Photo by Tamie Meck

Hotchkiss’ 113-pounder Garrett Toothaker takes down Gunnison’s Bryten Dickinson in the opening period of 3A Region 1 competition. Toothaker is one of nine Hotchkiss wrestlers to qualify for the state 3A tournament beginning this Thursday.

"Four points. That's pretty tough," said head coach Glen Suppes, who took 12 wrestlers to the tournament.

Hotchkiss sent three into the championship round. Conner Beard (220) and Joe Boyle (160) claimed tournament championships and Vikash Hypio (106) placed second after falling to No. 1 seeded Austin Shank of Olathe. Beard is the No. 1 seed with a 21-2 record going into state competition, which begins Thursday at the Pepsi Center in Denver.

Boyle was sizing up his competition Friday following his opening match.

"Pridy doesn't like to tie up," said Boyle about Olathe's Ben Pridy.

"Galaviz, I'm pretty sure he'll wrestle you all the way to the end, but I pinned him earlier, so..." Boyle decided he could lose two out of three remaining matches and still qualify for state, "But I think I'd rather get first than fifth or sixth."

The junior didn't lose, and pinned his way to Saturday's championship round, where he pinned Pridy in 1:51. Boyle hadn't forgotten that he missed a trip to state his sophomore year by losing a match that he was winning 10-0. "I was very upset. I'm making sure that doesn't happen this year," said Boyle after winning his first match of the tournament with an 8-second pin.

Hotchkiss 113-pounder Garrett Toothaker and 146-pounder Dylan Hill placed third and will advance to state. Hill, a senior, competed at state at 112 his sophomore year, but a shoulder injury put an early end to his junior season. That was still in the back of his mind after pinning Hugo Ruelas of Rifle on Friday. Hill was pinned in the semi-finals by Kit Reed of Gunnison, then pinned Dakota Johnson of Buena Vista to place third.

"It's nerve-racking," said Hill, who was seeded third, "but you've got to just focus on what you have to do. You can't let that get in the way."

Toothaker missed some competition in January due to a knee injury, and came back to end regular-season competition with a 20-6 record and get rid of the pesky knee brace he wore for several weeks. "I'm still not in as good a shape as I'd like to be," said Toothaker, who was seeded second at regionals and narrowly lost in a 4-2 decision to Rifle's Rogelio Navarro in the semifinal round. He pinned Sam Williamson of Cedaredge in 18 seconds to place third.

Dustin Head (152), David Mendoza (195) and Zach Taylor (HWT) placed fourth, as did Logan Schopp (170, 11-8) who will be the only freshman to represent the Bulldogs at state.

"All 12 kids contributed to the team standings," said Suppes. At 138, Ben Smith faced some tough competition, opening the tournament with a 5-0 loss to fourth-seeded Troy Rose of Olathe, then having to face No. 2 seed Brandon Kittle of Rifle.

Sophomore Tanner Bizer (120) earned points in early rounds, and senior 126 Marco Meza went two-and-out, "which was tough since he's a senior," said Suppes.

"There's lots of great potential for state," said Suppes of his qualifiers. He was quick to remind himself that anything can happen. At tournaments, he said, "There's always something great going on and there's always something not-so-great happening."

Brackets and pairings can be found at www.chsaa.org.