Class 3A state tournament, finishing as champ in 2014.
Rhett Quackenbush went 2-3 on the weekend, representing the Bulldogs in the 113-pound class.
After receiving a bye in the first round, Quackenbush dropped two straight before bouncing back with a pin over Talbert Bowen of Green River.
Quackenbush fell to Devlyn Mosman of Hayden High School in his final match and did not place.
Dove Creek’s final competitor, Logan Meyers, also wrestled at 132 and was 0-4 on the weekend.
While Dove Creek was in Utah, Mancos went east for the Rocky Mountain Wrestling Tournament in Pagosa Springs.
Senior Austin Howerton was the only Blue Jay wrestler to place, finishing sixth in the 182-pound division.
Howerton got a bye early, fell to Jake Jolly of Del Norte and then received two more byes to move him on to the fifth place match.
There, Howerton fell to Melvin Benally of Aztec to finish sixth.
At 126-pounds, freshman Chance Garcia went 2-1.
After dropping his first match, Garcia bounced back with win by pinning Will Boen of Pagosa Springs and then fell to Tanner Schlom of Pagosa Springs to be eliminated.
Junior Nick Valdez won his first match by a 10-7 decision before dropping two consecutive to finish the tournament with a 1-2 record, and Jake Skinner and Kaleb Hargraves each went 0-2 with a bye.
All four area schools will compete again this weekend, weather permitting.
Dove Creek will wrestle at the Doc Wright Invite in Winslow, Arizona on Friday and Saturday, Mancos and Dolores will take part in the Rob Mickel Tournament in Salida on Saturday and M-CHS will be at the Alamosa Invitational on Saturday.
