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’s Irvin Hernandez (11th OMR at 138) works on a reversal against his first-round opponent at the Delta Invitational Wrestling Tournament.
The On the Mat rankings for week three have been released and there are 31 WSL athletes listed on the 2A through 4A rankings. Three area teams are among the top 10 in team rankings.
In Class 2A, Paonia's Eagles are the state's team leaders. While Alamosa holds the top spot in 3A, Olathe is right behind at number two and Hotchkiss is listed in the eighth spot. Class 4A shows Windsor on top with Montrose eighth and Palisade 10th.
In the individual rankings, Paonia leads the way with 12 top 20 rankings. At 106, Burlington's Daniel Walsh is ranked first and Paonia's Josh Altman is sixth.
Jesse Reed is fourth at 113 with Baca County's Stetson Loader ranked first. At 126, Alex Pena of Ignacio is first and Paonia's Cody Clawson is listed in the ninth spot.
Holyoke's Mark Edmonds is first at 132 while Ty Coats is third for the Paonia Eagles. Adrian Lopez is atop the 138-pound rankings giving the Eagles their only topped ranked wrestler for this week.
Photo by Tamie Meck
The Paonia Eagles posed for this shot after competing in a year-end wrestling tournament in 2011. Paonia leads the way in Class 2A wrestling with its number one team ranking. The Eagles have 12 athletes listed in the third week’s On the Mat rankings.
The 145-pound class shows Tray Sickles of Nucla on top with Paonia's Dustin Braslin listed in second place. The 152-pound's top athlete for week three is Rocky Ford's Michael Smithe with Paonia's Jorge Quinonez listed sixth.
Kyler Bear is in sixth for the 160-pound classification with Fowler's Ethan Wright being shown in the top spot. Norwood's Brent Harris is the top 170-pounder and William Austin is listed in sixth for the Eagles.
Paonia's Morgan Rieder is being shown in fourth place in the 195 pound division with Ignacio's Colton Wyatt in the top spot. Myles Cumpston is third at 220 and Caleb Christensen of Akron is listed first. Crowley County's John Gran is first at 285 with Paonia's Tony Darling holding at sixth.
There are 15 wrestlers listed in the top 20 for Class 3A. Olathe leads the way with eight athletes, Hotchkiss has six, and Cedaredge has one.
The Pirates have two athletes who are on top in their divisions. At 113, Trenton Piatt is listed first while teammate Zach Shank has the same distinction for the 132-pound division.
Casey Childs is third at 285 and Jacob Solseth is fourth at 126 to give the Pirates four in the top five rankings.
Austin Shank is listed fifth at 106 with Wyatt Yarnell sixth at 145. Troy Rose is listed 11th at 138 and Ben Pridy 12th at 120.
Hotchkiss' top ranked athletes show Vikash Hypio as their top-ranked wrestler at third in the 106 pound division. David Mendoza is fourth in the 220-pound classification and Dylan Hill is sixth at 138.
The Bulldogs have Tony Ibarra at number eight in the 145 pound weight division, Garrett Toothaker ninth at 113, and Polo Ibarra 10th at 160.
Cedaredge's only contribution to the top 20 is Cole Caywood who is listed sixth at 182.
In Class 4A, the Delta Panthers have four athletes who have top 20 rankings. Morgan McCracken (145) and Alfredo Rosales (170) are both listed eighth in their respective divisions.
Shane Anderson is 10th in the 126-pound division and Irvin Hernandez is 11th at 138.
