Delta coaches Luis Meza, center, and Clayton Curtis congratulate 152-pound senior Hunter Brasfield after an upset win sent him into the 4A Region 4 semifinals.
Hotchkiss senior Joe Boyle controls Ruben Chagoya of Basalt to win a 3A Region 1 title. He is one of 7 Hotchkiss state qualifiers.
Hotchkiss and Paonia boys will square off this week on the basketball courts. Both are 6-4 in league play.
Delta senior Brooke Taylor scores two of her 12 points against Summit after grabbing an offensive rebound.
Paonia 195-pounder Tyler “TK” Kendall sets Rangely’s Drew Collins up for a pin.
Paonia freshman Bo Pipher sets TJ Richard of North Park up for a pin in Saturday’s regional semifinal round. He is one of 13 Paonia wrestlers headed to state!
Surrounded by coaches and his dad, Conner Beard signs Letter of Intent to play football for the University of Nebraska Kearney.
Hotchkiss' Jacobe Galley signed a Letter of Intent to play football and study engineering at Colorado Mesa University.
Hotchkiss senior Cody Bartlett signed his National Letter of Intent to run cross-country for Hawaii Pacific University.
Delta dualed to a 33-31 win Friday night against Monte Vista. This is the sixth consecutive year the Panthers defeated Monte Vista, said head coach Clayton Curtis.
Monte Vista is ranked sixth in class 3A On the Mat rankings.
At 120 pounds, Hayes McCracken won with a pin in 25 seconds against Kyler Lobato.
At 145, Derek Horn pinned Dillon Martinez in the second round for the win. And Alfredo Rosales defeated 13th ranked Isaac Medina by a 4-0 decision.
Monte Vista was open at 170, 220 and 285 pounds.
The dual came down to the last match, said head coach Clayton Curtis. Delta lost two matches by a single point. David Brown (113) lost by a 6-5 decision to seventh-ranked Jose Duran, and at 152 pounds, Hunter Brasfield lost by a 5-4 decision to ninth-ranked Garrett Pacheco. Alfredo Rosales defeated Isaac Medina by a 4-0 decision.
The Panthers placed sixth at Saturday's Alamosa Invitational tournament.
Cordell Stroud placed second at 160 pounds. Kory Mills (170), Brasfield and Hayes McCracken (120) all placed fourth.
The team wrestled exceptionally well at both events, said Curtis.
Despite not placing, Derek Horn had a good weekend. He and other athletes are starting to turn the corner as regional competition approaches. "We're seeing some improvement in... consistency. Hopefully we'll keep getting better," said Curtis.
Alamosa was a tough tournament, said Curtis. While only 10 teams competed, they were all high-quality teams. The Panthers will compete with Palisade and Summit at a triangle dual this Thursday at Palisade.
On Saturday, they head for Rifle to compete in the Rumble in the Rockies dual meet at Rifle High School. Last year, Delta was 4-1 to place second at the dual tournament.
