IGNACIO – Mancos, Dove Creek, and Dolores wrestling teams traveled to Ignacio on Saturday to compete in the 49th annual Butch Melton Invitational, where each team had wrestlers place in the event. The tournament featured 17 teams, including squads from Colorado and New Mexico.
Mancos was led by junior Jacob Martin, who placed first in the 190-pound division and the team finished second with 108.5 points, behind No. 1-ranked class 2A Cedaredge who took first with 315.4 points. Trayer White placed second in the 106-pound division, Tegan Mestas finished third in the 126-pound division, Quinton Martinez placed fourth in the 138-pound division, Brandon Vannest, placed third in the 165-pound division, and Colten Vannest finished fifth in the 285-pound division.
Dolores High finished sixth overall as a team, with sophomores Kenji Edwards and River Wickstrom finishing second in the 138-pound and 157-pound weight divisions, respectively. Nathan Hill placed third in the 150-pound division. Kale Gates finished seventh in the 165-pound division and Devlin Powell placed eighth in the 126-pound division.
Dove Creek placed ninth as a team with sophomores Cael Beanland and Teagan Larimore placing second in the 126-pound and 132-pound divisions, respectively. Frankey Montoya finished fifth in the 215-pound division, Konner Spigner finished sixth in the 150-pound division, and Chad Kline placed seventh in the 138-pound division.
Jacob Martin faced off against Kolter Mann of Cedaredge in his first-place match. The match began with intensity as Martin and Mann exchanged defensive positions throughout the first period until Martin secured first place by pinning Mann at the 1:30 mark.
White struggled to get the upper hand on Cedaredge’s Jared Roberts in his championship match, where Roberts capitalized on takedowns and reversals, which White responded to with reversals of his own until Roberts pinned White at the 2:46 mark.
Edwards also struggled to overcome the strong maneuvers of Bayfield’s Reese Appenzeller and was pinned at 0:59. Wickstrom lost a challenging match to overcome Ignacio’s Zane Pontine as he lost by technical fall 15-0 at 3:52.
Beanland squared off against Cedaredge’s Josh Martinez in the championship match and could not gather points to overcome the 7-0 decision by the end of the match. Larimore fell to Cedaredge’s Ethan Hice in their championship matchup, where Hice won in a 14-8 decision.
Dolores head coach Casen Eldridge said he emphasized effort and attitude and is proud of the team’s progress this season.
“The thing I like to preach is effort and attitude along with maximum effort,” Eldridge said. “The wins and losses will take care of themselves. We just want to progress and not to make the same mistakes we made in the past and we’re wrestling a lot better than we had at the beginning of the season.”
Dove Creek head coach Colten Husky said his team has grown over the season and is looking forward to the future of the Bulldog’s wrestling program.
“Wrestling is so mental where the boys have had their ups and downs,” he said. “They’re making some big strives forward. Our conditioning’s good and they don’t slow down in the third period. Our two sophomores, Larimore and Beanland, are the ones taking the most control on the team right now.”
Mancos, Dolores, and Dove Creek will compete in the regional event on Feb. 7, aiming to qualify athletes for the state competition, which begins on February 13.
